Do you hate billing your time?

Does measuring your work-life in 6-minute increments drive you up a wall?

Do you feel like you’re either stressed out because you’re slow and afraid you won’t make your hours, or stressed out because you’re slammed and working way too many hours?

You aren’t alone in your dislike of the billable hour.

Most lawyers hate billing their time.

This article on law.com notes that mounting evidence shows that the mental health of lawyers erodes as billable hours increase. (No surprise there!)

But the truly extraordinary part of the article comes towards the end, where it quotes Alan Levin, a lawyer-turned-therapist (to lawyers!):

Levin said he frequently asks unhappy lawyers if they would be willing to trade 50 to 75 percent of their salary to be working in a setting where colleagues were emotionally supportive and collaborative.

“Every single one of them says, ‘Of course. Yes I would,’” Levin said. “Because the quality of our lives as people is far more important than how much money we make.”

Unhappy lawyers owe it to themselves to consider their options.

This is part of what fuels my mission here at Former Lawyer. I don’t want any lawyer who feels stuck and hates the billable hour model to have to stay even one more day than necessary.

If you’re not happy as a lawyer, and you hate billing your time, I believe you owe it to yourself to think about leaving the law.

Here are a few ways to get the ball rolling, whenever you’re ready:

• Listen to The Former Lawyer Podcast, where former lawyers share with me their inspiring stories about how they left law behind to find careers and lives that they love.
• Download my free guide, First Steps To Leaving The Law.
• Join the Former Lawyer Collaborative, a confidential support community that gives lawyers the tools and support to ditch their soul-sucking jobs and trade lawyering for a better life.