A growing body of research suggests that contemporary law firms face challenges with the retention of legal talent—especially women and racialized lawyers. Yet, we know little about the conditions that prompt lawyers to leave law firms or where they go after leaving. This article builds on the scholarship of John Hagan, emphasizing the role of social capital in law firm culture, and work by Emmanuel Lazega, tracing dimensions of law firm collegiality—both with implications for lawyers’ careers within and beyond law firms. I draw on data from a twenty-seven-year longitudinal survey of Canadian lawyers. Using piecewise exponential survival models, I examine organizational, cultural, and individual factors that may encourage mobility from law firms. The study reveals a pervasive gender difference that is not explained by human capital, organizational characteristics, or individual traits. Results also demonstrate the importance of social capital and firm culture—specifically, the presence of workplace policies of flexible scheduling, lawyers’ sense of a good match with their firm, their satisfaction with status rewards, and finally, the role of mentors—in shaping the flow of legal talent from law firms to various job destinations.

中文翻译：

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旋转门：律师事务所文化的社会维度和律师事务所的出路

越来越多的研究表明，当代律师事务所在留住法律人才方面面临着挑战，尤其是女性和种族律师。然而，我们对促使律师离开律师事务所的条件以及他们离开后的去向知之甚少。本文以 John Hagan 的学术研究为基础，强调了社会资本在律师事务所文化中的作用，并以 Emmanuel Lazega 的工作为基础，追踪了律师事务所合作的各个维度——两者都对律师事务所内外的律师职业生涯产生了影响。我利用了对加拿大律师进行的二十七年纵向调查的数据。我使用分段指数生存模型，研究了可能鼓励律师事务所流动的组织、文化和个人因素。该研究揭示了一种普遍存在的性别差异，这种差异无法用人力资本、组织特征或个人特征来解释。研究结果还证明了社会资本和公司文化的重要性——具体来说，灵活排班的工作场所政策的存在、律师与公司的良好匹配感、他们对地位奖励的满意度，以及最后导师的作用——在塑造法律人才从律师事务所流向各个就业目的地。