Mental Health & Wellbeing for Law Firms

Introduction

This virtual conference focuses on the practical realities of supporting people in high pressure legal environments, with an emphasis on HR led approaches rather than legal doctrine. Across the programme, you will find out how firms can recognise early signs of poor mental health, build trauma informed cultures, understand the financial impact of burnout and create psychologically safe teams where concerns can be raised without fear.

Presented by Beth Pipe and Leah Steele, this virtual classroom session is designed for legal professionals in private practice and in-house roles who want clear, evidence based guidance on fostering healthier, more sustainable workplaces.

Conference Agenda

This live and interactive 4 hour conference will cover the following:

10:30am-11:30am: Supporting Mental Health in Your Team: What to Look for and How to Start the Conversation

Beth Pipe, Cumbrian Rambler

We all know that we need to be there to support the mental health and wellbeing of those in our teams, but how exactly do we do that? In this session we will identify the signs to help you spot mental health issues in the team and how to start a productive conversation.

• Watching out for the early indicators that someone may be struggling - what are the signs you should look for?
• How to open up the conversation sensitively - practical and productive approaches to sensitive conversations
• Protecting yourself - positive steps to keep you on the straight and narrow while supporting the mental health of those in your team

Morning Break

11:40am-12:40pm: Psychological Safety in Law Firms: Moving Beyond High Billers and Bad Behaviour

Beth Pipe, Cumbrian Rambler

This interactive session explores what psychological safety means in law firms, why traditional legal cultures often struggle with it, and how the SRA now expects firms to create environments where people can raise concerns, challenge behaviour and speak up safely without fear of negative consequences.

By the end of the session, participants will:

• Understand the core elements and stages of psychological safety and what it is (and what it is not!)
• Recognise how psychological safety links directly to wellbeing, supervision, ethics and regulatory risk under the SRA guidance and Code of Conduct
• Identify practical steps they can take to improve psychological safety within their teams and firm culture

Break for lunch

1:40pm-2:40pm: Burnout in Law Firms: The Financial Cost and the Interventions that Work

Leah Steele, Searching for Serenity

Burnout in law is still often misunderstood as something that affects other people, when in reality it's a structural, financial issue impacting profitability in most, if not all, firms.

Historically treated as a hidden cost, in this session Leah will show you where those costs already sit in your balance sheet, which interventions deliver the strongest return on investment and why some popular approaches fail to move the needle, or even make things worse.

Learning outcomes:

• Identify the real, measurable costs of burnout within your firm
• Distinguish between burnout interventions that deliver a measurable return on investment and wellbeing initiatives that are largely symbolic
• Use data and evidence to make informed decisions about where to invest time, money and management attention to reduce losses and increase profitability

5 minute Comfort Break

2:45pm to 3:45pm: Building Resilience in Law Firms

Beth Pipe, Cumbrian Rambler

We talk about resilience a lot, but what does it actually mean? And how can we take positive steps to manage, and build, our own personal resilience? In this session the focus is me, me, me as we explore how we can help ourselves build a stronger mindset to cope with everything that work, and the world in general, can throw at us.

• Why building resilience is important in all aspects of our lives
• Getting to the roots of resilience
• How Mindfulness can help
• Overcoming ‘learned helplessness’
• Managing your emotions in a healthy way
• Creating a Personal Resilience Action Plan

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.