Working as a law professional can be very stressful, with overwhelming workloads and emotionally challenging cases. There is help if you need it.
If you need urgent help, contact Samaritans
Free helpline: 116 123 (24 hours a day, 365 days a year)
NHS guidance on dealing with a mental health crisis
Managing your workload
It’s easy to feel daunted by a heavy workload. Breaking tasks down and knowing how to delegate can ease the stress and make it feel manageable.
- Time management – how to plan your time productively
- Stop saying yes and start saying no – how to assert yourself and say no
- How to leave work at the door during the pandemic – dealing with a work/life balance while we're working from home
Learning to manage stress
Emotional resilience is our ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. Our blogs explain how to build emotional resilience:
- Are you an emotionally resilient lawyer? Tips on how to develop your emotional resilience
- How not to be an emotionally resilient lawyer – understanding the behaviours that can undermine your emotional resilience
- Emotional resilience: Stepping outside the drama triangle – rescuer, persecutor, victim: understanding negative roles we can fall into at work
- Escaping low self-esteem – explains the relationship between self-esteem and emotional resilience
- How to deal with angry clients – understanding why a client may be angry, and tips on how to handle them
Improving your wellbeing
Practical tips to help you manage day-to-day stress:
- Five ways to boost your productivity that are backed by science – proven workplace wellness techniques
- Processing your feelings: three options
- How to remain resilient in tough times – straightforward advice you can take up immediately
- We need to open up to each other to save lives – signs to look out for in yourself and colleagues
There are also things your firm can do to support employees with stress.
View our guidance on supporting resilience and wellbeing in the workplace
Support organisations
LawCare
Independent, confidential advice for anyone in the legal community, including solicitors and support staff and their families.
Free helpline: 0800 279 6888
Opening times
Monday to Friday: 9am to 5.30pm
Law Society helpline
You can call our pastoral care helpline 020 7320 5795 if you are experiencing:
- personal
- financial
- professional, or
- employment difficulties.
We will put you in touch with someone who can help.
Opening times
Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm
Mind
Advice on stress and wellbeing. Contact them to get more support.
Helpline: 0300 123 3393
Text: 86463
Find out about call charges
Email: info@mind.org.uk
Opening times
Monday to Friday: 9am to 6pm
Weekends and bank holidays: closed
Samaritans – Wellbeing in the City
Get skills to manage your emotional health and learn how to look out for others, before they reach crisis point.
Podcast
Mental health, wellbeing and the return to the office (30 minutes) – Law Society education podcast
In this podcast, host Eman Hassan speaks with Elizabeth Rimmer, the CEO of LawCare. They discuss changes in ways of working brought about by the pandemic, and the impact of these changes on mental health and wellbeing. They also share some tips for facing the anxiety around returning to the office.
Upcoming webinars
Setting yourself up for sustainable success in the legal profession
This series of three 60 minute live webinars is ideal for anyone working in the legal sector who wants to increase their capacity to manage stress, proactively support their mental health and resilience, and cultivate sustainable levels of high performance.
Date: 17, 24 September and 1 October 2021
Time: 12pm to 1pm
Cost: £75
Location: online
Supporting others and creating a mentally-healthy workplace culture
This series of two 90-minute live webinars will help attendees to understand the psychology of high performers and develop effective practices to promote a more positive mental health culture within law firms/organisations, secure boardroom buy-in, and ensure mental health champions and first aiders are being optimally utilised.
Date: 14 and 21 October 2021
Time: 12pm to 1.30pm
Cost: £95
Location: online
Wellbeing and mental health blogs
Lawyers seek a more effective response to increased levels of anxiety post-pandemic
Mental Health Awareness Week 2021: five ways to embrace change