Women in law frequently suffer from exhaustion but stay silent at work for fear their career will suffer, according to a new report on the challenges they face.

Dana Denis-Smith, founder of the Next 100 years and deputy vice-president of the Law Society, said the findings of today’s report ‘demonstrate the scale of the health and wellbeing issues women face and reflects the quiet, accumulated cost of years working in conditions that damage health, with insufficient support from employers’.

Some 533 legal professionals were surveyed: 70% experienced ongoing exhaustion or low energy; 65% of those experiencing exhaustion did not feel comfortable raising their concerns at work; 43% did not feel they could openly discuss their health and wellbeing concerns at work without negative ramifications. Furthermore, 85% experienced health and wellbeing issues that affected their work in the past five years, 50% thought their current working pattern was unsustainable for their long-term health and 67% have considered quitting.

Balancing work with caring responsibilities has been identified in previous research as the single biggest challenge to health and wellbeing for women.

A young woman sits in front of her laptop with her eyes closed and her hands over her face

Four in 10 women fear negative consequences if they raise health and wellbeing concerns at work

Source: iStock

One respondent told the latest survey: ‘The main thing is that you feel you just have to get on with it and not complain or draw attention to anything that might make the partners see you as trouble or difficult. When you are at a certain age you feel vulnerable and the constant pressure to demonstrate your value to the business.’

A law firm partner was forced to take time off due to burnout and their GP insisted she was not fit for work. ‘Still I felt incredibly guilty at leaving colleagues to pick up my work. A thinly veiled threat of severe financial penalty was made if I didn’t meet my annual target,’ she added.

Performance and health coach Ann-Marie Goodbody warned of a ‘performance crisis hiding in plain slight’ and said recovery must become ‘a structural norm in legal working life, rather than a personal indulgence squeezed into the margins’.

Recommendations include treating wellbeing as a structural issue – not a benefit, reforming the billable hours model, making flexible working the default and holding leaders accountable for wellbeing outcomes. Representative bodies should collaborate on sector-wide minimum wellbeing standards.

The report was produced by law firm RPC, LawCare, Next 100 Years Project and Goodbody Wellness Co.