header-logo header-logo

Mind over (business) matters

08 October 2020 / Claire Williamson
Issue: 7905 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail
28854
The right mental health initiatives can support your people & your firm’s bottom line, says Claire Williamson

Working in the legal industry is demanding. With a culture where the extremes of the job are often applauded—late nights, tight deadlines, being constantly accessible by technology—it is little wonder that a quarter of junior lawyers have described their stress levels as severe, with one in 15 reporting that they had experienced suicidal thoughts. These shocking revelations in the Law Society Resilience Report 2019 (LSRR) sent ripples around the legal community (https://bit.ly/2GuWjS0).

Add in the challenges of the current climate and it is no surprise that 81% of firms in a Leading Minds’ survey reported increased requests from employees with their mental health since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

Struggles with stress

Many solicitors are not simply experiencing stress, but struggling with it, which is going to have a huge impact on individuals’ health as well as a firm’s performance. Employees who are stressed are not working

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

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll