The ‘S’ Word: Stress and the Legal Profession

This chapter begins by focusing on stress, a key issue raised by many in the study. It considers the theoretical meaning of this term and explores how it is conceptualised within the legal profession. This includes discussing key stressors and destressors and linking these to the themes highlighted in previous chapters. It moves on to focus on the reactions and responses to stress (and other mental health and wellbeing problems) that have been identified by legal professionals, including a number of dysfunctional coping mechanisms such as alcohol and substance abuse. It also considers more positive responses (such as yoga) and explore to what extent these alone can impact on the issues facing the profession.

The Daily Toil: Interactional Demands and Difficulties

This chapter explores the interactional demands placed on legal professionals. These include meeting the demands of clients, dealing with vulnerable clients and balancing the needs of clients with the ethical and professional obligations and requirements placed on legal professionals. It also explores the nature of many legal professional’s relationship with their colleagues, which can range from providing a supportive network to potentially creating a toxic working environment. In particular, it considers the way in which the structure of the legal profession results in those who succeed as lawyers being promoted to become managers, despite the potentially very different skillsets involved. This can lead to significant issues with mental health and wellbeing for both the team members involved and the manager themselves.

Law as a Commodity, Individuals as Packages

This chapter explores perhaps the largest theme to emerge from the study, the cultural and structural factors which influence mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession. It begins by contrasting the expectations of legal life with the reality of the lived experience and identify a range of features which contribute to this (including pressures to meet billing targets, a long working hours culture and other potentially harmful norms). It also considers some of the underlying issues around equality, diversity and inclusivity which continue to impact upon the structure of the profession. The discussion links these to key theories examining the link between complicity and the normalisation of extreme demands. Overall, this chapter argues that these cultural and structural factors require challenging and changing to enable healthier working practices to embed themselves within the profession.

Catch ’em Early: Making a Lawyer

This chapter explores how a number of the issues around mental health and wellbeing faced by the legal profession can be traced back to the legal education and training provided. Drawing on an international evidence-base relating to the wellbeing of law students, it considers how the professional identity formation of many professionals begins at an early stage and often involved the absorption of potentially unhealthy norms and expectations. In particular, it explores the notion that studying and practising law has a certain status and thus those who follow this route are in some way special or different – one of the key themes identified in this study. The chapter also considers the challenges which can arise when individuals enter the profession but are not provided with adequate training and support, often facing harrowing and difficult situations and cases, but being expected to simply carry on regardless.