Partners say the stress of City life has not yet led to a drug culture among lawyers but substance abuse is believed to be on the rise, while heavy drinking is seen to be a problem for major firms. Emma Sadowski reports
More than half of City lawyers claim they have never come across drug use in the profession, although many accept that heavy alcohol consumption is commonplace.
Fifty-two percent of City partners responding to Legal Week’s Big Question survey said they were unaware of drug use among colleagues, compared with 36% who said serious alcohol consumption was either ‘common’ or ‘endemic’.
Although 11% of partners conceded that drug use in law firms is more prevalent than is acknowledged, not one respondent said it was commonplace — despite the high salaries and levels of stress associated with the job.
The survey, which canvassed the opinions of more than 100 partners, found 31% of respondents ‘very occasionally’ come across drug use in their professional lives, with an additional 6% accepting that drug use is moderately commonplace within the legal profession.
Herbert Smith employment partner Andrew Brown said: “Drug addiction is not very prevalent. Having said that, life is stressful for lawyers and we do have employee assistance programmes to enable people to get help.”
In contrast, almost one-third (31%) of respondents believe excessive drinking is commonplace in the profession, with a further 5% saying it is endemic. Only 3% said it is very rare.
Allen & Overy employment partner Stefan Martin (pictured left) said: “The country generally has an issue with sensible alcohol use. In the workplace, alcohol abuse is not confined to a particular industry; the law might have been perceived to have had a drinking culture in the past, but it is very rare now.”
In comparison to other industries, the majority of respondents thought the legal profession was less guilty of substance abuse, with 49% saying it was either ‘a little better’ or had ‘much less’ of a problem than other industries.
One City partner said: “There is much less of a problem than in certain sections of the financial services or media or fashion industries. It is a problem that needs to be dealt with sensitively on an individual basis.”
However, many partners believe substance abuse among City lawyers is largely ignored by top law firms.
More than half of those questioned (54%) said that law firms only acknowledge issues of alcohol and drug addiction to a limited extent, while more than a fifth (21%) concluded the issue was completely overlooked.
Clifford Chance people partner Laura King (pictured right) said: “I believe that all organisations are more cognisant of concerns around substance abuse, given the media’s more prominent recognition of these issues. However, I would not expect that law firms have a relatively higher focus on this issue than other organisations.
“In common with many of our peers, we feel our people should have access to a number of health benefits, such as a walk-in wellness centre, health professionals and fitness facilities, as part of a range of support for individuals.”
More than a quarter of partners (27%) said that substance abuse has become more of an issue in City law firms in the last decade, leading more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents to argue there is a case for drug or alcohol testing in the workplace.
One top 10 partner concluded: “Firms should be more observant and keep an eye on these issues, but that tends to be a nettle few will grasp.”
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As with many business issues, many management teams have their collective head stuck firmly in the sand. Most of them are unable to recognise a problem partner until it's too late - they're generally too scared of disrupting the revenue-generating machine. Many too are simply unaware; a few, more culpably, are complicit in allowing the problem to continue, and, in some cases, to develop and cross-infect a team.
This is an issue which has morphed during my 20 or so years in the profession. When I did my Articles in the 1980s, alcoholic lunches were commonplace and many lawyers had an alcohol abuse problem by today's standards. Alcohol has now become more of a 'bingeing' issue whilst drugs have emerged as a second serious substance abuse issue. Outside the City the problems seem less but as so often with issues such as this what you are aware of is often only the tip of the iceberg! Things are, no doubt, worse than I suspect.
I suspect we ought to be more alert to drug misuse but I don't detect much glue sniffing. As regards alcohol there is a lot of it about but I suspect it is more amongst the older generation who prefer the pub to the gym at lunchtime.
I think I'm too naive to notice anything other than alcohol abuse! A client of mine swears to this day that a former assistant's performance issues and attendance record can be easily explained by drug use. I just thought she was bored, and so only engaged her brain sometimes, and was too fond of duvet days. I'll never know which of us was right.
There is still a high level of alcohol consumption in the profession - although I do not think that it is worse than 20 years ago; indeed, it might have decreased somewhat. I think alcohol testing at law firms is completely out of the question, not least given the amount of networking we are expected to undertake in an extremely competitive market. As a partner (and one who enjoys his wine and beer) I have noticed when the work hard/play hard ethic has got out of hand on the alcohol front and taken juniors to one side to have a quiet word about it. HR would never do it (certainly not here nor any other law firm where I have worked) as they are all too remote and far too interested in locking themselves in their little towers indulging in job justification writing policies for everyone to know what is going on on the shop floor and dealing with the real human issues that are involved in properly managing and motivating staff.
Does red wine count as booze?
The stress and long hours involved in being a lawyer tend not to translate into substance abuse as much as trainee/junior lawyer abuse (unreasonable behaviour, bullying etc).
I suspect we ought to be more alert to drug misuse but I don't detect much glue sniffing. As regards alcohol, there is a lot of it about but I suspect it is more amongst the older generation who prefer the pub to the gym at lunchtime.
To the poster who commented “I do not detect much glue sniffing”, who ever said that some City partners are out of touch with society?
It seems that the 'binge drinking' moral panic is now pervading the legal press and as a result the legal world. The truth is, it seems, that there is no real drug problem affecting our industry and the 'alcohol problem' is a new social construct. Lawyers' drinking habits in all likelihood are no different than any other industry.
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