The Legal Mind: Recent Episodes
LawCare
Lawyers by their very nature strive for perfection; the profession demands an obsession with details and there is no room for mistakes. Combine this with a heavy workload, long hours and a questioning mind and there is a perfect storm for natural overthinkers. This podcast, from legal mental health charity LawCare, looks at how the legal mind works and offers mental health and wellbeing tips for lawyers and guidance for legal workplaces on how to build healthy cultures which support mental wellbeing.
Trish McLellan, Director of Engagement at LawCare, is joined by Trustees Rachael O’Connor and Kayleigh Leonie to talk about their reverse mentoring project.
In this edition of The Legal Mind podcast, Elizabeth Rimmer, LawCare’s CEO, talks with Sharon Glynn, Director, Underwriting, Bond and Speciality at Travelers Europe, about why law firms should be addressing risks to mental health in the workplace and sharing her insights from an insurer’s perspective.
Rose Donnelly, Engagement and development manager at LawCare, was joined by Reena Parmar, Chair of The Law Society of England and Wales Disabled Solicitors Network.
Rose and Reena discuss a number of topics including Reena’s experiences as a disabled woman from a minority ethnic background, her strategies for managing living with non-visible disabilities alongside a busy career in law and multiple carer responsibilities, her role as Chair of the Disabled Solicitors Network and the disability network she set up at Freshfields.
The Law Society of England Wales Disabled Solicitors Network promotes equal opportunities for people with disabilities within the legal profession. It encourages solicitors to use their experiences and expertise to support aspiring solicitors or colleagues seeking to progress in the legal sector. You can follow their work on their LinkedIn group.
Niamh Warnock, Engagement and Relationship Manager at LawCare, was joined by Fraser Mackay and Tom McGovern, the founding members of Disabling Barriers Scotland.
The podcast talks about this new group, which was only set up at the end of 2022. Fraser and Tom talk about their backgrounds, what motivated them to set up the group, what they have achieved, and what they have planned for the future.
Disabling Barriers Scotland is a support and lobbying group for lawyers with registered disabilities and or issues surrounding neurodiversity.
In this Pride Month special, solicitors Sam John of Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice; Kirsty Limacher of Nexa Law Limited and Sherlock Legal Consulting Ltd; and Laura Thomas of NHS Wales SSP, are interviewed by Helen Randall of Trowers & Hamlins LLP, to discuss all about their roles in people based practice (family law, wills and probate, and Court of Protection respectively) and its interface with mental health.
LawCare’s CEO, Elizabeth Rimmer, talks to Lubna Shuja, President of the Law Society of England and Wales.
In this podcast, Lubna talks about her journey to becoming President, the particular pressures faced by sole practitioners and the importance of healthy workplace cultures to support ethical decision making.
Lubna Shuja is the first Asian, the first Muslim and only the 7th female to become President of the Law Society of England and Wales, which represents 200,000 solicitors.
Lubna works with a number of professional regulators. She is currently an Adjudicator Chair of Social Work England’s Fitness to Practise Committee, a Legally Qualified Chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council’s Fitness to Practise Committee and a Chair of the General Chiropractic Council’s Investigating Committee. Lubna was a Chair of the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service and a Chair for the Disciplinary Committees of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, as well as a Deputy Clerk at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
LawCare's Niamh Warnock talks to Dr Emma Jones, solicitor turned lecturer and Director of Student Wellbeing for the School of Law at the University of Sheffield, about the newly launched resource Fit for Law: part 2 – Working with others.
In this podcast, Dr Jones tells us what has driven her interest in the area of emotional competency and the wellbeing of law students and lawyers and gives us an insight into what we can expect from the newest resource in the series which was launched in March 2023.
Fit for Law is a series of online resources designed to provide education to legal professionals to address issues relating to emotional self-regulation and wellbeing. Go straight to Fit for Law: www.fitforlaw.org.uk.
In this episode of our podcast LawCare’s CEO Elizabeth Rimmer talks with Dr Martyn Bradley, a lecturer and Deputy Director of Studies at the University of Liverpool’s Management School. They discuss Dr Bradley’s recent research concerned with the experiences of fathers working in the law and the ongoing difficulties they face in managing family responsibilities whilst simultaneously being expected to prioritize work over, and segment work from, family. Findings and accounts provide insights into the culture of law which listener-practitioners might find both familiar and alien.
Webpage link - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/management/staff/martyn-bradley/
Banter is part of every day life, and in the workplace can help build relationships and a sense of belonging, but it can cross the line and lead to people feeling uncomfortable, excluded, harassed or discriminated. In this episode Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, talks with Stella Chandler, Director of Development at Focal Point Training, about banter. Stella is an experienced trainer, facilitator and coach who works with clients to tackle inappropriate behaviour in their organisations and build inclusive cultures.
In this podcast Stella shares her insights and research Focal Point have done with CISI (Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments) into workplace banter and the negative long term impact this can have on both people and organisations, and the practical steps organisations can take to manage banter and build people's confidence to call it out.
LawCare champion and LawNet’s Peter Riddlestone hosts a discussion with LawNet members Fran Ibson, Alex Langley and Richard Carter about the steps they are taking in their firms to ensure supporting the mental health of their staff is not a box ticking exercise and the positive impact this is having on the culture in their firms. Fran Ibson is a Senior Associate at Stamp Jackson & Procter Limited, Alex Langley is the HR business partner at Debenhams Ottaway and Richard Carter is Managing Partner at Martin Tolhurst Solicitors. LawNet has been supporting independent firms for over 30 years. Mutual and member owned, LawNet has developed a wide range of services and initiatives to help members stay ahead of their competition, reduce costs, improve efficiencies and profitability.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to sustainability consultant and Seattle based lawyer Nicole DeNamur about how your physical office, or home office, environment can affect your physical and mental wellbeing, your productivity and your performance.
Find Nicole on Linkedin, read her blog on Medium , visit her website or feel free to reach out to her directly on nicole@sustainablestrategiespllc.com
LawCare's Gemma Matthews speaks to Nicola Green, workplace menopause expert and former conveyancer about how menopause can affect women at work and what workplaces can do to support them.
Find out more about Nicola at https://www.nicolagreenconsultancy.co.uk/
LawCare's Gemma Matthews speaks to Carla Hoppe, Founder of Wealthbrite, about financial wellbeing in the legal profession and the link between money worries and mental health.
Find out more about Wealthbrite at https://www.wealthbrite.co.uk/
LawCare's Gemma Matthews is joined by Dan Kayne, former GC and founder of The O Shaped Lawyer to talk about what they are doing to help to change the culture in the law and how putting people first is essential for the future of the profession. Since this episode was recorded, The O Shaped Lawyer has now partnered with BPP and BARBRI law schools as well as law firm Browne Jacobson.
You can find out more about The O Shaped Lawyer on their website.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews is joined by Dr Anna Topakas, a Lecturer in Work Psychology at the Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield to talk about loneliness at work. They discuss what it is, how it can affect people and what workplaces and managers can do to alleviate it.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews speaks to former barrister now international mindfulness advocate and author Neil Seligman about conscious leadership and the importance of being a good leader in the law.
You can find out more about Neil at https://neilseligman.com/
LawCare's Gemma Matthews is joined by Trevor Worth, Chief Executive and Founder of Portcullis Legals who moved to a 4 day week in 2019. He talks about how they did it, what benefits they've seen and why they also increased salaries at the same time.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to Karen Jackson, Founder-Director of didlaw, expert in employment and discrimination law, and LawCare champion about bullying in the legal workplace.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to former litigation lawyer turned coach Adam Carvalho about toxic productivity in the legal profession, what workplaces can do to manage it and the benefits of unstructured time and taking a break.
You can find out more about Adam at https://carvalhotherapy.com/
We listen in on a conversation between Gillian Bishop and Chris Mills on the importance of good supervision in the legal profession.
Gillian Bishop is a solicitor and children law arbitrator. She is the founding partner of Family Law in Partnership Ltd in London. The niche family law firm was set up 26 years ago and was the first in the country to offer in house counselling for clients. Gillian started having supervision with Chris Mills nearly 8 years ago and introduced it to the rest of her colleagues soon thereafter. Now a consultant with the firm Gillian spends her time providing reflective supervision to lawyers in other firms, having trained through FLiP Faculty, as well as championing the need for wellbeing to be top of the agenda of all law professionals.
Chris Mills is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor who began working alongside family lawyers in 2006. Initially this was in collaborative divorce settings, but gradually came to include psychological debriefing sessions for lawyers working on particularly stressful cases. In 2012 he began providing regular reflective supervision for individual lawyers. The scale and reach of this has grown rapidly since working with Gillian Bishop, including running a training in family law supervision through FLiP Faculty. One of Chris’s early supervisees, now a senior partner, has said that she would no longer consider practising as a family lawyer if it didn’t include regular supervision.
Anyone interested in having supervision can access the up to date list of supervisors via www.familylawsupervisors.co.uk
If you are interested in training as a supervisor email help@flipfaculty.org for more information
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to a former Corporate Lawyer turned Corporate Wellness Consultant Charlène Gisele. Lovingly dubbed “The Soulicitor” by clients, she advises founders and partners from some of the world’s top law firms on how they can optimise their health and wellbeing using a combination of ancestral principles and new-age biohacking techniques.
They talk about the 12 steps of burnout, why lawyers are at risk of high burnout and tips for avoiding or recovering from burnout.
You can find more about Charlène on her website charlenegisele.com
LawCare's Gemma Matthews is joined by Oliver May, barrister at No5 Chambers, a member of the Bar Council Disability Panel, and the Vice Chair of Neurodiversity in Law and Ailsa McKeon, a barrister at 6KBW College Hill Chambers and a Champion for Neurodiversity in Law.
We talk about what we mean by neurodiversity, why neurodivergent people are more at risk of poor mental health, and what workplaces can do to be more inclusive to neurodivergent individuals.
More information about Neurodiversity in Law visit http://neurodiversityinlaw.co.uk/
LawCare's Gemma Matthews speak to counsellor Karl Harter for Mental Health Awareness Week about therapy outdoors, how being outside can improve our mood and how nature can help us be more mindful.
Find out more about Karl at https://reachforhelp.co.uk/
Karl also mentions Jay Clarke from Therapy Up North https://www.therapyupnorth.co.uk/
LawCare's Gemma Matthews speaks to lawyer and nutritional consultant Kristy Coleman about the gut/brain connection, eating for good mental health, common bad habits around food in the legal profession and top tips for eating well when working from home.
You can find Kristy on Instagram or Linkedin.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to Joanna Fleck and Rachel Francis,founders of Claiming Space, about vicarious trauma in the legal profession.
For more information on Claiming Space visit https://www.claiming.space/
You can order their book here Vicarious Trauma in the Legal Profession: a practical guide to trauma, burnout and collective care
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to counsellor, LawCare volunteer, author and non-practising solicitor Angus Lyon about how talking helps, lawyer mindset, starting a conversation about mental health and how to keep positive and resilient over the next few months.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews asks her colleague Mary Jackson about bereavement, grief and loss.
LawCare's Gemma Matthews talks to author, alcohol free adventurer, entrepreneur and co-founder of One Year No Beer (OYNB) Andy Ramage about how a tactical break from alcohol could be just what you need to reduce your anxiety, sleep better, feel happier and perform better at work.
Find out more about Andy at https://www.andyramage.com/ and follow him on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter
To launch LawCare's new research study Life in the Law we listen in to a conversation between two members of LawCare's research committee Nick Bloy, former lawyer, now Executive Coach and founder of Wellbeing Republic and Professor Richard Collier from the University of Newcastle. What is it about the culture and practice of law that can affect mental health and wellbeing?
You can take part in the research study at lifeinthelaw.org.uk
Are you feeling stressed and overwhelmed? Have the past few months taken their toll? LawCare Champion and in-house legal counsel at Shell Susan Lamb discusses top tips for handling stress and adversity in these challenging times with her colleague Danielle Young, Human Performance and Care Lead for Shell Europe.
Keeping things in perspective, perfectionism, re-programming your brain, self-care and self-awareness are all discussed in this engaging and practical podcast.
Have you got digital overload or zoom fatigue? Are you on screens all day and worried about your digital use? Do you feel constantly distracted? LawCare Champion and solicitor to solicitors Paul Bennett of Bennett Briegal LLP discusses digital wellbeing with leading expert Laura Willis of Shine Offline.
Hints, tips and challenges are explored in an engaging podcast which focuses specifically on what law firms and their people can do to improve digital behaviours and make sure technology enhances their working and personal lives.
For more information on Shine Offline visit https://shineoffline.com/
Specialist Sleep Physiologist and Channel 4 sleep expert Stephanie Romiszewski,
Director of the Sleepyhead Clinic, joins LawCare's Gemma Matthews to give us her top tips for a better night's sleep.
Stephanie also works as a Sleep Specialist for the NHS wellbeing team for staff and runs NHS neurological sleep services for the public.
Find out more about online sleep consultations and treatment programs with Stephanie at www.sleepyheadclinic.co.uk
For Stephanie’s top tips and latest articles on sleep follow her on Twitter and Instagram.