High Court Justice Calls for Changes to the Profession's Time Billing Practices
Tuesday 28 October 2014 @ 11.35 a.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research
High Court Justice Bell was the keynote speaker at this year’s Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation Annual Lecture held in Sydney on Thursday 23 October 2014. She focused on time-billing as a major contributor to the “unacceptably high” rate of depression in the profession.
The Tristan Jepson Foundation Depression Guidelines
As previously stated by TimeBase, The guidelines are a world first in the legal profession and cover 13 psychosocial factors, with organisational culture topping the list. Other psychosocial factors include: clear leadership and expectations, civility and respect, growth and development, and balance. Drawn from scientific research in Canada, the psychosocial factors were found to have a “powerful” impact on the health of individuals and an organisation’s financial bottom line by reducing absenteeism, staff attrition and workplace health & safety liability risks.
Under each psychosocial factor in the guidelines are suggested ‘implementation frameworks’. These range from ‘basic’ to ‘best practice’ to cater to all sections of the legal profession, including firms of varying sizes, the Bar and in-house teams.
Justice Bell's Comments
In her comments, Justice Bell stated that while there is a general acceptance that time-billing imposes unrealistic deadlines and unreasonable demands, calls to adopt alternatives are falling on deaf ears. She said billable hour targets are a “blunt” management tool that rewards inefficiency with higher remuneration. Importantly, she added, time-billing distracts lawyers from the more satisfying aspects of practising law.
Justice Bell argued that pro bono work not only makes lawyers feel that their work is valuable, it also fosters a collegiate culture that helps to counter “destructive competitive behaviour” which heightens stress and anxiety in the workplace:
“My work as a solicitor was a central and important part of my life as a young practitioner, and it gave me a great deal of satisfaction and sense of self-worth...I worked long hours but I didn’t see my work leaching my life from me; I was engaged and motivated to do my job well … there was no disconnect between my expectation of legal practice and the experience of it...We should accept, as a profession, that we have an obligation to address those aspects of our professional culture that have led to practitioners and law students alike reporting significantly higher levels of psychological distress than is found in other professions.”
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