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Distress calls peak at mental health helpline

Distress calls to legal mental health charity LawCare have almost doubled in relation to stress and bullying.

The support organisation received its highest ever number of helpline calls from British and Irish lawyers in 2018.

LawCare runs a legal profession emotional support helpline which last year fielded 932 calls from 624 callers.

LawCare is the charity that promotes and supports good mental health and wellbeing across the legal community in Britain and Ireland.

Anxiety

The most common reason for calling was stress (26%), followed by depression (19%) and anxiety (11%).

Calls about bullying and harassment have risen from 38 calls in 2017 to 68 last year.  The majority of callers to the helpline were women (64%) and 48% were trainees/pupils or had been qualified five years or fewer.

Other issues included concerns about disciplinary proceedings (8%), career development (9%), chronic illness, alcohol and drugs, and relationship issues.

Elizabeth Rimmer of LawCare, said “2018 was our busiest year to date on the helpline since we started over twenty years ago.

“Whilst we are pleased more lawyers are reaching out to us for support, we remain increasingly concerned about the long hours and heavy workload culture in the law which significantly affects wellbeing.

Wellbeing

“We are particularly concerned about the number of callers citing bullying and harassment in the workplace, it is absolutely essential that legal practice organisations take steps to stamp this out and take the wellbeing and treatment of staff seriously.”

Meanwhile, British judge Sir Geoffrey Vos, head of the British High Court Chancery Division, has condemned “absurdly long hours” in commercial litigation.

He says the workday length is undermining efforts to create a gender diverse judiciary.

To litigate successful, lawyers must dedicate so much time that “there is inadequate time for a proper life”.

“I am talking about the sheer number of hours worked, and the requirement often to be available 24/7 and at weekends,” he added.

Sir Geoffrey said that these very lengthy oral proceedings place a huge strain on advocates and instructing lawyers alike.

The LawCare helpline number is 1800 991 801 in Ireland and it’s open Mon-Fri 9am – 7.30pm, weekends and bank holidays 10am – 4pm.

For more information visit  www.lawcare.ie