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According to the Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Report 2024, only 61% of respondents to the recent Barristers’ Working Lives Survey felt satisfied with their jobs.
While 60% reported that they had good mood, over a third said they tended to feel down or in low spirits (34.9%) and just under a quarter (23.7%) indicated low levels of psychological wellbeing. The figures – apparently an improvement on the previous survey – do not make happy reading and speak to the pressures that we are all under.
As we know, a career at the Bar is no small feat. At the self-employed Bar we manage our own business and constantly need to keep an eye not only on the cases that we are working on, but on our future practice. What else do we need to be doing? Who else do we need to connect with?
Gone are the days where we can just sit at our desk and wait for the work to come to us. People like to instruct those they work well with and who will be a good part of the team. To determine that, they need to get to know us and often in a setting where everyone feels comfortable.
At the employed Bar, barristers face similar pressures but from within. They need to stay on top of their own internal networking and ensure that they are doing everything they can to work towards the objectives set by their firm and achieve any internal promotion.
So networking is key, but the demands of networking can add its own pressures to an already time-scarce profession. If you are working to a deadline, the last thing you may want to do is go out for drinks but, at the back of your mind, you might have the niggling thought that you really should go. Throw in childcare and other caring responsibilities and the task of squeezing in some networking seems almost impossible.
This was a conundrum I found myself in when I had my daughter Matilda, who is now two years old. I would be leaving for Chambers early in the morning (even trying to squeeze in a gym session) and not getting home until very late in the evening. Throw in some international work commitments and Matilda would basically not be seeing me for large chunks of time, plaintively asking: ‘Is Mummy working?’
I had also started looking after myself with regular exercise and good nutrition and no longer saw the attraction of going to drinks events with lots of canapes. As someone who had always believed in the power of networking and human connection, I found this conundrum a difficult one. I wanted to network but no longer saw the appeal of doing it in the same way.
One evening, while discussing this problem with Charlotte Hill (a partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper), we decided to do something about it – to try and change the way people think about networking, and how they are expected to network.
We created ‘A Mindful Lawyer’ (or AML as we like to refer to it) which is a network bringing together small groups of legal professionals (solicitors, barristers, legal experts or anyone working with legal professionals), to do different types of networking at different times of the day.
Of course, we still host drinks events every now and again, but many of our events focus on something totally different entirely. So far, we have hosted a dedicated spin event at Psycle, a Mindful Sunrise Yoga Session at the Sky Garden, and an afternoon of wine tasting at Denbies Vineyard, Surrey (pictured). While some events do take place in the evening, we mix it up with events in the morning, afternoons and lunch time ensuring that we can offer something for everyone and with accessibility and inclusivity always in mind.
We also want to explore and facilitate important discussions on the issues that are important to legal professionals. We hosted a dedicated International Women’s Day panel discussion in March and a Coaching Leadership Workshop (with Optimising Potential) in May. Next year we will be hosting a dedicated coaching session on combatting imposter syndrome.
We don’t make any profit from this venture. Charlotte and I just do it because we ourselves wanted to network differently and meaningfully. In less than a year of running AML, it has been a huge success. There are waiting lists for many of our events.
For me as a self-employed barrister, I have been able to expand my professional networking doing things that I actually enioy. Using my spare time in a way that I actually want to – and yes, I have had instructions as a result of a new connection that I have been able to make at an AML event.
And that is the key point, isn’t it? Life is short and when you have the luxury of being able to take a break from work, you want to spend that precious time wisely. Please follow the AML page on LinkedIn to check out what events are coming up and our website ( www.amindfullawyer.com) will be live soon. Join us in ‘networking differently’.
Bar wellbeing support includes www.wellbeingatthebar.org.uk and a 24/7 helpline on 0800 169 2040 for self-employed barristers with a practising certificate and members of the IBC and LPMA. Other sources of support include LawCare on tel: 0800 279 6888 (Mon-Fri, 9-5) or email: support@lawcare.org.uk; the Samaritans on tel: 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.org; and international helplines at: befrienders.org
According to the Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Report 2024, only 61% of respondents to the recent Barristers’ Working Lives Survey felt satisfied with their jobs.
While 60% reported that they had good mood, over a third said they tended to feel down or in low spirits (34.9%) and just under a quarter (23.7%) indicated low levels of psychological wellbeing. The figures – apparently an improvement on the previous survey – do not make happy reading and speak to the pressures that we are all under.
As we know, a career at the Bar is no small feat. At the self-employed Bar we manage our own business and constantly need to keep an eye not only on the cases that we are working on, but on our future practice. What else do we need to be doing? Who else do we need to connect with?
Gone are the days where we can just sit at our desk and wait for the work to come to us. People like to instruct those they work well with and who will be a good part of the team. To determine that, they need to get to know us and often in a setting where everyone feels comfortable.
At the employed Bar, barristers face similar pressures but from within. They need to stay on top of their own internal networking and ensure that they are doing everything they can to work towards the objectives set by their firm and achieve any internal promotion.
So networking is key, but the demands of networking can add its own pressures to an already time-scarce profession. If you are working to a deadline, the last thing you may want to do is go out for drinks but, at the back of your mind, you might have the niggling thought that you really should go. Throw in childcare and other caring responsibilities and the task of squeezing in some networking seems almost impossible.
This was a conundrum I found myself in when I had my daughter Matilda, who is now two years old. I would be leaving for Chambers early in the morning (even trying to squeeze in a gym session) and not getting home until very late in the evening. Throw in some international work commitments and Matilda would basically not be seeing me for large chunks of time, plaintively asking: ‘Is Mummy working?’
I had also started looking after myself with regular exercise and good nutrition and no longer saw the attraction of going to drinks events with lots of canapes. As someone who had always believed in the power of networking and human connection, I found this conundrum a difficult one. I wanted to network but no longer saw the appeal of doing it in the same way.
One evening, while discussing this problem with Charlotte Hill (a partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper), we decided to do something about it – to try and change the way people think about networking, and how they are expected to network.
We created ‘A Mindful Lawyer’ (or AML as we like to refer to it) which is a network bringing together small groups of legal professionals (solicitors, barristers, legal experts or anyone working with legal professionals), to do different types of networking at different times of the day.
Of course, we still host drinks events every now and again, but many of our events focus on something totally different entirely. So far, we have hosted a dedicated spin event at Psycle, a Mindful Sunrise Yoga Session at the Sky Garden, and an afternoon of wine tasting at Denbies Vineyard, Surrey (pictured). While some events do take place in the evening, we mix it up with events in the morning, afternoons and lunch time ensuring that we can offer something for everyone and with accessibility and inclusivity always in mind.
We also want to explore and facilitate important discussions on the issues that are important to legal professionals. We hosted a dedicated International Women’s Day panel discussion in March and a Coaching Leadership Workshop (with Optimising Potential) in May. Next year we will be hosting a dedicated coaching session on combatting imposter syndrome.
We don’t make any profit from this venture. Charlotte and I just do it because we ourselves wanted to network differently and meaningfully. In less than a year of running AML, it has been a huge success. There are waiting lists for many of our events.
For me as a self-employed barrister, I have been able to expand my professional networking doing things that I actually enioy. Using my spare time in a way that I actually want to – and yes, I have had instructions as a result of a new connection that I have been able to make at an AML event.
And that is the key point, isn’t it? Life is short and when you have the luxury of being able to take a break from work, you want to spend that precious time wisely. Please follow the AML page on LinkedIn to check out what events are coming up and our website ( www.amindfullawyer.com) will be live soon. Join us in ‘networking differently’.
Bar wellbeing support includes www.wellbeingatthebar.org.uk and a 24/7 helpline on 0800 169 2040 for self-employed barristers with a practising certificate and members of the IBC and LPMA. Other sources of support include LawCare on tel: 0800 279 6888 (Mon-Fri, 9-5) or email: support@lawcare.org.uk; the Samaritans on tel: 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.org; and international helplines at: befrienders.org
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