Law Jobs And Just Plain Working Too Hard

We ran a story from the London Times the other day on the death of a young Freshfields lawyer - Matthew Courtenay - who died after falling down a stairwell at the Tate Modern. Although its by no mean clear whether Matthew took his own life, one thing that the death did highlight in The Times story - and it's no different in London from any other big (and sometimes small) centers - is workload and stress.

Matthew had been working at Freshfields 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Associates are expected to work like this for up to eight years before reaching their partnership millionaire status. Once again, it's the old work/life balance issue. Some personalities can cope. Other's can't. Whether Matthew Courtenay fell into one or other category is irrelevant, the point is that work and money is only one part of success. Make sure you get it right.