New research showed that overwhelm among lawyers is closely tethered to the culture of the profession; it explored the problematic job-identity nexus.
Lawyers On Demand (LOD) has released the Overcoming Overwhelm report, which explored the feeling of overwhelm – in particular, the consistent urgency and precision that is expected of legal professionals.
LOD founder Simon Harper said: “The majority of us [are] trained in law firms, where the very business model is predicated on us recording our time on acting and solving whatever problems our clients perceive.”
Moonlight Strategy founder and organisational psychology practitioner Barbara Patchen said: “Over time, your brain has been trained to associate this kind of urgency with performance, purpose, even safety. Cortisol spikes. And when you fire off a rapid reply, your brain delivers a hit of dopamine-relief, satisfaction, [and] control. The cycle repeats.”
Above and below the line
There are two modes of operating, the provider said, above the line and below the line.
Above-the-line thinking is led by the prefrontal cortex – in this state, your brain is curious, creative, open to feedback, and, as a result, you are resourceful, self-aware, and able to adapt tools you rely on as a high-knowledge worker, it said.
Below-the-line thinking involves your brain’s threat detection system, involving your amygdala – in this state, your brain is in survival mode, triggering defensiveness, control blame, or people pleasing, often unconsciously; you’re not solving problems, you’re protecting yourself, it added.
“Most of the strategies lawyers use to cope with overwhelm reinforce below-the-line behaviour,” Patchen said.
The provider said: “More than 50 per cent of lawyers reported experiencing burnout at close to twice the rate of the general workforce.”
Cultural demands
Patchen found that the culture of the law profession has confused overextension with professionalism.
One in five practitioners experience anxiety (19 per cent), problematic drinking (21 per cent), and nearly one in three have experienced depression (28 per cent), the report found.
Patchen spoke with a lawyer who said: “Instead of getting overwhelmed, I asked myself what if I caused this email thread with how I am responding to these questions being asked of me? What could I do differently to shape a better reaction? That moment forced me to radically simplify how I communicate.”
Getting thrown into the deep end on day one, the “error-free” expectation, personally identifying with the profession, constant urgency, and the “always-available” mindset are the roots of overwhelm in the profession, the report said.
Overcoming overwhelm
Harper reflected on his favourite strategies for avoiding overwhelm during his legal career.
His first recommendation was to “embrace the uncertainty”.
“While clients often expect their lawyers to sit firmly on the control end of the spectrum, we do have the choice to embrace uncertainty. It’s not just personally useful, it also benefits our organisations,” he said.
“Rigid plans rarely work in 21st-century business, which thrives on flexibility, adaptability and adjustments as we learn along the way.”
Secondly, he recommended that practitioners “adopt a bias for simplicity”.
He said: “In our roles of reducing risk, we tend to think that covering as many bases as possible means we’re doing our jobs better.”
“Keeping things simple doesn’t necessarily take less time, but it does reduce cognitive overload and gives us more space in our brains to think clearly.”
He added: “When the interdependent components of a task are reduced, our ability to cope with this is greater. By keeping it simple, we not only reduce feelings of overwhelm but also reveal root causes and avoid blind spots.”
Finally, he suggested that overwhelmed lawyers “consider doing nothing”.
He said: “Doing nothing is a legitimate strategy. The ability to decide ‘no’, or at least ‘not for now’, is a strategic skill [that] both maintains focus on key objectives and avoids burnout. It requires careful communication [with] anyone expecting you to ‘do something’, but this is time well invested.”
“It is often not just an effective strategy for overwhelm but for good decision making.”
