Recent research from various sources suggests that:

  70% of lawyers say they would start a new career if they could

  One in three lawyers are dissatisfied with their working life

  Lawyers have the highest incidence of depression among 105 leading occupations

  75% of lawyers suffer from work-related stress

Three areas most lawyers identified as causing work-related stress are:

- too much work

- not enough time for family or social life

- excessively long hours

A survey in this new millennium, of more than 100 partners, assistant solicitors and HR managers of the top 40 legal firms in the UK showed that 40 per cent of female assistant solicitors would reject an offer of partnership, citing stress and long hours as the reason. Some 86 per cent of women partners said they were unhappy with the career paths available and there was strong support for alternative structures. (Law Society Gazette, 11 May and 14 June 2001)

Other research shows that employees habitually working long hours are aware of the damage:

	69% say the hours they work are damaging their productivity
	71% reported that their working practice was damaging their health
	79% said it was negatively affecting their relationship with their spouse or partner
	86% of them reported that it is damaging their relationship with their children

What's driving us to believe that we have no choice but to go on like this?  Contrary to the belief that happiness is hard to explain or that it depends on having great wealth, researchers have identified the core factors in a happy life. The primary components are number of friends, closeness of friends, closeness of family and relationships with co-workers and neighbors. Together these features explain about 70% of happiness.

So what's going on? If you think you have "no choice", think again. We always have choices: perhaps what you are saying is you don't care for the alternatives? And, if you spend all you make, you never will.