The tragic death of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer Matthew Courtney has sparked an intense debate in the profession regarding the impact of stress on young lawyers after the City giant was last week engulfed in a media storm.
Many lawyers have moved to defend the firm after harsh criticism over the tragedy from a number of daily newspapers, which have suggested the lawyer’s death was a suicide linked to work-related stress.
However, despite sympathy for Freshfields, the episode has renewed the debate over the impact of long hours on young lawyers.
Courtney joined Freshfields as a trainee in August 2004 and qualified last year into the intellectual property (IP) department. The 27-year-old went to the Tate Modern after work on 9 February and was pronounced dead at the scene after falling from a stairwell leading to the seventh-floor restaurant.
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Courtney’s death, although an investigation is ongoing. It has been claimed that Courtney had recently been in talks with the firm to reduce his workload but Freshfields declined to comment.
A front-page report in the Evening Standard (14 February) carried the headline “Stressed lawyer plunges to death”, while one national paper claimed Courtney would have been expected to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for weeks on end. If these hours were sustained, he would be working well over 4,000 hours a year.
However, IP partners at rival firms have dismissed such claims. One IP partner at a rival magic circle firm commented: “I can’t speak for Freshfields but I wouldn’t think any lawyer is expected to work 16 hours every day. Freshfields is a responsible employer and any periods where someone was working long hours would be balanced by quieter times.”
Freshfields does not have working hours targets. Partners are responsible for work allocation, and meet with associates weekly to discuss workload. Partners also meet weekly to review the capacity of all fee earners. It is understood that Courtney was not working significantly more hours than fellow associates at his level.
The firm issued a statement saying: “The partners and staff of Freshfields are deeply saddened by the tragic death of our friend and colleague.”
Legalweek.com received a number of comments on this story, a selection of which are listed below
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Posted by DizzyTrainee on 17 February, 2007.
“One must not diminish the tragedy of the situation. Nor, tempting as it may be, is it possible to make a connection between this young man’s tragic end and the type of career he chose. In any case, what the papers fail to note is that choosing to work at a firm such as Freshfields is just that; an informed choice of money, stimulation and prestige obtained at the cost of long hours, personal costs and fierce competition. My father was a surgeon and every time he complained about a good night’s sleep, a theatre or a family outing being ruined by receiving an emergency call, my mother said, ‘You knew that when you went to medical school.’”
Posted by Wife of partner on 15 February, 2007.
“If IP lawyers are doing 16 hours a day, seven days every week, the corporate lawyers are doing 26 hours a day, eight days a week. That is impressive.”
Posted by: Magic circle associate on 15 February, 2007.
“It is true that the media storm has involved a lot of inaccuracies. What is also true is that many of us work hours that are physically unsustainable; hours which only end when we quit or get ill. There is no genuine attempt to treat us reasonably by partners — and why would they? They make fortunes off our billing. What is particularly galling is the fact that most partners at major law firms in the City didn’t work the hours we do when they were associates 10-20 years ago.”
Posted by Magic circle associate on 16 February, 2007.
“I agree with much of what has been said. But then none of us become corporate lawyers to enjoy extensive lie-ins. We do it for cold, hard cash. ”
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