Early career lawyers were challenged to find career balance by working out their purpose and values at the first Queensland Law Society Kickstart Business Breakfast for Young Lawyers in Brisbane last week.
Hosted by the QLS Future Leaders Committee, the audience were treated to some frank advice from guest speaker Rachael Karlyl, who describes herself as a ‘recovering lawyer’.
Now working as a ‘next version coach’ mentoring young professionals at risk of burnout, Ms Karlyl urged attendees to think beyond just identifying as lawyers to manage their careers.
“I was consumed with my job,” Ms Karlyl said. “But what happens is, if you become consumed as I was, I suffered a really significant period of burnout.”
“What I realised was that my whole identity was wrapped up in being a lawyer.”
She said that she had only ever wanted to be a lawyer and had spent her whole life working towards that goal.
“Then I grew up and I was a lawyer and I was like, ‘oh my God, what am I doing with my life’?”
She said the workload and lack of balance in her life had negative consequences for her and others she had seen.
“And so I think the critical thing is knowing that your identity as a lawyer is one part of you,” she advised. “And it is literally probably the only part of your life that you are replaceable in.”
“I will give you some real hard truth right now and that is that you’re not that important,” she said.
Ms Karlyl’s advice comes as the profession grapples with career longevity with surveys of young and mid-career lawyers regularly showing workload and stress have negative impacts on wellbeing causing many to look to leave the industry.
“You need to find other things outside of those four walls,” she said. “The reality is that it’s a single part of your identity.”
Moderator, and member of QLS’s Future Leaders Committee Caitlin Littleton asked Ms Karlyl how to go about finding things outside of the law, with both acknowledging that finding balance was a universal challenge.
Ms Karlyl said good starting points are finding things that answer the question who you’re here for, what your superpower is, and what genuinely brings you joy.
“If you can think about something that you genuinely thought, ‘oh wow, that’s really cool’ or you just smiled for no reason one day, that might be the thing that you should start to think more of.”
In addition some ‘hard truths’, attendees received practical advice about setting goals that align with their purpose and values and the importance of finding their tribe for long term success.
The Kickstart breakfasts are designed to provide forum for early career lawyers to expand their networks while gaining knowledge and insights from peers and experts.
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