Speed kills

Many lawyers are overpressured and unhappy because they've ended up with an assembly-line approach to their work. They've discovered that the reward for greater efficiency in their job is not more time off, but more work. They don't get to enjoy the time that their increasing expertise saves - they just plow it back into the next file on the desk. Thanks to the billable hour system, speed has become a matter not only of pace for lawyers, but also of volume. It's not just the hour you spend at the office - it's how much billable activity you can cram feverishly into that hour. Lawyers fear wasting a single drop of time - it's the fuel that powers their revenue. The faster they work, the more "efficient" the fuel becomes - and never mind the damage to the "vehicle."