Law360 Canada (April 24, 2026, 11:37 AM EDT) --

Moira Cook

Young lawyers expect to spend their early years learning how to research, draft, negotiate and advocate in court. Those skills are difficult, but at least they are taught openly. A senior lawyer will hopefully demonstrate how to structure a factum, mark up your work and explain what “good” looks like.

What causes a different, often deeper kind of stress at many law firms is everything else: internal politics, unspoken hierarchies and quiet expectations about how to get work, whose work matters most and how much is too much. These unspoken skills are not taught anywhere, yet they shape a lawyer’s early career in profound ways.

Young lawyers are eager to prove themselves and understandably tend to say yes to every offer of work. Then the work starts flowing in from multiple partners. One is “urgent,” another one is “simple.” One partner’s work starts to dominate, but they don’t want to tell other partners that their work isn’t a priority. Young lawyers are left trying to figure out:


This is not a time management issue; it’s a system that transfers the burden of prioritization onto the most junior people at the firm — the ones with the least information and the least confidence to ask questions or push back.

In most firms, there is no centralized system for assigning work or tracking capacity. Files arrive from multiple directions with little coordination. One partner only wants to know about the files they have assigned to you. They are not going to spend the time to help you prioritize your work from other partners. Junior lawyers are expected to estimate how long tasks will take, manage overlapping deadlines and assess their own capacity, all without any training.

The psychological result is that lawyers often operate in a near-constant state of anxiety. There is a persistent fear of falling behind, missing something or angering a partner or client.

The mental load of this kind of work is significant, but mostly invisible. The problem is not that we require young lawyers to do this work — it’s that we don’t teach them how.

When I was a lawyer, I remember a partner pulling me aside and quietly informing me that I should always prioritize Mr. X’s work over any other partner’s work. I was grateful for the insight.

Within many firms, these informal hierarchies are rarely explained outright. Instead, junior lawyers are expected to figure it out, often through mistakes. Learning whose deadlines are flexible and which are not can feel less like professional development and more like guesswork with major consequences.

It is reasonable for junior lawyers to seek clarity. But even that requires nuance. Asking, “What are my priorities?” can seem like you’re asking the partner to figure it all out for you. A more effective approach is to propose a plan: outline current assignments, suggest an order of priority and offer realistic timelines. This demonstrates initiative while also creating an opportunity for supervisors to clarify or adjust priorities.

For larger firms, part of the solution lies in structure. Centralized workload management systems can help ensure that work is distributed with some awareness of capacity, rather than simply flowing to those who are most responsive. Even modest improvements in transparency — clearer expectations around timelines, more open communication about shifting priorities — can significantly reduce unnecessary stress.

But structure alone will not solve the problem.

Lawyers also need practical, realistic ways to manage incoming work. That includes learning how to communicate limits clearly and professionally. For example:

“I’m currently tied up with discoveries on matter X next week, but I could start this the following week. Would that work?”

Or:

“I want to make sure I can give this the attention it deserves. Given my current deadlines, I may need to revisit timing.”

These are not refusals. This kind of gentle boundary-setting takes hidden stress and turns it into clear expectations. Communication is key and can head off issues before they arise.

Young lawyers working in law firms have the benefit of experience and wisdom all around them. Yet so much of it remains inaccessible when it comes to managing workload. Instead of being taught directly, things like unique partner preferences and informal hierarchies are learned through trial and error. It is fair to ask why so much of this remains implicit, when even small efforts towards transparency could significantly reduce the pressure on junior lawyers.

Some degree of sink-or-swim learning is inevitable. The problem is how often young lawyers are left to figure it out on their own.

Moira Cook is a former Toronto estate litigation lawyer and graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School. After experiencing burnout herself she left legal practice and eventually became a registered psychotherapist. She founded Cook Counselling to help other lawyers manage ADHD, anxiety and burnout while finding more balance and fulfilment in their work. Moira offers in-person sessions in Aurora, Ont., and downtown Toronto and virtual sessions across Ontario.

The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, LexisNexis Canada, Law360 Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Interested in writing for us? To learn more about how you can add your voice to Law360 Canada, contact Analysis Editor Richard Skinulis at Richard.Skinulis@lexisnexis.ca or call 437-828-6772.