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Running about 70 million strong, Generation Y, aka the Millenials, is settling in as the next generation of the American workforce with its own set of beliefs and concerns.

There may be a generational clash of sorts brewing between older attorneys and this segment of the population born between 1980 and 1995.

“One of our biggest concerns is the work/life balance,” says Caroline Conway, a 26-year-old student at Suffolk Law School in Boston. “We prefer less hours and a more casual atmosphere and that’s a good thing.”

While older generations may view that mentality as being lazy, Conway argues it actually makes for better lawyers.

“There’s a law of diminishing returns,” says Conway, who has interned with a solo practitioner and a victim’s legal rights clinic. “If I work 60-70 hours a week and I’m exhausted, how does that help the client?”

Dan Hull, 49, says his firm has seen half of its Gen-Y associates quit or be terminated within their first three months of employment. Hull is a partner with California-based Hull McGuire PC, a multinational firm representing several Fortune 500 companies.

“They seemed to have less energy, less ambition,” says Hull. “There is sort of a little sense of entitlement as to what they should get out of an employer.”

Scott Greenfield, 50, a New York City-based criminal defense attorney, says the mentality is the result of a “backlash” against the baby boomer generation.

“They’ve watched their parents, the baby boomers, as they work their fingers to the bone and got nothing but laid off,” observes Greenfield.

Among the characteristics found in Generation Y by more senior attorneys:

• Higher expectations for time off and quality of life;
• Weaker proofreading skills than older employees;
• Lower standards for written work;
• Less loyalty to their firms; and
• More emphasis on privacy of work e-mail and phone use.

In an attempt to at least partially accommodate these characteristics, some firms have gone the appeasement approach by allowing more relaxed hours and a more casual dress code.
Others say the key to finding the Gen-Y associates who will thrive can be found within the hiring process.

“Just ask them about their work ethic and their commitment to a client,” suggests Greenfield. “They are awfully happy to tell you. And if they don’t, you can see it in their appearance and how they approach you.”

Less sympathetic jurors

Despite what some attorneys view as irresponsible behavior, Generation-Y jurors actually place a great emphasis on personal responsibility. Apart from the workplace, this value system could dramatically affect trials in which they are serving as jurors.

LaVerne Morris, a jury consultant with the national consulting firm Trial Graphix, says the new wave of jurors is more reminiscent of the Depression-era generation than baby boomers and Generation X.

Morris says Gen-Y jurors are generally more defense-oriented and more prone to question a plaintiff about what actions or inactions he or she took that might have ignited the complaint.
“What we are seeing in a lot of med-mal and personal injury cases is Gen-Y jurors asking why [the plaintiff] didn’t get a second opinion. They do not understand why someone would completely trust a doctor.”

Having grown up in an era where the Internet allows them to process the most important information at a moment’s notice, Morris says Gen-Y jurors place more of an emphasis on visuals. Lawyers must take more of a storytelling approach to trying a case.

“They don’t want to hear all the details to substantiate a claim,” says Morris. They want everything up front. They take fewer notes.”

From a client-relation standpoint, Generation Y clients are generally more demanding than older generations.

Margaret M. DiBianca, a Wilmington, Del. employment attorney, has represented a few Gen-Y small business owners. She says a lifetime of Internet use has trained younger clients to avoid the chain of command (unlike Baby Boomers or even Generation X) when seeking instant information.

“They have an entrepreneurial mindset and are very aggressive,” says DiBianca. “They have no problem picking up the phone and going straight to the source. If that means going right to the managing partner of a firm to get what they need, they have no problem doing just that.”

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