As the report revealed that two in five lawyers still fear mental health stigma within the workplace, the IBA also identified 10 principles that will improve workplace wellness, built in conjunction with the association’s work on bullying and sexual harassment. According to the report, these principles represent the IBA’s efforts in “fostering awareness and highlighting solutions to the mental health challenges facing the profession”.

Mental wellbeing matters

According to the IBA Presidential Task Force on mental wellbeing within the profession, “no one jurisdiction or section of the profession is unaffected” by these issues.

Tackling these issues, the report stated, is imperative moving forward as employers and professional bodies have both legal and ethical duties to protect and promote the health of their employees and members. If mental wellbeing goes unchecked, the legal profession may be unable to attract and retain the best talent, in addition to lawyers who struggle with mental health being unable to serve their clients at a high standard.

“The Task Force calls for and invites collaborative action to be taken on these issues before more damage is done and to avoid change inevitably being imposed on the profession by outside forces,” the report stated.

Mental wellbeing is not weakness

According to the report, “the notion that someone who is experiencing a mental health difficulty and/or poor levels of mental wellbeing is personally ‘weak’ or in some way unsuitable for legal practice must be refuted. This is necessary in order to foster a culture in which individual legal professionals feel able to disclose mental wellbeing difficulties without being in any way penalised or stigmatised”.

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As mental health in the workplace is a complex issue, the IBA suggests that taking a more “systemic approach” to mental wellbeing will have widespread benefits.

Raising awareness is fundamental

Currently, many in the profession feel unable to speak openly about their mental wellbeing, the report revealed.

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that mental wellbeing is openly acknowledged across the profession, including within regulatory bodies, firms and law schools, as well as for individual legal professionals.

“A sustained focus, with open discussion and dialogue, is necessary to ensure that mental wellbeing becomes and remains a global priority for the legal profession,” the report stated.

A commitment to change, and regular continuing assessment, is needed

Participants in the IBA mental wellbeing surveys confirmed that whilst firms are putting small measures in place, these are not enough – and don’t support sustainable, systemic change.

“It is therefore vital that institutions commit to tangible, sustainable and systemic change. This includes employers and regulators, who need to investigate both the hard and soft approaches to achieving this change, including reforming their working cultures and black-letter health and safety regulations on these issues. This is an ongoing obligation that requires buy-in and commitment from leadership, who need to model the healthy behaviours and working practices they are promoting,” the report stated.

“As well as a commitment to change, a commitment to regular continuing assessment is also needed. This can be read in two ways. First, regular assessment of levels of mental wellbeing within a firm or organisation is required. Second, an assessment of how the commitment to change is being implemented, and its impacts, is also necessary.”

Policies matter

The report noted that policies on mental wellbeing in the workplace must involve employees of all different roles, as well as outline the firm’s commitment to protect and promote their employee’s mental health.

Policies should also outline how the organisation will achieve its mental health goals, including systems for reporting, developing skills and competencies, providing support and resources and links to other relevant policy information, as well as be implemented properly and supported by effective procedures.

Maintain an open dialogue and communication

However, once policies are implemented, it is important for workplaces to foster open communication around mental wellbeing to assist employees further.

“To be successful, it is important that such dialogue is not used to judge the individuals involved, or to put pressure on them to be more ‘resilient’ or strive for greater ‘self-improvement’,” the report stated.

“Instead, the emphasis should be on generating workable solutions and fostering the forms of systemic change required, for example, proactively creating working conditions and environments that are conducive to optimum mental wellbeing and developing ways to acknowledge and learn from mistakes without focusing upon blame and recriminations.”

Address systemic problems

The IBA survey indicates that whilst many individuals have good mental health practices in place, their mental wellbeing is still being challenged by the structures and cultures within the legal profession, indicating that a systemic change is needed.

These structural and cultural issues include poor management training, a lack of basic mental wellbeing support, bullying and harassment within workplaces and the high pressures of some legal environments.

The report stated that “the transition to post-pandemic legal practice provides an important opportunity for firms and organisations, in consultation with their members and staff, to assess their business model, working practices, culture and future strategy.

“Ensuring that the potential impact upon mental wellbeing is factored into decisions and choices in the future has the potential to make a meaningful contribution towards enhancing the mental wellbeing of both individual legal professionals and the legal profession as a whole. Such a strategic integration of mental wellbeing can also have a direct benefit on the sense of belonging of employees, and positively influence talent attraction and retention.”

Recognise intersectionality 

The report also revealed that “issues of equality, diversity and inclusion have an effect on, and are arguably at the heart of, the mental wellbeing of the legal profession.

“The nature and cause of difficulties experienced by specific groups, including younger, female, ethnic minority and legal professionals with disabilities must be understood, acknowledged and tackled,” it stated.

Therefore, developing a meaningful understanding of the needs of specific groups, as well as identifying ways to foster equality, diversity and inclusion within the legal profession, will have extremely positive results for the future of the profession globally.

Share good practices 

Additionally, good practices must be shared between individuals, institutions, sectors, jurisdictions and regional fora in order to ensure that appropriate and healthy ways of working within the post-pandemic legal profession are disseminated and perpetuated, according to the report.

Learn from others

“It is vital that the work and wisdom of other bodies working in this sphere are, and continue to be, shared and discussed,” the IBA Task Force said.

Examples of existing reports and detailed recommendations for mental wellbeing policies, as well as other helpful materials, can be found on the IBA Task Force website.