As leaders should we be focusing on our people or our profits? Part 2
As leaders should we be focusing on our people or our profits? Part 2: has Covid-19 solved the challenge of lawyer burnout or made it worse? Law firm leaders share their challenges and responses to the current crisis
A webinar presented by the IBA Law Firm Management Committee
supported by
DATE 3 July 2020
The wellbeing of our people has been pushed further up the priority list since Covid-19. Up until then there was a feeling that the profession was sleepwalking into destructive patterns around mental health. A number of high profile studies have highlighted the rising levels of anxiety, stress and depression and declining levels of wellbeing being experienced by a significant number of legal professionals, as well as the parallel rise in destruction due to self-coping mechanisms (for example alcohol and substance abuse).
The current global pandemic and predicted subsequent economic downturn may well exacerbate these issues by demanding new ways of working and requiring both leaders and individuals to adjust to significant altered conditions. Crisis situations can trigger self-reflection and not everyone will like what they see, resilience is inside all of us but requires active effort and strong leadership to draw on it.
Some lawyers report they have enjoyed the positive aspects of working-from-home including a more collegial and ‘human’ relationship with colleagues and a more balanced work-life integration. Indeed, some firms are already looking to reduce their office space and are proposing more flexible approaches to working. However, some have really struggled with the overnight change from office working to the kitchen table and family dynamics, loneliness and lack of structure have really taken their toll.
In this special webinar – which is part of the IBA´s Law Firm Management Committee´s (LFMC) ongoing Covid-19 series - we will try to square the science of human resilience with the ongoing challenges of leading a post Covid-19 law firm.
This will include practical science-backed strategies for tapping our personal and organisational resilience, and we will hear from a panel of experts including law firm leaders who will share their challenges and responses to the current crisis in search of some good news for the legal profession.