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LawCare - Caring for your Colleagues
LawCare - Caring for your Colleagues
LawCare Helpline: 0800 279 6888
Open 365 days a year from 9.00 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on weekdays,
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help@lawcare.org.uk • www.lawcare.org.uk • Admin: 01268 771333
- Lawyers are kind, considerate people.
- They work very hard for their clients, and are diligent and dedicated.
- They tend to be highly intelligent, ambitious and driven people.
- They do not find delegation easy, believing honestly that no one else could ever do a job as well as they can.
- They see their work as a fascinating intellectual challenge, and perfectionism is the norm.
When it comes to getting work done to a high standard these qualities are of real value, but the downside is that stress levels tend to be very high. There is also a very real tendency to take on too much work. Clients cannot be allowed to go elsewhere: they might never come back.
Many lawyers are robust enough to take this in their stride, but some end up calling LawCare for help. The caller will often have endured enormous pressure for months. His or her health may have been damaged and home life and work quality will almost certainly have suffered. The irony is that the departmental head may well be wondering whether the caller is up to the job, whilst completely failing to realise that the real problem, in fact, rests on the departmental head’s shoulders. Firms simply cannot ignore issues such as risk management, and employing stressed lawyers is a sure-fire way to wreck a good indemnity claims record and risk the reputation of the firm. Colleagues, managers, heads of department and partners, need to care enough about stressed lawyers to speak up and offer help.
Older lawyers sometimes self-medicate. Many of them tell LawCare that they were driven to drink by stress, a stiff drink being the quickest fix after a hard day. Lunchtime drinking follows, and their work will deteriorate steadily. Alcohol makes things seem better in the short term, but in reality leads to dwindling productivity and mistakes. Although the drinker may believe that they are hiding their problem, frequently it will long ago have become obvious to colleagues and clients, but all co-operate in the conspiracy of silence that is so much easier than confronting the problem.
The people in your organisation are your colleagues and some may also be your friends. Taking good care of them is not only a responsible, human thing to do, but also makes compelling commercial sense. As lawyers we are used to caring for our clients and giving them our best. It’s time we started doing the same for our colleagues.
LawCare Helpline 0800 279 6888
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