Charity vows to help lawyers ‘bounce back’

Research published by the charity this week alongside its manifesto ‘For the Bounce Back’ showed solicitors have struggled during lockdown, with about half of respondents reporting they felt overworked and found working from home stressful. The charity gave £1.1m to 399 people as grants during the year (triple the usual number).

The charity found a ‘significant’ rise in support requests from ethnic minority solicitors affected by the pandemic. Its research found nearly 50% of black and 36% of Asian respondents were furloughed by their employer, while a further 30% of black and 46% of Asian people reported feeling overworked and finding home schooling challenging.

Solicitors who work for small firms and sole practitioners were hit hardest, making up 71% of the fund’s beneficiaries.

Its chief executive, Nick Gallagher said: ‘The last year has been a real learning experience―we’ve listened to solicitors across the country in a range of practices and gained a greater understanding of how the profession has been impacted, what individuals really need and how they feel about the future.

‘Our new manifesto addresses the issues they raised and aims to produce impactful positive changes in their lives as they bounce back.’

In its manifesto, the charity pledges to support solicitors with reduced or no work, and to expand its range of support to include career transition counselling, coaching and help with job seeking, work clothing and practising certificate costs. It promises to look into paying membership of support and community groups and how it could help with day-to-day living costs on a short-term or lifelong basis.