Behind the mask

Lawyers operate in a high-performance culture, but often give too deeply of themselves, the inaugural Law Society ‘Business of Wellbeing’ summit heard.

The fear of stigma attaching to any disclosure of mental ill-health is a huge issue for workplace wellbeing, the first Law Society Business of Wellbeing online summit heard on 30 September.

And while the law is a noble profession, it can be a draining one, attendees heard.

There was both a moral and a business case for managers at the highest level taking full ownership of mental-health issues among their employees, speakers suggested, but admitted that we were still at the infancy stage of wellbeing interventions being introduced in the legal workplace.

Legal workloads can be significant, which may bring on mental-health difficulties, but lawyers were often expected to display ultra-resilience in the face of extreme challenges.

Law Society past-president Michael Quinlan, who championed psychological wellbeing during his term of office (2017/18), said that that good mental health and good physical health should be held in equal regard: “You go to your doctor if you have a pain, and the doctor may decide to give you treatment or a tablet.

"But, if you perceive yourself to be suffering from a mental-health problem, you won’t go and get treatment, because you could be labelled, or you fear that your job might be in jeopardy.”

Counselling on tap

Incoming Blackhall PPC trainees are now given access to numerous mental-health resources, the summit heard, with counselling sessions on tap.

They also have access to the Law Society’s Professional Wellbeing Hub, as well as LegalMind – an independent, confidential, mental-health support for Law Society members and their dependants.

Psychotherapist Antoinette Moriarty, who is the Law School’s Counselling Service manager, said that the summit’s theme was about encouraging a healthy and productive legal profession.

Helping employees and teams to thrive had the corresponding benefit of improving both business and the bottom line, she enthused.

Moriarty added that younger clients and the next generation of lawyers would drive positive changes in mental health, because they were far more discerning about how and with whom they did business, and were more driven by ethical concerns.

Good business and legal sense

Law Society President Michele O’Boyle said that investing in professional wellbeing made good business and legal sense. Professional wellbeing was now at the core of Law Society training for new solicitors.

Teri Kelly, the Society’s director of Representation and Member Services, explained that the summit was an important part of a much larger project that had the profession’s good mental health as its goal.

Research conducted by the Law Society during 2018 had uncovered high indicative levels of stress and depression in the profession – higher than the average population score in the EU.

The main sources of stress were substantial workloads, high client expectations, and not having enough time to complete work. This was the genesis for the Professional Wellbeing Hub, Kelly explained.

And she added that the stress and uncertainty of the current pandemic had affected people’s wellbeing both privately and professionally.

Taking stock

Speaker Richard Martin spoke frankly about his nervous breakdown, at the height of his professional life as an employment lawyer in London.

This had led to a long period of recovery, and had forced him to take stock of his life up to the point of his breakdown (see his article in the October Gazette, p38).

Martin remarked that, as an employment lawyer, he often dealt with people at stressful times in their lives.

Many leading law firms had worked to raise awareness of the importance of good mental health and had developed better-quality conversations around the issue, he said.

He warned, however, that high stress levels could have a negative effect on work quality. To try to address the issues he had encountered, he had helped to develop the Mindful Business Charter, which nine British law firms and three banks had signed up to in 2018.

Barrister and business coach Katie da Gama said that authenticity and belonging engendered a sense of wellbeing at work.

She described this as being able to ‘show up as me’, without judgment or repercussions. She also offered facts and figures on the business case for wellbeing in the legal profession. 

Fear-inducing cultures

LK Shields partner Jeanne Kelly introduced Stephen Bowcott, chief executive of John Sisk and Son, the largest construction company in Ireland, with 10,000 employees.

“Setting impossible targets creates fear, and fear makes people do unethical things,” Bowcott said.

“Toxic and fear-inducing cultures, and threats of being fired or a comparative ‘leader-board’ culture, can drive employees to burnout, fraud and forgery,” he suggested.

He added that workplace culture had a profound effect, not only on employees, but also on the bottom line.

“Happy and fulfilled employees perform better,” Bowcott said. “Psychological safety, with the ability to speak out about concerns or ask for help – without repercussions – is a key part of that.”

Social and emotional intelligence

Former lawyer and founder of the Wellbeing Republic, Nick Bloy, said that social and emotional intelligence was a key skill for leaders, as was having the courage to care for, and sit with, people who were vulnerable.

“People shy away from those important conversations, because people don’t know how to conduct them,” he observed.

“It also takes courage for leaders to lay down the ‘mask of perfection’. This only increases the suffering of those coming up the leadership ranks.”

Guy Setford described his ‘consultant’ model legal business, which offers a flexible way of working for lawyers. Setford employs lawyers working remotely throughout Britain. “The lawyers who work in the business have choice about everything – they choose what they earn, and they do not have targets,” he explained.

During the webchat question-and-answer session, many delegates gave anonymous, honest feedback, and said that they, and their friends, had left private practice because of greed and unrealistic billing targets in large firms.

Summing up, Jeanne Kelly said that firms needed to be more cognisant of the kind of life that their employees wished to have.

Being a partner in a big firm was not necessarily what people wanted, she observed.

High-performance culture

Matheson partner Tara Doyle commented that the legal profession had a high-performance culture, and that lawyers often gave deeply of themselves in dealing with clients, and taking their burdens to heart.

The difficulties of achieving a work/life balance had been exacerbated during the global pandemic, she said, since employees were being asked to work from a bedroom or study, or perhaps a cramped apartment.

Boundaries

The summit heard that both clients and firms should work together to respect work and home-life boundaries.

One attendee referred to a new mother who, on her return from maternity leave, had been expected to continue dealing with the same unsustainable workload and hours.

In that instance, the client weighed in on her behalf, and essentially forced the firm to give the new mother the flexibility she needed.

UCC psychologist Sharon Lambert said that lawyers who felt stressed should consider going for psychotherapy, and look on it as a ‘facial for the brain’, instead of turning to unhealthy substance use.

Dr Lambert said that working in criminal justice had its frustrations, which led to stress and burnout.

In a fascinating session with mental-health activist Blindboy Boatclub, Dr Lambert was asked about vicarious trauma and whether lawyers could be invested emotionally, as well as professionally, with their clients.

Dr Lambert responded that vicarious trauma could happen for legal practitioners dealing with clients when exposed to, for example, difficult family law or sexual-abuse cases. “How much of yourself are you giving away?” she asked.

“How much of you is left at the end of the day?”

She suggested that, while lawyers might invest energy into trying to compartmentalise the difficulties of dealing with clients, this then took energy away from other important areas.

The summit, which was organised by Julie Breen (Professional Wellbeing Project coordinator at the Law Society) received highly positive feedback from the 700 practitioners who logged in.