Why lawyers struggle to switch off is getting worse

While stepping away from work may come easily in other professions, Rayward explained that for lawyers, there is no simple switch to fully disconnect, as their work is deeply intertwined with caring for the people they serve, making their dedication inseparable from the law itself.

“There isn’t this moment, where as a lawyer you go, I’ve got that, I’ve nailed it. I am completely able to detach from all of the challenges that come from the work that I do,” she said.

“Because you can’t, when you’re in a human-centric area of law, the very reason that you’ll be driven to that part of law is [that] you genuinely care for the people, for the impact of whatever it is that they’re navigating.”

Rayward highlighted that a lawyer’s profound care for their clients is a “superpower” that drives brilliance; yet if boundaries aren’t carefully managed, that same strength can quietly become an “Achilles’ heel”.

At the core of the struggle, Rayward revealed, lies the lawyer’s most powerful tool: their mind, which never rests, relentlessly driving excellence yet refusing to ever truly switch off.

“The reality of our work is that our brain is absolutely the key thing, the machine that we need to be able to do what we’re doing in such a super way. You obviously can’t turn your brain off. It is on all the time,” she said.

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While the challenge of disconnecting isn’t new, Rayward emphasised that the explosive growth of technology and changes in the legal landscape have dramatically transformed working conditions, fuelling the relentless, always-on responsiveness that now defines modern practice.

“When I go back to my first year, 1999 actually … we didn’t have emails on our phones. I think I was given a BlackBerry a few years in, but it didn’t do much,” she said.

“Could send some emails, but in a slow way, the mail would arrive at your office, you’d calmly open it and you’d respond to it. Faxes were a big thing, though. They came in fast, but again, there wasn’t this sense of instantaneousness.”

However, Rayward highlighted that technology’s impact on the legal profession is a double-edged sword, unlocking unprecedented freedom and flexibility, while also introducing new pressures and challenges that lawyers must navigate.

“That’s not a bad thing. There are so many wonderful things that have come from [technology], including the ability to work anywhere … I can be all over the place with my kids at dance competitions and still manage my office,” she said.

“So there’s incredible freedom that comes from the things that we’re talking about.”

Yet, with this freedom comes a cost.

As the challenge of disconnecting intensifies, Rayward suggested that the legal profession’s systems and structures have struggled to keep pace with rapid technological change, noting that even government intervention with “switch-off” laws underscores just how urgent and critical this issue has become.

“The trick, I think, I’m not sure, but this is my hypothesis that I’m testing, is that the structures in the systems haven’t necessarily adapted fast enough to accommodate the shift that’s happened with technology, particularly,” she said.

“So we saw the government come in and create laws surrounding the ability to switch off because it was such a problem.

“I think when the government comes in and says, this is a thing that needs addressing, that tells us where it is on the list of things that are important to humans, usually.”