Lawyers With Prestigious Jobs No Happier, Study Finds

A new  survey of more than 6,000 legal professionals in four states found that having high-level jobs with better incomes did not make lawyers as happy as working in public-service jobs with substantially lower pay. “These data consistently indicate that a happy life as a lawyer is much less about grades, affluence, and prestige than about finding work that is interesting, engaging, personally meaningful, and is focused on providing needed help to others,” concluded authors Florida State University law professor Lawrence Krieger and University of Missouri psychology professor Kennon Sheldon. “The data therefore also indicate that the tendency of law students and young lawyers to place prestige or financial concerns before their desires to ‘make a difference’ or serve the good of others will undermine their ongoing happiness in life.” Also noteworthy: Judges were found to be happiest of all.