As an attorney, I’ve worked under several leadership teams at Liberty Mutual, and for years the company never seemed to understand why attorneys were leaving. At one point, they even gave us a 7% raise across the board to bring our pay up since it was so low compared to other insurance companies, seemingly believing that more money was the answer. It wasn’t. People still left.
Then we got a new Regional General Attorney, and for the first time, Liberty Mutual got it right.
She didn’t retain people because of compensation—she retained people because of leadership. She took the time to get to know every attorney. She mentored anyone who asked. She made herself available, no matter how busy she was. Most importantly, she made people feel like actual people instead of production numbers. For the first time in my career here, it felt like someone in leadership genuinely cared about us, understood what we dealt with, and gave attorneys a voice.
People stopped talking about leaving. They weren’t staying because of the paycheck, they were staying because they finally wanted to work for their leader.
Unfortunately, that only lasted about a year.
As soon as she left, it felt like the culture immediately reverted to what it had always been. Managers are once again talking down to attorneys instead of leading them. They vent their own frustrations to us instead of supporting us. Caseloads continue to grow, quality takes a back seat to metrics, and there is little to no meaningful opportunity for growth.
The saddest part is that Liberty Mutual had proof that a different culture worked. They saw firsthand that people don’t stay because of a 7% raise—they stay because they feel respected, supported, and valued. Yet somehow that lesson was lost.
Today, many attorneys are interviewing elsewhere, myself included. Several of the best attorneys I know are leaving because we no longer believe things will improve. The company didn’t just lose an exceptional Regional General Attorney, it lost the trust and optimism she created.
It’s incredibly disappointing to watch. For one brief year, Liberty Mutual showed us what this legal department could become. Then it all disappeared. I’ll be joining many of my colleagues in moving on, and that’s unfortunate because this didn’t have to happen.
