How often do you consider your career in terms of the emotions it elicits?

A new study from Dr Stefanie Gustafsson and Professor Dan Kärreman (Copenhagen Business School) demonstrates that those in the legal profession go through four distinct stages as they move up the ladder, each characterised by different primary emotions and socioemotional dynamics.

Over time, through a combination of organisational career practices and interactions with partners, lawyers become increasingly invested in the firm, develop emotional attachment to the partnership and regulate their aspirations and behaviours.

“There is a lot of literature around individual career management strategies and organisational promotion practices, but we were interested in the ‘felt’ experiences and exploring the emotional aspects of employment,” says Stefanie, a member of the Future of Work Research Centre and Director of Studies for the School’s PhD programme.

“Professionals’ careers are suffused with emotions – some of the lawyers we interviewed used phrases like ‘love’ when talking about partnership and felt great pride when being promoted.”

The qualitative study involved a total of 50 interviews with lawyers and HR professionals working in law firms of various sizes across London and the south west of England. The questions focused on the interviewees’ experiences of becoming a firm partner, and their answers showed strong common themes of a progression from rose-tinted glasses through to eventual disillusionment.

Stefanie also believes that these learnings could be applied to other top careers. “HR departments and line managers should consider developing coping skills and providing support in professional cultures where success is celebrated but failure is frequently stigmatised,” she adds.

Embarking upon a legal career is accompanied by positive emotions, with aspiration at an all-time high. New law graduates see partnership as the ultimate goal, and view the partners in their firm as supportive mentors who can advise and guide them. As a result, they develop strong positive associations with the role and their career.

When a lawyer is being considered for promotion, their emotions intensify and take a turn to the negative. They experience anxiety, uncertainty and projective shame in anticipation of failure. Partners are now seen as gatekeepers and lawyers spend their days on tenterhooks and regulate their behaviours.

Once lawyers make it to partner level, they feel like they’ve ‘won the glittering prize’, and talk about feeling proud and joyful. Over time, the emotional bond with the partnership has deepened and by being promoted, the collective interests of the partnership are emphasised.

In the longer term, euphoria gives way to prolonged pressure to perform, continuous regular performance evaluations and ongoing scrutiny by fellow partners. As one interviewee described it, “It’s like wading through treacle to get to the promised land and finding [...] just more treacle".