Vikki Pratley
Chronicle Law would like to thank Vikki Pratley for showcasing her articles with us originally from her Mindfully Legal newsletter on Linked In.
Let’s Talk About What’s Really Happening:
As you know, my business and all I do, is built from the mission of eliminating burnout in the legal profession. And during Stress Awareness Month in April, seeing a number of lawyers openly sharing how they are experiencing burnout right now has prompted this piece.
When I burned out in 2017, no one around me knew the signs.
Not me.
Not my boss.
Not my peers.
Burnout wasn’t even a word we used in the legal profession.
Medical professionals knew it. But it wasn’t ‘official’. Even the World Health Organisation din’t include burnout in its international classification of diseases until 2019.
So we couldn’t stop what we didn’t know was happening.
Fast forward to today…
…and lawyers are speaking out.
We’re finally naming burnout.
We’re sharing experiences openly.
We’re seeing the wreckage.
Which is great. (not great it’s happening, but great we are talking about it!)
But….
… seeing it isn’t enough.
If we’re not careful, burnout will simply become another grim badge of honour – another sad club of the legal profession that everyone joins without question.
And I see this risk starkly when reading comments on LinkedIn Posts. Solidarity is great. But … We risk normalising it but with a name!
And that would be the real tragedy.
Because burnout is not inevitable.
It’s preventable.
And it’s time we stop accepting it as “just part of the job.”
Even in this new era of naming it.
According to the WHO (not the band!! IYKYK!), burnout is caused by workplace stress that’s not successfully managed.
It’s a workplace phenomenon.
It doesn’t need to exist.
And we can eliminate it by successfully managing our stress. And that can be done two fold, (which I will expand on through this newsletter, ending with a case study):
- Through creating healthy workplaces, through leadership and culture, where wellbeing and performance goes hand in hand.
- Through getting to know ourselves and using our responsible initiative to influence what we can, to create the life and the career we want for ourselves.
How We Change It (For Real):
Leaders, This Is on You.
Burnout isn’t just an individual problem. It’s more complex than that.
We breed the possibility of burnout in the culture of our workplaces.
And culture is ultimately built by leadership.
We can be forgiven for not being mindful of the culture we are creating. After all, it’s not touched upon in any of our legal training.
I learnt about culture in my first degree, which included organisational psychology.
I’ve advised on it for many years as a practicing employment solicitor.
But it’s only since my burnout that I’ve really understood how we, as leaders, create and breed the culture. How we are the solution (or not!).
How using our personal power (as opposed to our positional power, for example) we can create healthy and sustainable high performing workplaces.
If you’re in senior leadership, the truth is this:
You are either protecting your people’s performance and wellbeing – or quietly permitting burnout to grow.
Of course, we can (and must) help individuals recover once they burn out. And we will get a return on any investment in doing that (quantified by Deloitte).
But if you’re serious about sustainable success, the smartest investment you can make is in keeping your people thriving.
Because healthy, high-performing individuals don’t just stay “good.”
They flourish.
And flourishing people raise everyone around them.
It’s good for us all.
Top Tip for Leaders:
If you’re serious about preventing burnout, start embedding healthy leadership skills at the senior associate level (and earlier) – not after someone’s already hit crisis.
Give your future leaders the tools to:
- Manage stress proactively
- Build psychological safety
- Lead themselves (and others) sustainably
Because what your firm normalises today becomes your brand, and your bottom line, tomorrow.
Here’s how you start:
Step 1: Define the culture you want to create.
Not just “high performing,” but “high performing, healthy, and sustainable.”
Think about what you want to see, hear and feel when you’ve achieved this.
Once you’ve got a general overview, get into the detail.
Really challenge your own thinking. What are you accepting and breeding further because ‘it’s always been this way’. What doesn’t really matter? What really does matter?
For example – the debate of being ‘late’ if you’re at your desk at 9.05am. Or is it really about having diaries updated and communication open and transparent?
Step 2: Train and develop your people to bring that culture to life.
Don’t just talk about wellbeing, embed it through leadership skills, emotional intelligence, stress management, and real frameworks like the S.E.R.V.I.C.E Wellbeing framework.
Our StressLess Academy is designed to bring together wellbeing and development of key workplace skills to empower individuals to know how to successfully manage their stress and create high performance that’s healthy and sustainable – what I refer to as ‘true wellbeing’.
We might have all the puzzle pieces, but helping people understand how to bring culture to life is fundamental.
Step 3: Breed the culture to exist beyond your leadership team.
A simple, genuine moment of positive reinforcement is how culture takes root. It costs nothing.
So catch people doing ‘it’ right – spot those in the act of modelling sustainable leadership.
But you do need to know what that looks like to be able to spot it – see Step 1.
At StressLess Academy, we partner with firms to achieve all the above – and more! We:
✅ Equip rising leaders with frameworks to build high performance that’s healthy and lasting
✅ Embed new habits and mindsets before burnout ever takes hold
✅ Help you protect your top talent, reduce turnover, and strengthen your leadership pipeline
The ROI is clear:
- Lower recruitment and absence costs
- Higher performance and engagement
- A reputation for leading differently – and sustainably
Why would you not want this for yourself and your team?
If you’re ready to move beyond firefighting burnout to actively building resilience and results, let’s talk.
For Driven Individuals: It’s Time to Lead Yourself Differently.
Becoming a self-sustaining high performer isn’t about adding bubble baths and yoga to an overflowing schedule (although go ahead, they are important and lovely!).
To me, the heart of it, is about learning three powerful strands of personal leadership:
Understand Yourself:
Learn what stress really is, how it shows up for you personally, how to spot it early, and what to do about it.
We use my S.E.R.V.I.C.E Wellbeing Framework to help you:
- Recognise stress triggers
- Respond strategically, not reactively
- Build recovery into your performance cycle
We also work on the mindset of Responsible Initiative and 7 Key Self-Directing Skills (from the award-winning Pioneer framework), so you stay proactive – not burnt out.
Top Tip:
Start a daily self-check: “Where’s my energy? Where’s my tension? What do I need to perform sustainably today?”
Tiny self-awareness shifts = massive long-term gains.
Understand Others:
High-pressure environments test relationships.
Emotional intelligence isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s critical.
Top Tip:
Before reacting to someone’s behaviour, pause and ask: “What pressure might they be facing?”. Before communicating with them, think of a time you were really impressed with their behaviour. Keep that at the forefront of your mind when communicating with them, rather than the poor behaviour you’ve seen.
This is where understanding yourself also comes back into it; think about the pressure you’re experiencing – how might that be impacting those around you and your behaviour.
Curiosity creates connection – and protects your own stress levels.
Leave the judgement behind and get curious instead. Ask: “Why are they behaving like this?”.
See how it changes everything.
Become Part of the Solution:
You don’t have to wait for a title to be a leader.
By modelling healthy boundaries, recovery cycles, and communication, you actively change your environment.
Top Tip:
Challenge the “busy-ness = value” mindset.
Value yourself (and your team) on outcomes, not hours.
Real-World Case Study:
To bring this Newsletter together, here is a summary of the change created by one of our previous clients from a leading regional law firm:
One senior associate we worked with was on the brink of quitting law entirely.
She was upset at the thought of leaving the profession she had worked so hard to qualify into.
But she was increasingly aware that it was negatively impacting her health and her behaviour – particularly towards her husband and her son outside of work.
After working with me, she:
- learned to spot her early burnout signals, thinking about what caused her stress and what her stress responses were (the ‘taps on the shoulder’) so she could be more proactive in managing stress before it impacted her negatively;
- restructured her working style using S.E.R.V.I.C.E Wellbeing framework to build long term strategies to create high performance that she could sustain; and
- rebuilt her leadership approach. She became aware of her values and own beliefs and how they could create stress for her and her team. She learned how to recognise different personality types and communicate more effectively to create win:win situations for her and her team.
Within 6 months, she wasn’t just surviving – she had moved into a role that suited her better, was leaving the office ‘on-time’ most evenings. And she was starting to thrive.
This lawyer became a role model within her team, advocating for sustainable practices that improved the performance and wellbeing of everyone around her.
She’s now a thriving senior leader who leads differently – and is shaping a new culture from the top down.
She didn’t have to do this alone. She wasn’t expected to have these skills already. Instead, she was open to learning and adapting and knew she needed to do this.
Final Thought:
We’re at a turning point.
Burnout is no longer invisible.
The question is:
Will you lead the change – or continue the cycle?
If you’re ready to go beyond awareness and start creating true, sustainable success – for yourself, your firm, or your future leaders, I am here to help.
Yours,
Vikki mindfully changing the game Pratley