Legal Experts under Stress at Work
The constraints of current resourcing in both public and independent sectors of legal work are putting pressure on lawyers attempting to deliver good quality services to their clients, whose needs are always expanding . Stress induced breakdown is spreading amongst lawyers as they endeavor to balance rising insistence on lucrative results for their company with family needs. The well documented alcohol abuse problem amongst legal experts is now joined by drug addiction as coping mechanisms for an increasing number of stressed attorneys and legal professionals.
In Oct 2008, The Times online ran an article on stress in the legal profession as follows:
” … statistics from LawCare, a charity that helps lawyers with work-related health problems such as stress, depression and addictive illnesses reveal that 30 per cent of male lawyers and 20 per cent of female lawyers drink to excess. This year it has opened 369 new cases, which already easily exceeds last year’s 301. It handles 1,500 calls a year. Three in four of its calls are from lawyers suffering from severe stress. “
Vanessa Lloyd Pratt wrote in the Times on July 30 2009
“It is little wonder to me that the levels of alcoholism and addiction among lawyers has climbed steadily over the past few years with helplines jammed with distressed lawyers, particularly women. While women in other professions may face similar difficulties, what is unique to the legal profession is the intense costs targets that involve long working hours and competitive strategies. We have all seen films that emphasise those pressures such as The Firm. These targets are not just the stuff of fiction but are a reality — particularly during the recession in which some of the biggest legal firms in the world have collapsed and senior management have been ousted. It is little wonder that the buzzword around legal offices is “fear”.”
Employer Response
It is growing more necessary that government employers and independent legal firms make every effort to reduce the effects of strain on their legal experts, even if for no other reason than the profit they seek to make. Once individuals are addicted to drugs or alcohol, it is very difficult for employing bodies to help their staff and usually results in loss of job for the lawyer concerned and may cause the employer loss of earnings and reputation. A few progressive employers are starting to address the issues with flexible working practices, particularly for staff who are also parents, drug and alcohol policies that are actively implemented and stress reduction activities and training. Some stress can be ameliorated by improving communication and systems within and outside the immediate office environment. When implementing new IT in the office, it is often the intention to improve working practices, but all too often it results in yet more stress for lawyers. Some employers are looking to case management software in an effort to manage workload more efficiently.
Case Management Systems Aid Lawyers
Finding case management software that delivers active legal teams from background activities in order to focus on quality client care is of growing importance to lawyers in both government and independent spheres. Few lawyers can deliver appropriate client care if they are handling considerable case loads and searching for case details, disseminating documents etc unproductively whilst also juggling family commitments. The risk of allowing key dates to pass unnoticed or of dropping the ball in some case or matter increases with the level of difficulty of managing the ever increasing documentation born of letters, court documents and computers.
Case management software is not all of equal value. Much of it started from legal accountants’ software and therefore does not perform all the tasks required of it nowadays. Recent developments have resulted in case management software that records time bestowed on clients, hastens document production, upcoming dates and appointments are warned of in advance and also encourages collaborative working and creates management reports with ease to manage risk. Some case management systems even ease Lexcel compliance. This is the sort of case management software that may help reduce stress amongst attorneys and other legal professionals.
Case management software that is developed for today’s lawyer and legal staff can play a role in lowering the likelihood of stress at work as part of a package of measures.