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06 December 2024 / Marc Mason
Issue: 8097 / Categories: Features , Profession , Mental health , Career focus
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Tackling the emotional toll of legal practice

Marc Mason explores the benefits of a more reflective form of supervision for lawyers & their clients

Traditionally, supervision in legal practice has been managerial and technical, focusing on ensuring that legal work is completed accurately and in compliance with professional standards. This type of supervision typically involves reviewing case files, ensuring that deadlines have been met, and providing oversight to more junior lawyers. While this form of supervision is necessary for maintaining professional standards, it does little to address the emotional and interpersonal challenges that lawyers face, or to address the human element of the work.

Clinical supervision, on the other hand, is a reflective practice that encompasses the relational and emotional aspects of professional work. It is widely used in psychotherapy and counselling, where practitioners are required to engage in regular supervision to ensure that they are practising safely, skilfully, ethically, and competently. In this context, supervision is not just about reviewing technical skills, but also about exploring the therapist’s experience of their work and

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

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Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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