To gather insights on mental health, Leah Brown, outsourced general counsel to fintech companies, spoke with 18 law firm partners, including: Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Kirkland & Ellis, Arnold Porter, White & Case, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Goodwin Procter, Gibson Dunn, Squire Patton Boggs, Herbert Smith, Hogan Lovells, and Farrer & Co. Here he explains what he found.
Big Law requires partners to sink or swim, a modus operandi diametrically opposed to the Brené Brown era, where vulnerability is a marker of true strength. The law firm’s business model places a higher value on superstars than on team players.