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Driving change at the top

04 July 2025 / Elizabeth Rimmer
Issue: 8123 / Categories: Features , Mental health , Legal services , Profession , Career focus
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Elizabeth Rimmer sets out practical steps for legal leaders to make a difference on mental health & workplace culture

In recent years, especially since the pandemic, there has been more open discussion about working culture and mental health in the legal sector. Firms and chambers are winning awards for their wellbeing initiatives. Regulators and professional bodies are sharing best practice. But we now need to turn this amplified conversation into meaningful and lasting change.

If we want to build a thriving, sustainable legal profession, we must look deeper. We need to move beyond surface-level fixes and begin reshaping the accepted norms and practices that undermine mental health in the workplace. Legal leaders play a critical role in this transformation. Here are seven practical steps to help guide the way.

Define a shared purpose

We need to be clear that mental health is not a ‘nice-to-have’ or a one-off campaign during Mental Health Awareness Week. It is fundamental to delivering effective, ethical, and sustainable legal services.

When people

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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