‘One evening I found six cans of Red Bull on an associate’s desk. I just sent him home. People get tired, people make mistakes.’
David Trott, Freshfields
To coincide with LB‘s quality of life special, senior lawyers discuss stress, wellbeing and what makes it worth it
DEEP BREATHS
‘If there’s a deadline or things are blowing up on a deal, you need to take a deep intake of breath. As you go through these episodes of stress it gets easier. There are peaks and troughs for stress in any job but it gets easier.’
Andrew Ballheimer, managing partner, Allen & Overy
MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS PRIORITY
‘At the heart of this business are high-performing people and the mental wellbeing of those people is fundamental. Mental health is a notoriously difficult issue. Unlike a broken arm, even trained people can’t see it very easily. Giving it priority is very, very important.’
Edward Braham, senior partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
GENUINE ENGAGEMENT
‘We have some very good programmes and people that provide support. To the extent that we know about, and are able to identify and monitor people in terms of how they’re feeling through their appraisals, I can’t say mental health issues are at unusual levels. I do think we have genuine levels of engagement with our people and we know if there’s a problem.’
Sandra Wallace, UK managing partner, DLA Piper
STEP UP
‘We do mean it when we say we take people’s mental health very seriously. We feel that we should be honest and open with people that we will support them. We have had people come forward who know people who are suffering and we have been able to intervene and help. That may well not have been possible three or four years ago.’
Ian Cox, regional managing partner UK, US and EMEA, Herbert Smith Freehills
MORE TO LIFE THAN WORK
‘I have a jewellery business outside of work. Some people enjoy mindfulness or yoga, I like to design jewellery. That’s not going to be inspiring for many men or women, but another thing I always did was bring my children to work. I wanted to make clear this was not something off the spectrum, it’s trying to show there are other things that are really important in life.’
Sharon Lewis, global head of finance, Hogan Lovells
‘When women said we need more help, it was met with real reluctance. It changed the moment the men said they need to leave at 5pm.’
Julia Chain, Millnet
SELF-INFLICTED
‘Many people leave law firms because they can’t find a way of life working for them – what people don’t see clearly is lawyers pressurise themselves. Their level of commitment is very high and there is an underlying fear of getting things wrong and letting people down, they drive themselves incredibly hard. The challenge is to create a system where they can sustain it for the long term.’
Bill Mitchell, clinical psychologist, Mitchell Practice
WIRED
‘I was a fairly young partner in the noughties and we were doing something which was very complicated. One evening I found six cans of Red Bull on an associate’s desk stacked up. I just sent him home, put him in a taxi. People get tired, people make mistakes, but I try to tell people to pace themselves.’
David Trott, finance partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
THE LONG GAME
‘I say to people when they start here that it’s a marathon not a sprint. We don’t want people putting in such a monumental effort that they burn out and we watch carefully for that. Along the way they get time off – when you qualify you get a period of NQ leave, and at five years’ PQE you can take a short, fully paid sabbatical.’
David Patient, managing partner, Travers Smith
PAY PRESSURE
‘Young lawyers are kicking against it. Young men are much more involved as child carers now. When women said we need more help, it was met with real reluctance and it was not well organised. It changed the moment the men said they need to leave at 5pm.’
Julia Chain, managing director, Millnet
FRUITS OF YOUR LABOUR
‘You may be a champion stand-up sailboarder or you like travelling. Whatever it is, you work hard, you’re in a very lucrative career, make sure you’re enjoying the fruits of your work. That means feeling satisfied with your career, making sure you’ve got free time to spend with your friends and family, and indulging yourself every now and again, which is motivating you to carry on with your career.’
Ian Bagshaw, private equity co-head, White & Case
YOU CAN’T BABY ASSOCIATES
‘Our associates are high-grade, high-performing people. They put themselves under enormous amounts of pressure in the same way I would because ultimately they’re the people who will become partners. Part of our job is to make sure they’re genuinely healthy in the more holistic sense, but at the same time we can’t baby them because these are grown ups.’
Karan Dinamani, private equity partner, Allen & Overy
For more coverage, please return to The quality of life report