header-logo header-logo

Creating a healthy work culture

05 March 2020
Issue: 7877 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail
16968
Laura Uberoi explains why lawyers should embrace a no- or low-alcohol-focused approach to work events

The Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society (the JLD) launched a new guide—Creating a healthy alcohol culture in the legal profession (the guide) earlier this year. Its aim is not to stop individuals drinking alcohol, but to promote awareness and create opportunities to foster a healthier, more inclusive approach to work-related activities. The guide was featured in nearly every national newspaper and discussed on various radio stations, so why is it attracting so much attention and what can you take from it?

 

Time for change?

 

There are four main factors encouraging organisations and lawyers to rethink their approaches to alcohol:

  • Improved mental and physical health. Harmful drinking is the biggest risk factor for death and ill health among 15-49 year olds in the UK. Since 2017, the JLD has run an annual survey examining the levels of extreme stress and mental-ill health among junior lawyers. This survey highlights that alcohol is a contributing factor to mental ill-health
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll