Why do most Law Firm partners have such a toxic psychopathic mindset ? What is it about the industry which incentivizes such behaviour or promotes people with these peculiarities ? Why do they treat Associates like shit and most importantly why do the Equity holding Partners continue to reward their behaviour despite it leading to higher attrition ?

A predisposition for perfection is sadly labelled "toxicity". Associates need to get their act together and take pride in their work rather than label any behaviour that requires them to do better negatively. I'm getting sick of this - incompetent idiots band together and label all that is superior "psychopathic and toxic".

If you want to be perfect, then why don't you start getting all your daily work done in 8 hours, instead of 16? Perfection actually includes being rational, reasonable, caring, and efficient. It doesn't include being a slave driver. A perfect lawyer will be able to convince the client that it is better to send queries with enough time to work on those effectively. A perfect law firm partner would know better to have a sizable and well trained team among whom the work can be equitably distributed. Your notions of perfection appear to be considerably skewed.

I pray for all of you that by the time you guys come of age - you manage to reinvent the business model of law firms / consultancy. Seems like A0 to PAs know the best way to do this business and one must give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they would be the business model changer generation. Until then, please humain aapna kaam karne de.

May there be peace and harmony.

Yes, Dr. Phil, I do. Expecting saintly equanimity, on account of someone's "sensitivity" is unfair. Partners aren't supposed to have human emotion and rant, and yet the rants against the more successful partners / seniors on this thread (at the slightest inconvenience), are pedestalized.

Everyone here screams of mental health abuse, etc. by partners/ seniors (legit). However, it is seen that abusing seniors or naming and shaming people or taking about their personal traits, etc are taken for granted and acceptable here. Examples - how casually therapy has been recommended in the comment above. Or a meme a few days ago on an otherwise "hillar" law firm meme page where a partner's falling apart personal life was directly correlated to him being xyz at work. Or multiple LI comment threads.

Based on the above, the logical conclusion seems to be - (A) Being of a particular age or (B) spending time in a profession (when questioning the business model was not a matter of pride or a smart thing to do) or (C) when people did not have the luxury to leave jobs that pay for bills for higher consciousness sojourn - seem to be the marker "cancel" your mental health. Fair! I am sure there would be many other very logical reasons to the public ranting of people who satisfy the above parameters.

Anywho, since seniors will have to meet targets (in line with the existing business model) and obvious lack of time / other paraphernalia that comes with this job (handling logical juniors being one such lovely aspect) and age - one makes peace and says "mera mental health jaane do, sir / madame what may I do for you". Let the new world order prevail. Peace and harmony bro.

I just pray, by the time all of you (read makers of change / progress / changers of business models) come of age, may there be peace and harmony. May clients understand that consultancy as a stream has changed. May capitalism accept and adept to the changing society. Amen!!! Until then, sir(s) ma'am(s) - we look forward to your continued feedback and constructive criticism of us unfortunate lot.

P.S. - As many fellow LI readers (read - young thought and business leaders) would say - this post is blah blah blah. You are right my friend(s), I came here to rant. Super frustrated. Thanks for this lovely post / relevant question, ek therapy session ka paisa bach gaya. Keep'em comin.

Every time I feel scared of my decision to not join a law firm, people like you come around and bolster my confidence.

I'm lucky enough to be able to make that choice, many don't get to, the least you can do is not make someone more miserable who's stuck in a job that already makes them miserable. Many people don't have a problem with the long working hours but have a problem with their seniors and clients making them feel like shit.

If you think the work of an A0 doesn't have any substance, why don't you guys train them properly so that they do have "substance".

law firm profit = value you can extract from an associate (surplus value) - what you pay an associate (wages, retainer, etc)

toxic psychopaths are good at squeezing more work out of associates for a fixed retainer i.e. making them work 16 hours a day every day for a week, taking up weekends etc. Ergo, more profit. The more entitled and batshit insane a partner, the more profitable their practice. This is why firms tolerate and encourage this behaviour.