Breaking points - an examination of the causes of stress on the high street and in the city, following a survey suggesting that solicitors were more stressed than any other professional, and a look at

NICHOLAS MURRAY HEARS FROM HIGH STREET SOLICITORS ABOUT THE NEW PRESSURES ARISING FROM THE RAFT OF LEGAL AID REFORMSThe Young Solicitors Group (YSG) has invited senior partners from over 300 top law firms to a seminar on 15 December that for the first time makes an explicit connection between tackling stress and profitability.The YSG has moved on from merely drawing attention to the growing phenomenon of stress in law firms to argue that, 'stress and quality of life concerns are increasingly becoming management issues for senior practitioners'.The YSG predicts that the present trend of accelerating staff turnover in firms will be accompanied by a decline in quality and competitiveness and an increase in complaints and compensation claims, as well as more stress at work claims.

Stress, the group is saying, may not only damage individuals' health, but also law firm profits.When the results of a recent survey by the human resource consultancy, Resource Systems were published (see [1998] Gazette, 11 November, 1), they showed that solicitors topped the poll of stress in the professions, elbowing aside doctors, accountants and management consultants.

Stress appears to be most prevalent in the smaller high street practices where some of the 'management issues' cited by the YSG have traditionally not been addressed.Perhaps more worrying for the future of the profession is the number of young solicitors who are reporting increased pressure.

In the past six months, at least two suicide attempts have been reported to a helpline set up by the Trainee Solicitors Group (TSG).

Stress is also a problem north of the border; the Law Society of Scotland, which has a membership of just 8,500, reported four suicides this year.

Douglas Mill, its secretary, said that while the deaths all had an element of personal tragedy to them he was fairly sure that further investigation would reveal underlying business or stress-related problems.

Less horrific, but still undesirable, is the fact that many young solicitors may decide to quit a profession where the quality of working life - particularly relative to pay - seems no longer worth the effort.Stress in the workplace generally is widespread.

According to TUC figures, stress has topped the list of cases taken on by trade unions for the past four years.

But amongst solicitors the pressure has been fuelled further by the twin engines of financial anxiety and what Legal Aid Practitioners Group chairman Richard Miller calls 'the constant treadmill of change'.Legal aid reforms, with their uncertain financial outcome, are putting a great deal of pressure on high street practices which are already struggling to keep their heads above water.

One indicator is that referrals to the Law Society's Solicitors Assistance Scheme rose markedly in August when increased Solicitors Indemnity Fund contributions became due.Stressed partners can quickly lead to stressed fee earners, particularly in organisations that have never developed proper personnel practices.

Trainees and newly-qualified staff at the bottom of the hierarchy - seeking support and guidance - may find they get frosty answers from harassed and stressed seniors.

The client may well start to find some of the shine going out of his or her relationship with professionals in such a condition.SolCare is a Samaritans-style counselling service which is funded by the Law Society and the Solicitors Indemnity Fund in recognition of the complaints from clients which are likely to result from unresolved problems.

Solcare was set up two years ago with the primary aim of helping solicitors with addiction problems, but has now grown to cover other stress-related difficulties.

Barry Pritchard, co-ordinator of SolCare, is a former sole practitioner who has come to terms with his own alcoholism.

He says he has seen 23 stress-related cases already this year - compared with just five in 1997.

'Alcohol is one way solicitors try to deal with stress,' he says.

'It is a mistake.'Many of the cases coming to SolCare involve depression and alcohol abuse, with some instances of heroin or cocaine addiction (eating disorders and gambli ng have also figured).

According to Mr Pritchard, the bulk of complaints about stress come from suburban, provincial and high street firms.The big commercial law firms, in spite of the prevalence of macho management and a culture of long hours, generally have management structures and human resources functions which can deal with some of these stresses as they arise.

Smaller, less structured firms, do not generally have strategies in place and the individual often feels isolated.In answer to those who argue that some level of stress is needed to motivate people, Mr Pritchard distinguishes between negative and positive stress.

The former is dysfunctional and, 'the bottom line is that stress kills.'He is not surprised at the prevalence of stress amongst young solicitors, citing one firm that deliberately 'burnt-out' young solicitors, safe in the knowledge that they could be replaced every few years.

In less ruthless firms, he says, 'partners may have an open door policy - but it's a miracle if you ever see them'.

Bland assurances that 'you can always come and see me' often turn out in reality to 'oh, it's you again'.'Too many firms,' suggests Nick Armstrong, immediate past TSG chairman, 'are no more than collections of sole practitioners'.

A corporate sense of responsibility for each other is missing.Other immediate causes of stress are cost targets and billable hours, which can seem unfair to some members of the firm if proper allowances are not made for the different demands of, say, family law.In this contentious field court work is unpredictable and can make it difficult to structure one's day and clock up those all-important hours.

Internal competition in a small practice can add to stresses and contribute to complaints about the office atmosphere and working relationships.

The inherently fragile employer/employee relationship can become even more brittle when everyone is under stress.Bullying, even sexual harassment, can add to the stress levels.

Aggressive opponents in litigation, difficult clients, or individual issues such as rural solicitors having to spend more time behind the wheel because of local court closures, might be taken in stride in normal circumstances, but are an aggravation to already stressed professionals.To Monty Martin of the Sole Practitioners Group, the key thing for anyone under stress is to find someone to off-load the stress on to.

'It's normal to feel stressed, you simply have to deal with it,' he says.

If not dealt with, stress can become destructive.

Sole practitioners are at obvious risk of withdrawing when stressed rather than sharing their problems.But at the same time, Mr Martin emphasises that not all sole practitioners are vulnerable to stress and that not all clients should be concerned.

In fact, sole practitioners, particularly those working from home, may be able to structure their work in new and satisfying ways to break the hold of what Mr Martin calls 'the eight to eight culture' which has become so destructive of family life and personal time.For young solicitors beginning their careers under such pressure, stress is both inevitable and potentially damaging to the future of the profession.

The Resource Systems survey identified much greater stress amongst younger solicitors, lower levels of job satisfaction, considerably worse levels of mental well-being and much less energy.

They reported more pressure from relationships at work, and the difficulty of achieving a balance between home and work.

With higher levels of drive and impatience they felt much less control over their work.Mr Armstrong describes the feeling as one of 'absolute desperation' when a young lawyer who has struggled to find the money to qualify and to become a solicitor is put in a situation where he or she feels unable to cope because of an unsupportive environment.

'I'm not being trained, I'm fire-fighting', reported one trainee who was struggling to cope with an inherited workload, working 12 hours a day and longer, and with no chance to consult his senior.

'You will get people leaving the profession,' says Mr Armstrong bluntly.

YSG chairman Richard Moorhead confirms this analysis.

'Young people don't expect to be ground into the ground by law firms', he says.

He is worried about 'how the profession can sustain its human capital using the working practices it uses at the moment'.Mr Moorhead is astonished at the absence in many firms of 'quite simple people management skills'.

Young staff are rarely praised when they do well and feel too often that 'the buck is passed to them for problems that lie elsewhere'.

Demotivated by all this, by a lack of control over their work and by a deep sense of frustration, many may decide - if action is not taken - to quit the law altogether.IN THE CITY WHERE TURNOVER OF LAWYERS IS HIGH, ROBERT VERKAIK REPORTS ON HOW SOME LAW FIRMS ARE TRYING TO EASE THE STRAINOn the face of it, City lawyers appear to be better at handling stress than their provincial and high street counterparts.

According to the latest figures reported by SolCare, only one out of 23 calls from solicitors with stress-related problems come from those working in the City.Nevertheless, Barry Pritchard, SolCare's co-ordinator, suggests that the real stress levels experienced by City lawyers may well belie these figures.

He argues that there may well be reasons for under-reporting of stress in City law firms.'There is,' explains Mr Pritchard, 'a fear of going to someone at partner level and saying "I have got a problem." That might put a nail in the coffin of a solicitor's partnership hopes.

The prevailing ethos in City law firms seems to be if you can't hack it then you shouldn't be there.'And figures secretly compiled recently by the personnel departments of some of the leading City law firms show that firms are struggling to keep their overworked assistant solicitors.

Turnover rates among the worst affected firms have been as much as 40%.

Many lawyers appear to be falling victim to 'burn out' and other stress-related problems.The City's largest firm, Clifford Chance, now operates an in-house stress counselling service for those lawyers who feel they have done one deal too many.

Managing partner, Tony Williams, whose own firm has an assistant lawyer turnover rate of 20%, says, 'we want to do our best so that people don't suffer 'burn out'.

We want to help them manage the level of work they can handle'.

The firm will be launching a career guidance service in the new year which will help young lawyers chart their future with the firm, as well as how best to manage their own stress.Certainly, long hours, and the pressure to stay on the fee-earning fast track can make life in a City law firm a stressful business.

But the culture of working long hours has become something of a virtue for some lawyers.

It is quite common to work 48-hour weekends and the big City law firms now have overnight accommodation on site.

Lawyers are also keen to be seen working late into the night.

Some even leave computers switched on with jackets left on chairs to give the impression of being in the office.

One senior female City lawyer quest ioned the need for lawyers to go to such lengths to close a deal and she described much of this behaviour as macho 'willy waving'.David McIntosh, senior partner of City law firm Davies Arnold Cooper, speaking at a conference on success organised by the Trainee Solicitors Group earlier this month, said that long hours were indeed often regarded as a 'virility contest'.

He added that, 'long hours are in fact all too often the result of the inadequacy of management's manning plans.

Aspiring lawyers, senior partners and management boards alike must understand that professional and business success is not dependent on long hours'.A number of City law firms have for some time been experimenting with alternative working arrangements to suit those lawyers who wish to continue working in a less pressurised environment.

Linklaters and Freshfields, for example, have developed their professional support lawyers positions.

These are non fee-earning posts, full or part-time, offering lawyers good salaries, usually 5% to 10% less than their post-qualified status.

They tend to involve legal research, client care and general back-up to the fee-earner.

Adrian Fox, a director of recruitment consultants Quarry Dougall legal, says these should not be regarded as 'cosy' alternatives to fee-earning.

'There is a need for professional support lawyers which has become a growth area.

This is not because they have attempted to find a role for stressed lawyers,' he adds, 'but it just so happens it also suits the situation of someone who is having a stressful life.' Mr Fox also said that he knew at least one City law firm which offered its lawyers flexible benefits where those who have worked extremely long hours can take extra days holiday.

This, he said, helped law firms control stress.

Nick Root of recruitment consultants Taylor Root says most of the large commercial law firms have adopted the informal practice of giving lawyers the day off after completion of a big deal.

But generally, he says, UK law firms have been slow to follow the accountants in the wider range of flexible benefits offered to staff and partners.

'Accountants have just about flexible everything now, they tend to work shorter hours than lawyers but their partners are also paid less,' he adds.

The head of human resources at Herbert Smith, John Lucy, speaking in October at a conference organised by the American chamber of commerce and recruitment consultants ZMB, confirmed that the firm was receiving more requests for unpaid leave and more assistants were asking for lap top computers to enable them to work from home.

Also women returning from maternity leave were asking for part-time arrangements.Dr David Lewis, a psychologist who advises law firms on the implementation of policies aimed at reducing stress, believes the use of professional support lawyers can be of great benefit to law firms.

New research carried out by Dr Lewis and due to be published next year shows that 'information fatigue syndrome' is now a real problem for lawyers and other professionals.His research reveals that there is a huge amount of reading material and information that a City lawyer needs to get to grips with.

Apart from law reports, seminars, professional journals and background briefings, it is not unusual for a busy lawyer to have to respond to 200 e-mails in one day.

This, says, Dr Lewis significantly adds to the lawyer's stress.'Increasingly,' says Dr Lewis, 'the feeling is that a competitor might be better informed than you so you must read as much as you can just to keep up.' Dr Lewis urges lawye rs to prioritise reading material to make sure it is both relevant and reliable.

Professional support lawyers, who can save fee earners the time and trouble of scanning or speed reading material, can help reduce stress among their fee-earning partners by doing this work for them.A number of City law firms are investing a great deal of time and money finding out what sort of working environment their lawyers feel most happy working in.Clifford Chance now carries out extensive 'exit interviews' with departing staff.

These, says Mr Williams, show that many lawyers are deliberately choosing different lifestyles.

'Some are deciding they simply don't want the City life.

The pressure issue is recognised as applying across the major firms rather than to just one or two.'THERE ARE COUNSELLING SERVICES SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STRESSED SOLICITORS, REPORTS STEPHEN WARDThe super ego, Freud believed, is the part of the brain which acts as a nagging conscience.

And according to Boris Rumney, a lawyer turned psychoanalyst, 'solicitors have strong super-egos'.

This is because solicitors are dealing with the law, where the consequences of a mistake are enormous.

Hence, as a group, they tend to be stressed.Mr Rumney, formerly one of three partners in a small firm of solicitors (since dissolved), and for more than a decade a full-time psychotherapist, is one of the network of 100 solicitors who have volunteered to act as free advisors to colleagues through the Law Society's Solicitors Assistance Scheme.'There are many things which cause stress, and the stress is just the symptom of them all,' according to Susannah Lewis, who co-ordinates the scheme.

'If you are being cold-shouldered by colleagues or are overworked, it may end up that you just can't cope.'The scheme was set up 26 years ago to help solicitors who wanted professional or personal advice from outside their own practices.

It consists of volunteers in each region who are likely to be able to offer advice based on their own experience.'The volunteers are not there to help with legal case problems - it's more financial problems, partnerships, employment problems, discrimination, all sorts of things,' Ms Lewis explains.Ms Lewis says the volunteers often have counselling expertise as well as legal qualifications.

'I'd say most people on the scheme, even if they haven't taken a course, are caring people who spend time listening to people with problems, which is often what people need more than anything else.'The service points out that it is part of the professional ethics division of the Law Society, and is completely confidential.

Solicitors can speak to a volunteer from outside their own region if they choose.The volunteers include David Freeman, who built up DJ Freeman from scratch to its present status as a big City firm.

Volunteers give their home numbers, because often solicitors seeking help cannot telephone during office hours.Another avenue for stressed practitioners is SolCare.

Solcare co-ordinator Barry Pritchard is hoping to run stress workshops next year.

He thinks the ideal format would be for solicitors to attend from one firm at a time, as 'they are not good at discussing these things in front of competitors'.Many solicitors are helped with stress after seeking help for other illnesses.

Dr Ann Fingret, a consultant in occupational medicine, recently retired from her post at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and joined the Finsbury Circus Medical Centre, which provides private medical care to many big City law firms.

Several of the GPs have training in occupational medicine, and have recognised a growing problem of stress in the City.She treated one solicitor who had taken what was deemed to be an unacceptable eight days sick leave already in a year.

For the past 15 months he had been working right through the night for two days a week, and not getting home until 3am the other nights.

The partner in charge had been working almost the same hours.Dr Fingret says that 'the body has a mechanism which will produce symptoms which you may not realise are a result of stress'.She defines stress as a situation where you are subjected to more pressure than you actually have the ability to deal with, and where it is not acceptable to confess that you cannot deal with it.'I'm sure that's true for young solicitors,' she says.

'To put up your hand and say, "I've worked too many hours and I need a break" is not on.

You are just expected to do it.'She has run pressure management courses, although not yet specifically for solicitors.

They cover areas such as better management of time.

'I think they are quite good for getting people to look at how they are going to survive in the situation they are in,' she says.

'It would be good if you could get 12 young solicitors at a time for a day and teach them ways to survive this regime.'Dr Fingret would like to see pressure management become a routine part of all young solicitors' training.

'But it must not be seen as picking out people with problems,' she says.She believes that it is harder for law firms than for other City institutions to change their management cultures to reduce stress.

'The partnership structure means there is a risk-averse structure, which inevitably leads to a conservative approach to change.

Human resources departments are excellent, but they are working on the back foot because they are not lawyers.'The Young Solicitors Group is re-activating a helpline and hopes to direct solicitors to the best sources of help.

'It would be nice to be able to offer a full counselling service, but we just don't have the resources for that,' Richard Moorhead, chairman of the group, says.

They are also planning a series of regional roadshows on stress next year.Meanwhile Mr Rumney, with his training as a psychotherapist, makes the point that in extreme cases the solution to stress may be more drastic than the solicitor realises.'He may be an ordinary chap in the external world, adept at dealing with relationships, and with a creative life, but the sheer business of dealing with the pressures which work throws up are too much for him,' says Mr Rumney.

'He then has to make decisions about whether it is right that he should be undergoing this level of stress.

He may then have to be helped to face up to the shame of giving up his career.'WORK-RELATED STRESS CLAIMS: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS, BY KATE ROSSLitigation to deal with work-related stress has been a phenomenon of the 1990s.

There has been huge interest in these cases since Walker v Northumberland County Council, 1995 IRLR35 - a case involving a social work manager for Northumberland County Council who successfully sued for personal injury arising out of his mental breakdown caused by overwork.It is hard to estimate how many of these work-related stress claims there have been as many cases are settled subject to a confidentiality clause.

Personal injury cases for work-related stress frequently divide into two main types: overwork cases and bullying cases.Overwork claimsOverwork cases include both those where the volume of work to be done is excessive and/or where the nature of the work is too difficult for the employee concerned.

In successful cases it is always combined with the management's failure to heed the individual's concern about the volume of work, particularly after it has been made clear, following a previous work-related absence, that the individual needs assistance to cope.In Lambert v Liverpool City Council, which settled out of court last month, Mr Lambert was the team leader in the City's highways department.

He had three absences from work due to work-related stress and was finally retired on ill health grounds.

The three absences were related to overwork.

It was alleged that the employer failed to deal with the volume of work handled by Mr Lambert and failed to operate its own sickness procedures properly.

The case was settled in November 1998 for £92,000.In the only judgment in a personal injury stress case of this type, Beverley Lancaster (Lancaster v Birmingham City Council, 23 July 1998, (Birmingham County Court, unreported) successfully sued Birmingham City Council which admitted liability at the door of the court in July 1998.Ms Lancaster was employed by the council in a clerical capacity but was re-deployed into a very different job as a housing officer.

She was not provided with the promised guidance or training to enable her to do the job.

She brought to the management's attention the reasons why she was out of her depth and unable to cope.

She became increasingly unwell and had three absences from work due to psychological illness.

Finally, she had to retire on grounds of ill health.

Her case was that her employers failed to act on her complaints or give her the guidance or training she needed.

A further hearing to assess compensation is due in February 1999.Bullying claimsThe other main strand of personal injury stress cases are 'bullying' cases.

Like workload cases, settlements are likely to be subjected to a confidentiality clause which perpetuates the culture of secrecy surrounding such cases.In order to be successful, the 'bullying' behaviour of the other employees must be sufficiently serious that it amounts to a breach of the duty of care to provide an employee with a safe place of work and thus is negligent.In Ratcliffe v Dyfed County Council, which settled out of court in June this year, a schoolteacher recovered compensation in respect of a complaint that his headteacher had bullied him over a period of time causing him to suffer psychological injury.The bullying behaviour of a manager to a more junior employee is likely to breach the employer's duty of care to the employee, so long as the manager was acting in the course of his employment and was thus vicariously liable.The employer may seek to argue that the manager was on a 'frolic' of his own and not acting in the course of employment.

For public policy reasons, the court is likely to be reluctant to construe this doctrine widely.

In addition, the onus will be on the employer to show that there are policies and training in place to ensure managers are aware of their duties to employees.It is arguable that unlike the Walker type 'work overload' cases where it is necessary to overcome the foreseeability hurdle by proving more than one period of absence was due to work-related illness, there is no such requirement in bullying cases.

If the behaviour of the manager is sufficiently serious that it amounts to negligence, the court is unlikely to have a problem accepting such behaviour is likely to cause physical or psychological injury.

I am aware of a number of successful cases s ettled on this basis within my own firm, but details cannot be given because confidentiality clauses are included in the settlement.

In these cases, the court's attention will be directed to the grievance procedures and anti-bullying policies operated by the employer.

For example, most standard grievance procedures require a complaint to be made initially to the employee's manager - clearly inappropriate if that person is the cause of the problem.

An anti-bullying procedure allows for the first complaint to go to someone else.

It seems doubtful that the majority of solicitors' firms has such procedures in place.

Of course, stress-related illness caused by the behaviour of others in the workplace are not only brought as personal injury claims.

If the reason for treatment is likely to be gender or race, a claim may be brought in the employment tribunal.In November 1997 the Manchester Employment Tribunal awarded a trainee solicitor £50,000, inclusive of costs, in an out-of-court settlement, in respect of a complaint that she had been bullied and harassed at her firm.

The trainee's case was that, as a result, she became extremely anxious, physically sick, suffered from insomnia, nightmares and extreme distress.

She resigned after one year of her two-year training contract.

The firm defended their case on the basis that their behaviour was the boisterous 'cut and thrust' of office life.Bullying is often justified as being 'strong management'.

There is a fine line between 'strong' (poor) management and bullying.

It is a line law firms may need to ponder if they are not to be subjected to expensive and damaging claims.Disability Discrimination ActEmployees in any work-related stress claim may be able to bring a claim under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Indeed, following the Walker case, advice was issued to some employers that if Mr Walker had been dismissed on ill health grounds after his first breakdown, the employers could have avoided an expensive problem.

The employer who does this today may well run the risk of a disability discrimination claim on the basis he had failed to make the necessary reasonable adjustments to allow the employee to return to work.Fairness at Work lawFinally, we await the Fairness at Work white paper to see whether the limit on unfair dismissal claims (presently capped at £12,000), will be removed entirely or capped at £40,000 or £50,000.

Until now there has been little incentive for solicitors who have felt compelled to leave as a result of stress at work to bring a constructive dismissal claim in an employment tribunal on the basis of breach of the implied duty of care, not least because the compensation was so limited.

In conclusion, the rapid pace of new legislation, of changes in procedure and in the way the courts operate, and the relentless advance of new technology will continue to make life at work stressful for solicitors.

However, vigilant law firms will be mindful of the advice of the Health and Safety Executive that just like any other health and safety hazard, 'stress is amenable to the systematic approach of risk assessment, control measures and review' (HSE quote Mike Shepherd, Health Policy Division, HSE).