Stress in Law firms

Workloads are becoming increasingly more stressful – but are law firms doing enough to combat the pressure?

The strain to perform at higher levels in this incredibly competitive industry has left many feeling burdened and stressed. It has always been a high pressured job and new research published in Legal Week appears to suggest that law has become more stressful over the last 10years with the advances in technology and growing client demands adding to the anxiety.

Law has long been a vocation that requires its members to be tough and operate efficiently under pressure and it’s this very reputation and unspoken expectations that makes law so difficult when it comes to stress. Many lawyers are reluctant to admit to being stressed and having trouble coping with the demands that are placed upon them. The main fear is that of not progressing in their careers.

But should this mean that just because the job is pressurised it should be regularly stressful?

What more could law firms being doing to help? With this in mind, many UK law firms are beginning to try and tackle this issue, encouraging flexible working environments. Some larger City law firms have also set up defined processes to monitor and manage stress such as at  Allen & Overy (A&O), which employs 2,500 staff in London alone, where they have introduced an employee assistance programme that provides ‘employee support and health and wellbeing services.

New and creative solutions are also now being implemented to help with the balance of work and home life. These include;

• Concierge services (an on-site concierge that provides employees with services such as dry cleaning, oil changes, flower delivery, film developing, watch repair, eyeglass care, mailing services, restaurant food delivery and travel arrangements).
• On-site child care
• Serenity rooms (basically a converted office where people can go for a break, meditation, prayer or a private phone call)
• Wellness initiatives (on site exercise classes, health screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure, Weight Watchers meetings, and health-related lectures on topics such as acupuncture)

So do you think stress is just part of the job when working at a City law firm? Or do you think that firms should be doing more to try and tackle this issue?

Controversial Maternity Policies

It has been revealed that McGrigors is proposing controversial changes to the firm’s maternity leave package. The UK law firm has announced that it is launching a consultation to change its maternity offering which includes proposals for paying bonuses to mothers who return to work and reducing pay for women who take a second maternity within 18 months of the last one.

This announcement comes at a time when  efforts to grow the ­numbers of female equity partners at the UK’s largest firms are failing, according to figures from The Lawyer UK 200 Annual Report 2011.

The lack of female partners has been accredited to a variety of reasons. The key issues however remain the same with few employers adopting flexible working practices that would encourage more women to become partners.

It is widely acknowledged that the large gap between the number of women entering the profession and the number of females achieving partnerships must be closed. The female talent drain is not only costly to law firms, but is costly to women on a personal level. However the overall issue is that the top end of law is a ­really difficult place for women to succeed especially if they want children. With firms like McGrigors now proposing to change its maternity policies, more women could be discouraged from the top ranks.

Employers need to be more supportive of women in the legal profession and encourage staff to feel that they can ask for a flexible working arrangement without this being perceived as a lack of commitment.

Let us know what you think. Do you agree with these latest maternity proposals? What more do you think could be done to increase the numbers of female partners?