Recovery positioning

Law firms have introduced a plethora of mental health initiatives, but LawCare’s helplines are busier than ever. Katharine Freeland looks at what employers should be doing to promote wellbeing

In September 2021, LawCare published its Life in the Law report, examining how the culture and practices of law affect wellbeing. The results were stark: 69% of survey respondents had experienced mental ill-health, including burnout, while one in five had been bullied, harassed or discriminated against at work. The report also revealed that only 48% of those in a management or supervisory position had received any leadership, management or supervisory training.

This is in an industry where many work closely in teams, which have undergone a cultural shift in recent years towards embracing diverse needs and individual working requirements. Three years on and the profession still faces a long list of challenges. The tyranny of billable hours targets, the upending of the workplace through technology and AI, and the differing expectations of Gen Z are just a few of the hurdles that lawyers – prepared for practising law and not business management – face.

LawCare’s report brought into sharp relief what everyone who has practised law knows. The causal factors for burnout are all present: lack of sleep, persistent long hours, pronounced stress and disconnection from loved ones. The law is also a profession that attracts high-functioning achievers who do not like to admit that they are struggling, whether in their personal or professional lives.

‘Many lawyers are capable of living split lives, so they are holding it together at work while their personal lives are suffering,’ says Annmarie Carvalho, founder of The Carvalho Consultancy, which provides therapy and training for law firms and lawyers. ‘It is also common for them to have a delayed reaction to stress, so the fallout does not happen when the firm expects it to.’

Law firms have been aware of a mental health crisis in their ranks for some time. The point was brought home in 2023 by the death of Pinsent Masons partner Vanessa Ford, who suffered an acute mental health crisis after working 18-hour days on the sale of Everton Football Club to a private equity firm. The case prompted an outpouring of concern from the profession, and an open letter petitioning for industry change from the Mindful Business Charter (MBC).

There is no shortage of initiatives to support mental health in the profession, with many firms providing a package of interventions such as mental health helplines, therapists, champions and in-firm support groups.

Yet according to Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, 2024 is shaping up to be the busiest year yet for LawCare’s helplines. While this uptick could be attributed to greater awareness, it is also a worrying indication that the state of mental health in the profession is as bad as ever. Top of the list of concerns from callers is stress and anxiety, followed by depression, then workplace bullying. And any assumption that those struggling are Gen Zs railing against the traditional norms of the workplace is misplaced: many are experienced lawyers with career anxieties.

‘We are seeing an increase in more senior people contacting us for support,’ says Rimmer. ‘Post-pandemic, they are feeling that sense of more responsibility on their shoulders – including having to meet the expectations of a changing workforce who want more flexibility and are less tolerant of long hours, the growing scrutiny from regulators and the impact of evolving technology on legal practice.’

The changes wrought by the pandemic shifted the dial, placing an emphasis on bespoke team management – an additional responsibility for partners focused on getting the deal done. Juggling the expectations of team members – without adequate leadership, management or supervisory training – while meeting billable targets and client expectations is a tough ask. And while most leaders are aware of the importance of mental health safeguards, such as ensuring open communication channels and regular check-ins, these are often the first things to go when the pressure is on.

The explosion in social media also means that news of departures, potential regulatory breaches or client disputes travels fast, so lawyers and business services professionals must be poised to handle this additional scrutiny.

In response, law firms emphasise their efforts to build supportive cultures that promote wellbeing. Billable hour targets, however, remain a perennial stumbling block, rewarding fee-earning rather than building successful teams. Firms that have experimented with team targets report that the highest-achieving individuals are not always happy to have their efforts eclipsed by less defined metrics. Such are the dilemmas firms face in exploring more collegiate ways of working.

What can law firms do better?

Role modelling is vital in fostering a sense of belonging and feeling supported at work. ‘Partners talking about their own mental health can normalise psychological struggles,’ says Carvalho. ‘Being open about their own work challenges and how they were overcome, such as how they dealt with a difficult client for example, is not only practical but shows junior team members they are not alone in feeling uncomfortable with certain work scenarios.’

Embedding a sense of shared responsibility for mental health in firm structures and policies also de-personalises what can be a source of shame for high achievers.

‘Prevention is important – rather than waiting for people to burn out before they access help,’ cautions Rimmer. ‘There are known risks of working in the legal sector that undermine people’s health. Law firms need to forge a healthy culture that prioritises psychological safety at work.’

Pinsent Masons is reportedly trialling a new system that will alert management if lawyers are working excessive hours and are at risk of burnout. As part of a broad range of new wellbeing measures, the move highlights a key point: once someone has reached burnout, they are unlikely to ring a mental health helpline – a facility that was available to Ford. They must be stopped from burning out in the first place.

Sensible clients do not want sleep-deprived lawyers in a persistent state of stress working on their deal – that is when mistakes happen. A double-pronged approach is taken by the MBC, first set up in 2018 as a joint initiative between Barclays, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard. With a mission to ‘humanise the workplace’, the MBC strives to foster healthy and effective working practices that remove unnecessary stress. Openness and respect, smart meetings and communication, regard for rest periods and mindful delegation are the main commitments of the signatories, which include Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest, Ashurst, Moore Barlow, Clifford Chance and Eversheds Sutherland.

‘A key element of the Mindful Business Charter is the idea of permission – that clients and lawyers working together have permission to talk about working hours, out-of-hours commitments, what might be causing grief in the deal, and have a good debate,’ says CEO Richard Martin, former head of employment at Speechly Bircham (now Charles Russell Speechlys). ‘In our experience, talking to each other as human beings only strengthens the relationship between client and legal team.’

Supervision and management training

LawCare provides training on mental wellbeing, management and supervision, vicarious trauma and the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s workplace behaviour rules. Some lawyers have also made the case for ‘reflective’ supervision, focused on how work affects lawyers (separate from ‘case’ supervision focused on the practice of law).

Family Law in Partnership consultant Gillian Bishop was inspired by a chance meeting with psychotherapist Chris Mills, who practises reflective supervision, at a workshop in 2012.

Recognising that stress from the practice of family law can affect the ability to work safely as a lawyer, Bishop worked with Mills to create a training course aimed at lawyers. While focused on family practitioners, the lessons learned are relevant to other areas of practice, and the scheme has piqued the interest of employment lawyers.

Bishop explains: ‘Supervision provides the time and space for reflective practice to develop as a person and as a lawyer. It is simply not sustainable to work with clients – especially in an emotionally charged sector such as family law – and not have supervision.’

The benefits extend beyond the individual. ‘Since offering supervision not one lawyer has left FLiP to go to another firm,’ she says. ‘As well as the personal benefits, there are clear savings for law firms in recruitment and people being off work less with stress.’

According to the MBC, £26bn per year is lost in work-related stress and mental illness costs, while 12 billion days are lost in global productivity.

An ingrained culture of deference in the profession means that decision-makers are not always aware of the culture on the ground. The larger and more dispersed the firm, the more of an issue this can be. At the more bespoke end of mental health provision, mental wellbeing audits can stress-test policies and procedures. ‘Some firms feel that something is not right, but they just can’t put their finger on it,’ says Carvalho. ‘Mental wellbeing audits are an effective way to find strategic weaknesses so firms can implement the best system of mental health support.’

Establishing a healthy culture is the first step towards tackling the mental health crisis in the profession. Some law firms have taken their cue from the success in other business sectors of a relatively new role in the C-Suite: the transformation officer. Unhindered by legacy decisions or the established cultural norms of the firm, the transformation officer has the independence to take a bird’s eye view of practice and culture, before driving through necessary changes.

Sahar Farooqi joined offshore firm Harneys six months ago as a transformation officer to lead change in innovation, culture and inclusion. Although a barrister, he is not a fee-earner.

‘People management can detract from billing, as partners can be pulled in different directions,’ says Farooqi. ‘Many law firms are not interested in buying into transformation unless you can bring a massive book of work with you at the same time. But it is necessary for law firms to make the investment to have the correct evolution of wellbeing in practice.’

Farooqi is working with Harneys’ chief people officer Richard Reid (also a psychotherapist and leadership coach) to conduct a comprehensive review of firm culture and practices, including working in conjunction with professional development body the Maturity Institute.

Growing scrutiny from the SRA and professional indemnity insurers means that failing to implement effective mental health safeguards can have reputational and financial consequences. Updated 2022 SRA workplace guidance makes clear that failure to look after wellbeing in the workplace, including lack of effective supervision, can lead to regulatory action. Serious failures are categorised as a lack of ‘effective systems and controls’. And insurers are taking a closer look at how a firm’s track record on mental health affects its performance.

Martin observes: ‘The insurance industry is very good at crunching data, such as absence records, retention rates and the link between wellbeing provision and health-based insurance claims. They are exploring the impact of mental health on liabilities, which may lead to PII reflecting those risks in the future.’

Do not forget ‘non-lawyers’

Business service professionals make up 40% of people who work in law firms, according to LawCare. Yet with much of the commentary focused on lawyers, they can be overlooked. Although many will have access to the same mental health support, the structuring of this provision needs to be considered from their perspective. ‘If the mental health first-aiders are all lawyers, would someone from the print room or IT want to approach them? If they do not feel comfortable doing so, the question must be “what do we need to do differently?”,’ says Justine Thompson, a cultural and inclusion consultant with over 20 years’ experience in professional services HR.

Hours are not logged in the same way as lawyers, but some business service professionals will pull all-nighters. And when the IT system goes down, frustration can make any commitment to ‘respectful communications’ otiose. Yet for a firm to claim to have a healthy and supportive culture this must be all-pervasive, extending to everyone who is engaged by it.

Many firms have tried to address the imbalance between the status of lawyers and business service professionals through initiatives such as internal awards recognising people’s contributions to the workplace. But more can be done.

Thompson notes: ‘It is important to consider how teams such as business services, admin, HR, IT, finance and comms are perceived and treated by lawyers, as this is a major factor in the sense of inclusion and belonging which is critical for good mental health.’ A LawCare webinar on 10 October will address those below the visibility line, looking at how workplace culture and practices affect mental health in legal support roles.

The question now is whether the various pressure points bearing down on the profession will engender real change.

Bishop says: ‘I feel it is a bit like climate change – everyone knows that mental health is a problem in the profession, but no one knows quite where to start. We have to be willing to try new things and strive to make law a more supportive career for everyone.’

Wellbeing at the heart of business

In September, the Mindful Business Charter (MBC) released guidelines on best practice for firms and in-house counsel:

l Build wellbeing into the heart of your business strategy, recognising that it is intrinsic to sustainable high performance and ethical standards. Be mindful of the demands your business model makes on your people and adopt proportionate risk-based measures.

Encourage senior leaders to role-model and actively demonstrate care for their own mental health and wellbeing.

Identify and support a senior-level sponsor who will champion mental health and wellbeing within the organisation, and actively support and ensure the effectiveness of the actions set out in this guidance.

Recognise that there are factors inherent in the personality characteristics of many lawyers and their professional sense of responsibility, as well as the nature of the work lawyers do, that create additional risk factors for lawyers’ mental health. Take meaningful steps to understand these factors and to support your people in understanding and managing them.

Provide training and resources to all staff, when they join the organisation and at regular intervals, around understanding mental health.

Provide training and/or coaching to leaders and managers on how to promote positive mental health and maintain mentally healthy safe teams.

Introduce performance assessment, promotion and rewards systems that take meaningful account of the behaviours of individuals as well as their financial and other outputs, and in particular the extent to which those behaviours are supportive of the wellbeing of their team members.

Promote the adoption of the MBC by and throughout your organisation as an effective measure to complement the steps set out in this guidance.

The MBC guidance also considers reporting, support, risk assessment and intervention on an individual and organisational level, as well as advice to third-party organisations.

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Katharine Freeland is a freelance journalist