It's easy to say that lawyers are in the same boat with everybody else, and these days everybody is unhappy. Doctors are unhappy. Congressmen are unhappy. But it's too easy to dismiss lawyer dissatisfaction merely as symptomatic of a more global gloom. Rather, I believe that much lawyer unhappiness arises from the profound changes that have occurred in the delivery of legal services over the past two decades.
Many lawyers agree and lay the blame on their clients.
And, indeed, while the money may be better than it's ever been, relationships between law firm lawyers and their clients aren't so terrific. At the extreme, lawyers are confronted with armies of auditors poring over their files and time sheets. And at least one major corporation requires its outside lawyers to submit a work order before undertaking any task, whether it's answering a complaint or attending a deposition. How the mighty have fallen . . . . Business clients still need trusted legal counselors, but relationships of trust between clients and lawyers tend to be moving in-house, while outside lawyers are more often used on a piecework basis.