The report, Lawyer Wellbeing, Workplace Experiences and Ethics, is based on a survey conducted between March and April 2024, which received responses from 1,900 lawyers across Australia’s three Uniform Law jurisdictions.

The research has also been supported by the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner, the Law Society of NSW and the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.

According to the findings, “around half” of lawyers surveyed expressed the belief that the culture of their workplace was having a “negative effect” on their overall wellbeing.

Specifically, 18 per cent of lawyers reported that the firms they worked for had a “poor culture, characterised by poor relationships with colleagues, incivility, self-interest, and pressure to cut corners and bend rules”.

Vivien Holmes, a professor at ANU and the report’s principal investigator, highlighted that the study has established “a clear relationship between workplace culture, wellbeing, and career intentions”.

VIEW ALL

She pointed out that one-third of the lawyers surveyed indicated a desire to leave their firms, with one in 10 contemplating leaving the profession entirely within a year, mainly due to challenges they face with their workplace cultures.

Professor Julian Webb from Melbourne Law School said: “We found poor culture was statistically associated with higher psychological distress, workplace incivility, and a lack of effective wellbeing support services such as flexible working arrangements, better workload management, and tailored counselling or employee assistance programs.”

The report highlighted several practical measures that firms can take to effectively address this issue, which include the introduction of more flexible working arrangements, improved management of lawyer wellbeing by firms, and greater understanding of the specific wellbeing needs of both junior lawyers and those managing them.

Lana Johnston, principal consultant at Taking It Forward, shared her thoughts on the importance of workplace culture, describing it as the “invisible force” that ultimately determines if wellbeing initiatives “succeed or fail”.

“Without cultural foundations that truly value mental health, even the most well-funded wellness programs become nothing more than window dressing,” Johnston said.

Simone Gigg, the head of people and wellbeing at Hazelbrook Legal, echoed this sentiment, explaining how having a positive workplace culture in place is “key to improving lawyers’ wellbeing”.

To tackle this issue, Johnston emphasised that the initial step for law firms in improving their workplace culture should be measurement.

She pointed out that “forward-thinking firms” are adopting “listening programs to understand their current state before attempting solutions”, where many are uncovering “disconnections between what firm leadership believes about their culture and what lawyers experience day-to-day”.

To foster such a culture, Gigg emphasised the importance of securing “buy-in from the top down”, with leaders and senior team members expected to “model and promote the desired culture”.

When implementing wellbeing initiatives, she emphasised that they should be “meaningful and tailored” to the specific needs of the legal professionals on your team, based on what they feel that “they would benefit from”.

Johnston agreed with this view, noting that leaders within firms “set the tone for any cultural shift”, and when they model appropriate boundaries, “it creates permission for associates to do the same”.

“With mental health concerns continuing to drive talent away from traditional practice, the firms that successfully transform their cultures won’t just improve wellbeing – they’ll gain significant competitive advantage in recruitment, retention, and client service quality,” she said.