“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.”
~ Melody Beattie.
An old man takes his seat on an airplane. The attendant offers him a blanket and a pillow, and helps him settle in. She asks, “are you comfortable?” The old man replies, “I make a living.”
After we earn enough to cover our basis needs, how much more it takes to be comfortable depends on our values. Some people need money for luxury cars, jewelry, big houses in fancy neighbourhoods, and private schools. Others do not.
My medium-sized law firm was not the most profitable firm around. Still, the most senior partners earned between $400K and $500K back in 2016 when I resigned from the partnership. In larger firms, you could double those numbers and then add some more. (In the U.S., the numbers are larger.)
Meanwhile, in 2025 back in the lower echelons of the profession, I hear about incomes starting as low as $60K and young lawyers struggling to pay off their student loans while scraping to pay their rent.
This is the nature of capitalism. Companies strive to obtain labour at the lowest rates that they can, and to earn as much as they can. We hear about companies where the executives make millions of dollars, but have employees with full-time jobs who frequent food banks.
At my first summer job, I sorted metal buckles that had just come out of the blast furnace, with holes in my gloves, and I did it for minimum wage. I only had to do it for one summer. My co-workers had to do it, or something like it, for the rest of their lives. I was grateful to be in school.
As a partner in a law firm, I heard a fair amount of whining that we were working too hard, and that our earnings were too low, although clearly, we were all earning enough to live well and save for retirement. When I heard those complaints, I thought back to my job at the belt buckle factory and the workers who were likely never going to have a better job. It made me grateful for what I had, even if I was earning less than could be earned at larger firms.
The proposed solution to our problem was always that the lawyers had to bill more hours. There was never much talk about what that would do to the mental health of our people, and particularly those with childcare or eldercare responsibilities. There was no talk about being grateful for what we had.
Taylor Swift is reported to have distributed close to $200M in bonuses to her crew on the recent Eras Tour. She did not have to do that. Sure, law firms distribute bonuses to Associates who hit their billable hours target. But partners giving away money just because they earn so much and their people don’t? Don’t make me laugh!
I imagine that law firm partners reading this will say, that sure, if they were a billionaire like Taylor, they would give away millions too. I would not believe them.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.