What motivates Lawyers?
| What persuades you to change jobs | Most Important Private Practice | Most Important In-house | Least Important Private Practice | Least Important In-house |
| Money | 60% | 31% | 5% | 3% |
| Promotion Opportunity | 67% | 35% | 5% | 3% |
| More responsibilty | 52% | 20% | 6% | 3% |
| Poor office culture | 60% | 28% | 5% | 3% |
| Lack of appreciation | 67% | 30% | 5% | 1% |
| Want to work part time | 17% | 9% | 62% | 62% |
| Pressure of work | 24% | 10% | 26% | 31% |
| Lack of client contact | 25% | 7% | 31% | 33% |
| No promotion prospects | 52% | 24% | 17% | 10% |
| Non salaried incentives | 28% | 12% | 19% | 15% |
| Change of practice area | 34% | 12% | 30% | 29% |
| Decreased workload | 27% | 7% | 21% | 21% |
When examining the factors that persuade lawyers to change firms, companies lack of appreciation and promotional opportunities are cited as the most common reasons (67% of lawyers rated these factors as the most important). The least important factor affecting a lawyer's decision to change employers is wanting to work part time; the number of hours worked is not as important an issue.
| What would entice you to stay in current job | Most Important Private Practice | Most Important In-house | Least Important Private Practice | Least Important In-house |
| More money | 76% | 76% | 5% | 3% |
| Promotion | 69% | 72% | 13% | 6% |
| More responsibilty | 49% | 58% | 12% | 8% |
| More client contact | 36% | 23% | 18% | 22% |
| More secretarial support | 30% | 27% | 21% | 19% |
| More secretarial support | 30% | 27% | 21% | 19% |
| Less administration | 32% | 31% | 16% | 19% |
| More appreciation | 52% | 51% | 10% | 8% |
| Better office culture | 47% | 48% | 10% | 12% |
| More benefits | 60% | 48% | 10% | 10% |
| Work part time | 32% | 25% | 40% | 48% |
| Change of practice area | 26% | 13% | 47% | 53% |
Lawyers' considerations when deciding to stay in their current role are money, promotional opportunities and benefits with the least important factor being the opportunity to change practice area. This indicates that lawyers generally do not consider changing specialisations mid-career a reason to leave their existing firm/company.
