Professional culture of lawyers – the role of work hours

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the article is to present a problem of long hours in law fi rms from insiders’ perspective.

Methodology: Presented research was based on qualitative methodology. More than twenty unstructured interviews have been conducted with lawyers, the Harvard LLM graduates.

Findings: The research material shows that lawyers have no sense of agency to control their work time. All respondents reported that their work day was usually longer than standard eight hours. This element is perceived as a standard, inseparable part of work in a law fi rm. Long hours become an important element of lawyers professional identity. Despite the fact that long hours are perceived as disturbing respondents do not considers themselves in power to make a change.

Originality: Article presents a unique insiders’ perspective on the phenomenon under study. This approach, which is new in the literature, allowed us to identify the lack of the sense of agency as a crucial element of the problem of long hours in law firms.