What Gen Z Lawyers Want in 2025: Culture, Flexibility, and Career Outlook

9 minutes learn

Printed Aug 27, 2025

Who’re Gen Z attorneys?

Gen Z attorneys are sometimes aged 25 to twenty-eight as they enter the authorized occupation, representing the oldest members of a era born between 1997 and 2012. As digital natives who grew up with smartphones, social media, and immediate entry to info, they assume, study, and work in a different way than earlier generations. They anticipate real work-life stability, mental-health assist, and fashionable authorized expertise that helps them work smarter. And so they gained’t hesitate to go away companies that don’t provide the suitable tradition, flexibility, or development alternatives.

What units Gen Z attorneys aside?

Understanding what drives Gen Z as attorneys requires wanting past surface-level preferences to their core values and expectations. Right here’s what companies want to grasp about this era.

They anticipate expertise to assist them work smarter. Authorized observe administration techniques and cell apps that present easy entry to case and shopper info from anyplace are actually expectations for these digital natives. They reject limitless electronic mail chains, don’t perceive why paper-based paperwork nonetheless exist, and like streamlined communication, looking for authorized workflow automation that eliminates handbook processes.
Objective issues greater than status. Conventional markers like BigLaw names and nook workplaces carry much less weight than significant work. Deloitte’s newest World Gen Z and Millennial Survey discovered that 89% contemplate a way of objective important to job satisfaction and well-being. Many will even settle for decrease pay for work that aligns with their values and presents a stronger sense of long-term profession success.
Boundaries aren’t negotiable. These younger attorneys set clear limits on their availability as a result of they’ve witnessed the burnout that comes with out them. They ship high-quality work throughout enterprise hours whereas defending private time to allow them to recharge and keep efficient long-term.
They want suggestions to develop. Having grown up with immediate suggestions in each different space of life, they anticipate the identical at work. They need common check-ins, clear expectations, and quick recognition for good work. This fixed suggestions loop accelerates their growth and helps companies spot and repair points early on.

Greater than generational quirks, these are shifts in office expectations that have an effect on legislation companies every single day. Corporations that embrace these expectations will appeal to and retain prime expertise, whereas people who ignore them threat dropping the attorneys who will outline the subsequent decade of observe. 

Gen Z expectations vs. conventional authorized norms

The stress between previous and new approaches creates every day friction for authorized professionals. In lots of BigLaw companies, you’ll typically witness a well-known scene: seasoned companions who consider associates must “pay their dues” working alongside 26-year-olds who’re adamant the system wants to vary. It’s a conflict between two fully other ways of interested by authorized work. Right here’s the place the expectations of Gen Z attorneys collide with conventional authorized norms:

Billable hours vs. high quality of output: Gen Z attorneys grew up in a world the place expertise improves effectivity, so a compensation mannequin that’s primarily based purely on time spent feels backward to them. In the meantime, many companions who constructed profitable careers underneath the billable hour mannequin contemplate it indispensable to legislation agency profitability.
Hierarchy vs. collaboration: Conventional companies function on strict chains of command the place junior associates wait years earlier than their opinions carry weight. Gen Z attorneys, in contrast, are accustomed to flat organizational constructions and open communication. Once they spot inefficiencies or have revolutionary concepts, they anticipate to be heard.
Linear careers vs. versatile paths: The normal mannequin assumes everybody desires to make associate. However Gen Z attorneys typically have extra fluid profession objectives. Remarkably, solely 6% say their major profession aim is reaching senior management. Some plan to go in-house after gaining expertise. Others need to begin their very own practices or take sabbaticals for private tasks. 
Face time vs. outcomes: Companions who got here up in an period the place being seen within the workplace equaled dedication now handle associates who can work successfully from anyplace. Gen Z attorneys choose efficiency primarily based on output and outcomes, not hours logged at a desk. 

These variations create pure stress, however additionally they increase essential questions on how the authorized occupation operates. Corporations that thoughtfully study whether or not present practices serve everybody nicely—whereas preserving what works about conventional observe—will acquire an edge in attracting and retaining distinctive expertise.

Regulation agency challenges in attracting and retaining Gen Z

Corporations face vital challenges in retaining rising Gen Zs, and these issues stem from elementary misunderstandings about what younger attorneys really need. With as much as 50% of Gen Z employees reportedly disengaged from their jobs, legislation companies can’t afford to disregard these obstacles.

Treating fundamentals like perks

One of the vital disconnects happens when companies proceed to deal with flexibility and work-life stability as optionally available perks as a substitute of primary necessities. Gen Z attorneys anticipate the power to work at home a couple of days every week, set their very own schedules when attainable, and handle private commitments independently. When companies current these as “additional” advantages, it sends the message that they don’t really perceive how authorized work may be achieved successfully right this moment. Korn Ferry analysis even exhibits that 40% of Gen Z associates start job looking inside two years, typically citing tradition and adaptability considerations.

Mentorship that doesn’t truly mentor

Gen Z desires actual steering and structured skilled growth, not simply somebody who assigns work and disappears. They anticipate mentors who perceive what new attorneys must succeed and assist them get there. The normal “determine it out your self” strategy leaves them feeling deserted and undervalued.The numbers reveal this hole clearly. In keeping with Deloitte, 50% of Gen Zs need managers who train and mentor them, however solely 36% say this truly occurs. That disconnect between expectation and actuality drives many proficient younger attorneys to search for alternatives elsewhere.

Know-how that works in opposition to them

Outdated techniques frustrate younger attorneys every day in ways in which straight impression their capability to do good work. Once they have to make use of three totally different platforms to finish one job, or when primary processes take hours as a substitute of minutes, they begin questioning whether or not the agency is severe about effectivity. Over time, these tech frustrations can chip away at engagement, productiveness, and even loyalty.

Profession paths that assume everybody desires the identical factor

The normal 8–10 yr partnership observe can really feel constraining for attorneys who would possibly need to pivot, take a sabbatical, or discover fully totally different objectives. Gen Z expects companies to supply flexibility and assist for various profession paths, quite than funneling everybody right into a one-size-fits-all trajectory.  

Suggestions: How legislation companies can adapt

Good companies are already making modifications that mirror the preferences of Gen Z attorneys. By adopting the next six methods, your agency can create a office that pulls, retains, and empowers expertise at each stage.

Make flexibility the default. Gen Z attorneys worth the power to work the place and when they are often best. As an alternative of treating distant work or versatile schedules as particular privileges, make them customary observe. Concentrate on outcomes and outcomes quite than hours logged or bodily presence. Cloud-based observe administration platforms make this attainable, letting groups collaborate seamlessly whether or not they’re within the workplace, at residence, or in court docket.
Construct mentorship applications that develop expertise. Gen Z desires authorized mentors who actively information them, train sensible expertise, and sponsor their development. Present mentors with devoted time and alternatives for significant interplay. Past mentorship, Gen Z attorneys profit from structured studying alternatives and ongoing authorized training that retains tempo with their profession development.
Modernize your tech stack. Outdated techniques decelerate work and create frustration. Put money into built-in expertise that simplifies workflows as a substitute of complicating them. The prime authorized software program consolidates case administration, time monitoring, billing, and shopper communication into one centralized place. The end result? Much less time wrestling with techniques and extra time working towards legislation successfully—a win for associates and companions alike.
Remodel DEI from coverage to observe. Gen Z can spot performative range a mile away. Inclusive insurance policies alone aren’t sufficient. They have to be mirrored in who’s employed, promoted, and positioned in management. Present genuine dedication by way of measurable actions, like various management pipelines, honest promotion practices, and lively accountability. When attorneys see actual illustration and inclusion in motion, it builds belief, engagement, and a stronger sense of belonging. (Be taught extra about DEI for legislation companies right here).
Measure what issues. Billable hours alone don’t seize what makes a lawyer profitable. Reward attorneys who enhance processes, take smarter approaches, or ship distinctive outcomes, not simply those that work the longest hours. Trendy authorized expertise makes this simple by supporting a variety of various billing preparations, like flat charges or subscription-based billing choices.
Give them significant work from day one. Younger attorneys don’t need to spend years on limitless doc assessment or routine analysis. As an alternative, provide substantive tasks, actual shopper interplay, and real accountability early on. With authorized AI more and more automating routine duties historically assigned to junior workers, companies can now provide extra substantive work to new associates from the start.

Analysis and surveys of Gen Z voices

Generally, one of the simplest ways to grasp a era is to listen to from them straight. Current analysis and surveys reveal telling insights about what Gen Z attorneys need and what’s driving them away from conventional companies: 

52% of Gen Z associates are prepared to commerce a part of their wage for diminished billable hours, with girls exhibiting stronger preferences for this trade-off.
39% of Gen Z associates disagree or strongly disagree that associates at their agency have been racially various.
A couple of in 4 junior associates disagreed or strongly disagreed that their companies prioritize professional bono work (27%) or worth social justice and accountability (27%).
68% of younger attorneys expertise stress and nervousness resulting from pupil mortgage debt, with 67% feeling monetary stress total.
74% of Gen Z consider generative AI will impression the best way they work inside the subsequent yr.
6% of Gen Zs say their major profession aim is to succeed in a senior management place.
Of the 70% of Gen Z who mentioned they might pursue employment at a legislation agency, simply 39% mentioned they want to work for an Am Regulation 200 agency.
As a lot as 50% of Gen Z employees are reportedly disengaged from their jobs.

The ultimate phrase on Gen Z attorneys

Gen Z attorneys are embracing authorized tech to work smarter, championing versatile and forward-thinking enterprise fashions, and reimagining the best way they join with colleagues and purchasers. As they transfer into management roles over the approaching decade, their values will reshape all the things from agency tradition to shopper service supply fashions. The companies that thrive can be people who embrace built-in observe administration expertise and supply the fashionable authorized instruments that assist attorneys work extra successfully. Extra importantly, they’ll acknowledge that Gen Z’s strategy isn’t merely totally different. It can be higher, creating extra sustainable, environment friendly, and fulfilling authorized careers for everybody.