Lawyer Burnout Syndrome: It Blows Your Mind

You may have seen – and recoiled – at the recent news item about the 32 year old Skadden associate who died of a heart attack. Those who knew her put it differently: “she worked herself to death.” Apparently she was an extreme-case workaholic who remained glued to her desk, billing huge amounts of hours, even as her nerves unwound and her hair began to fall out. It’ll never happen to you, right? We all think we know about burnout: you work too long and too hard, so you get tired and a little crabby and impatient, and it’s nothing that can’t be cured short term by a couple of Manhattans or a good night’s sleep, or longer term with a week in Belize (NB: it’s one week vacation now, isn’t it? -- not two or three).

Lawyer Burnout Syndrome: It Blows Your Mind pwoldow.wordpress.com Tue, Jul 12, 2011