Singapore: Billable Targets Without Support Are a Primary Driver of Young Lawyer Attrition

Chief Justice Menon's address named incentive structures as the second of five structural pressures, and the framing is worth quoting directly for managing partners: young lawyers "are held accountable for targets, for securing their own clients, for developing profitable practices early in their careers, without adequate support or guidance, despite having limited control over work allocation or fee recovery." His questions to the profession cut to the governance issue: "Do our incentives reward what we should truly value, such as efficient work, sound judgment and ethical practices? Are we realistic in setting the burden of such expectations on our young colleagues even as they are struggling to bridge the gap between law school and the rigours of practice? Should we not be devoting attention to whether the hourly billing model remains relevant in this age of AI?" That last question — whether hourly billing is sustainable under AI — connects the wellbeing and economics conversations: if AI compresses the hours required for high-quality work, incentive structures that hold associates to hourly targets are simultaneously creating financial pressure on the firm and psychological pressure on the associate. The attrition cost of resolving that contradiction incorrectly is now empirically documented.