Lawyer’s Guide

The process of unfreezing, moving and freezing is disruptive.  We met Isabel Menzies Lyth when we were thinking about nurses’ experience of vicarious trauma [1]. Writing after several decades working as a consultant advising on organisational change in the health service, she made a number of observations about the managing process of change in institutions [2]. (The wisdom below is Isabel’s; the alliteration is mine).   (1) Coping styles Whether

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Heuristics Three years after William Beveridge’s report, George Polya, a Professor in Mathematics at Stanford University in California, published ‘How To Solve It’ [1]. His immediate concern was to help students tackle mathematical problems. In the work he outlined a number of ways in which the problems could be addressed. He adopted a ‘heuristic’ approach. As we touched on earlier, this book adopts a heuristic approach. It looks at a

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Change is an excursion into the unknown. (Isabel Menzies Lyth)   When I told one of my lawyer friends that I was thinking of writing a book about mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession, his terse encouragement was, "Good luck!” Words are imprecise labels and meaning is always conveyed by context, intonation, and assumptions of common understanding. I knew his encouragement was shot through with scepticism, if not

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A while back I wrote a book for lawyers about wellbeing. In it I used three fictional case studies to illustrate aspects of professionals’ experience. This piece is about Chris, a senior lawyer facing burnout through unavoidable pressures. The demands faced by lawyers are really no different to those we all face. Burnout has no favourites. ...   The year started well. Unusually, the office party had been a success

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A while back I wrote a book for lawyers about wellbeing. In it I used three fictional case studies to illustrate aspects of professionals’ experience. This piece is about Beth, a young lawyer beginning to question her career choices. The uncertainties faced by lawyers are really no different to those we all face. Bullies have no favourites. ...   It was pretty much out of desperation when Beth telephoned LawCare

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A while back I wrote a book for lawyers about wellbeing. In it I used three fictional case studies to illustrate aspects of professionals' experience. This piece is about Andrew, an anxious lawyer trying to cope on his own with increasing demands. The internal pressures faced by lawyers are really no different to those we all face. Anxiety has no favourites.   ...   When I look back on all

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