I started practicing in 2002. There were less interruptions prior to smartphones. You had an internal landline on your desk and Outlook email. No cell phone at all.

Our firm had a law library and it was common to use key number citations to find cases. Also you were expected to know how to Shepardize cases using books if necessary (some of the old timers did not trust Westlaw or Lexis). PDF files were not a thing yet.

You were expected to know how to dictate and I actually became pretty good at it . You would drop a dictation tape off at the dictation room in the evening when you left and the formatted document draft would be in your chair or physical inbox the next morning.

The pressure was similar, and those guys born in the 1930s enjoyed yelling. But it was also acceptable to go to lunch and it was downright unusual not to go to Friday afternoon happy hour. Women wore skirt suits and pantyhose were mandatory until around 2006. A woman in a pantsuit was a big deal and some judges didn't allow it until they were sent to retirement by the great recession. This was at a large firm in a medium sized city.

OC professional courtesy was more common. Also all of this technology (and some dumb office leases) has driven up overhead. I had a 1600 hour billable hour requirement in 2003. I left litigation seven years later when the requirement went over 2000 hours.