Hba Herringbrook

HBA | Herringbrook is a unique consultancy as it focuses not only on specific individuals as clients but we attempt to work more broadly with firms and groups on addressing the systemic issues present in the broader context of the large law firm culture and the exceptional decline in (if not the absence of associate) morale, in particular among senior associates. Even prior to the additional stressors that the current pandemic has caused associates working in a “big law” environment, the top firms had started seeing increasing “self attrition” to a level that was leaving the number of senior associates at these firms who were in their their sixth, seventh or eighth years declining to a level below which the firms could sustain, notwithstanding the inherently up–or–out model that they employ. In other words, even prior to the thought that so many people in all circumstances have recently begun to engage in with respect to not only their physical health but now, for the first time, not only employees but employers are thinking about mental health issues. While always present in the legal industry, there has never been any acceptance surrounding the idea of anxiety or depression as anything other than a “weakness,” yet at the point firms have reached regarding retention and morale, in contrast to the general awakening to mental health, as firms still work on an up or out model but one without any “in” casting aside the lock–step model for black box compensation, public levels of associate ranking and the idea of elevating two associates in the same group, but one to “partner” and one to “counsel,” the resilience of the coaching and mentoring we provide has become essential.