Calls from lawyers worried about their career prospects have increased greatly in the last year, a legal mental health charity reveals today.

LawCare’s 2022 annual report states that nearly a quarter of people (22%) contacting the support service were primarily concerned about their jobs. In the previous year, just 8% of calls related to careers.

For the first time, the proportion of people with career concerns equalled the number of legal professionals seeking help because of stress.

Elizabeth Rimmer, chief executive of LawCare, speculated that increased willingness to question a life in the law could be partly a response to the pandemic as well as the current economic climate.

‘Legal professionals could be reflecting on what they want from life and work and be less willing to stay in careers or workplaces that don’t meet their needs and expectations and could be undermining their mental health,’ said Rimmer. ‘There were a wide range of career concerns raised, from struggles with training to becoming a lawyer to wanting to retire early. We are also hearing from people who don’t see law as a lifelong career. We anticipate that in 2023 the number of people contacting us with career concerns may grow as the tough economic climate takes its toll.’

During 2022, 60% of those contacting LawCare said they had been qualified less than five years. Rimmer said this was a similar proportion to the year before and suggested that many junior lawyers were still not getting the emotional support they needed in the workplace.

There was also a three percentage point rise in the percentage of contacts from men.

LawCare provided support to 583 individuals during the year, with 383 people calling the service, 127 sending emails and 73 getting in contact through webchats. The charity provided 20 people with additional counselling amounting to 115 hours, and funded three people to have therapy.

Calls lasted an average of 26 minutes, with the longest conversation running to more than 90.

In total, funders and supporters donated £482,000 to help keep the service running, with 105 volunteers enabling it to operate.