With work-related stress among lawyers on the rise since the banking crisis hit the markets, Sofia Lind profiles the work of LawCare, which seeks to help struggling law professionals

In an increasingly competitive legal sector it is understandable that many lawyers are unwilling to admit to human weakness, but those counselling struggling legal professionals believe that the number failing to cope has risen notably in recent years.

As it is, occupational psychologists often argue that lawyers are relatively prone to depression because pessimists – people able to foresee problems – do better at law. In addition, lawyers also tend to see themselves as problem-solvers, and charities such as LawCare think lawyers are therefore often unwilling to seek help.

However, since the financial crisis the charity's helpline, which provides telephone support and advice to anonymous callers from all parts of the legal profession, has had its busiest few years in its 13-year history. Last year, it opened a total of 517 new case files but also said the cases it dealt with required more follow-up than before, indicating more serious problems.

The charity also says that in 2009, its busiest year ever, a quarter of the callers that were able to identify a cause for their problems cited redundancy or fear of redundancy as a major factor. Overall, 26% of the calls were identified to be in some way related to the economic downturn.

Within larger law firms, it is customary to provide a separate support service for lawyers and staff. For instance, at Allen & Overy (A&O), which employs 2,500 staff in London alone, there is an employee assistance programme provided by AXA ICAS, a division of the AXA insurance group that provides 'employee support and health and wellbeing services'.

The programme allows all staff and lawyers to contact external advisers with personal or work-related issues – also including financial difficulties and drink and drug-related problems.

A&O awards manager Laura Jackson comments: "We are committed to the health and wellbeing of our staff and have a variety of measures in place to ensure a sustainable work/life balance. We recognise that there may be times when people experience emotional or stress-related difficulties, work-related or not, and provide a 24/7 employee assistance programme and a chaplaincy service to help people through difficult periods."

At LawCare, the majority of lawyers are calling with stress-related problems. Last year, 74% of callers suffered from stress. Out of the caller total, for 12% the problems had led to clinical depression on follow-up.

Only 7% of those calling LawCare suffered with alcohol addiction, although at LawCare it is thought that the number unwilling to seek help is significantly larger. Similarly, less than 1% of calls relate to illegal drug use but the charity forecasts that the number of lawyers suffering from problems related to drug abuse will rise. Out of those suffering from addiction, 80% cited that stress was the original reason why they turned to drink in the first place.

Having worked for the charity since 2001, LawCare chief executive Hilary Tilby has seen the development of stress-related anxiety within the profession. When asked to identify the main causes of the stress that callers suffer from, Tilby says there are a number of examples but that these could be helped if law firms were being more vigilant on what type of working environment they create for their staff.

She says: "One prime example may be that the lawyer faces a lack of support when they are struggling to handle their workload. These days, few want to raise their voice in those circumstances as they are worried to be placed top of the list if redundancies were to come up. Some partners live in blissful ignorance of what is going on around them."

But there are a number of ways that this can be helped. While larger City law firms have often set up defined processes to monitor and manage stress – even if many practising lawyers are very cynical about how effective these are – smaller firms often struggle even to create a policy on workplace stress.

Tilby says: "Our advice is always to make sure there is an open-door policy in the firm. As a partner you have to make sure that you are available and set time aside if someone wants to talk to you. I also advise them to keep their ear to the ground, making sure they are aware of the atmosphere in the firm."

Commenting on why there is a need for a special helpline service for lawyers, Tilby says that speaking to someone who understands your professional experience is invaluable and it makes it easier for callers to open up to fellow lawyers.

She says: "It helps when you are going through difficulties to speak to somebody who understands your experience. Life is stressful for everybody these days, whether you are a lawyer or you are stacking shelves in Tesco."

All of LawCare's volunteers are lawyers or former lawyers who themselves have suffered from problems in the past, and the charity attempts to combine each caller with the available volunteer who has an experience most similar to their own. The charity, whose counselling is open to solicitors and barristers and the families of lawyers, is financially backed by five major law societies in the UK and Ireland, the Ministry of Justice and the Bar Council.

Jackie Hawken (pictured) has been volunteering for LawCare for around two years. She says that the charity is her ideal opportunity to help people who find themselves in a position she once found herself. As a lawyer in both private practice and the public sector, she was subjected to bullying and suffered low self-esteem, which eventually led to depression and anxiety.

Since then, she has retrained as a holistic therapist and also has also acquired a number of psychology degrees.

She says that the contact between her and a client would normally start with her hearing out the caller about their specific problems in the first call. After listening to the story, she asks a number of questions, such as what the caller is hoping to get out of the contact.

LawCare says a vast majority of its callers are just looking for somebody to talk to, but where something more serious is suspected (such as the 12% found to be suffering from clinical depression) its first point of call is to strongly encourage the caller to seek help from their GP. The body has also built links with a number of private mental health organisations and other private support services.

In her personal experience, Hawken found the GP service extremely helpful and she also wants to encourage those that suffer depressive symptoms that there is no shame in accepting the help on offer from the National Health Services (NHS).

She says: "If you have got to a point where you are calling LawCare, you often don't know how to cope with your situation any more. I tell these callers that based on my own experience I found the doctor very helpful. I also stress that there is no shame in accepting short-term moderate medication to help you get back to a level where you can begin to handle things again."

In order to volunteer for LawCare, you need to have been free from your own problems for at least two years. This is because there is otherwise too high a risk that the problems resurface when beginning to deal with the problems faced by others you are trying to help. The workload is optional and depending on your own circumstances, with the volunteers able to accept or reject clients upon being contacted by LawCare on a case-by-case basis.

The length of time the volunteer and the client remain in contact is also optional, with Hawken stating that sometimes it is just one or two phone calls, while she has some clients whom she has been helping intermittently for up to a year and a half.

"I am available for as long as it takes," she says.

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LawCare

The charity, which was set up by a group of recovering alcoholic lawyers in the 1980s, became a telephone helpline in 1997 after calls from the Law Society of England and Wales for such a service. Initially tied to the Law Society, LawCare has been an independent charity since 2003.

Aside from the helpline, which is manned by 170 volunteers, the charity also visits law firms to make presentations on preventative measures, for example focused on issues such as stress management.

A larger proportion of the callers are female than male, with calls from women counting for around 60% (except in cases of alcoholism, where men make up 59% of callers). LawCare puts the differences down to men being less prone to seek help in periods of distress – although it believes this is getting less noticeable year on year.

LawCare now has around 15 key funders, with the Law Society of England and Wales Charity as the largest contributor. But, with the pressure rising, it is constantly on the lookout for further funding and new volunteers.

To contact the LawCare helpline with a problem call 0800 279 6888, or visit www.lawcare.org.uk for guidance material. The site also provides information about volunteering. The phone lines are open between 9am and 7.30pm on weekdays and between 10am and 4pm on weekends and public holidays and offers advice to lawyers in both the UK and Ireland.

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