Dr Catherine Sykes
The legal profession is known for its intellectual rigor, high standards, and unrelenting demands. For Partners at law firms, these pressures often reach an intense level, as they balance client expectations, firm management, and personal life with the weight of leadership.
On World Mental Health Day, it is vital to acknowledge the unique challenges that Partners in law firms face, particularly around mental health. Studies have consistently shown that lawyers are at a higher risk for mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Research reveals that lawyers are twice as likely to suffer from suicidal ideation compared to the general population. This year, clinical data from my practice indicates an increase in female Partners at law firms who express suicidal ideation. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), between 21% and 36% of lawyers qualify as problem drinkers, and 28% struggle with depression.
As Partners at law firms face growing pressures, from billable hours to leadership challenges, the importance of mental health awareness has never been clearer. I have chosen to highlight the mental health struggles of Partners at law firms because there are unique symptoms that often require coaching solutions post recovery from mental health issues.
This article uses a case study to explore the mental health challenges unique to law firm Partners and highlights how coaching strategies can be part of the ongoing solutions for helping Partners at law firms maintain good mental health and lead teams to success.
Rebecca who has given permission to share some aspects of her story, is a Partner at a law firm in London. She was demotivated, tired, overweight and constantly irritable when I first met her. She cried in our sessions but then would pull herself together just before the end of the session and make her way to the office to complete her busy day. To the untrained eye, lawyers are skilled at masking their unhappiness. You would never know just how unhappy some of my lawyer clients are!
Rebecca seemed ambitious but she found it very difficult to admit this to herself. In fact, she found it very hard to express who she was and her emotions.
I decided to start by helping Rebecca to understand her work-related motivations. It soon became apparent that she had no sense of ownership over her business, she did not have a strategy for working with clients she wanted to serve and for doing the type of work that inspired her and that she knew she was good at. Her business was very reactive and the team she managed was burnt out. Understandably so, there was no time to think and plan, there was no clarity of vision and expectations and team meetings were literally a waste of time.
The weight of her business just got heavier and heavier and her only relief from the weight was to come home and binge eat on the sofa in the weekdays and sleep in and avoid people at the weekends.
Rebecca was trying too hard to get a sense of worthiness from her work. She was trying to please and appease others to fix a deep desire to receive approval without any discernment of where that approval came from. She was on auto-pilot seeking approval wherever she could find it. Once Rebecca could see the pattern she was in, she opened up about her past. Her father was a lawyer, she suspected he was depressed. He had once hinted that he wished he had become a Partner. Her father was a heavy drinker who could get aggressive with his children. Rebecca’s mother did her best to make sure the children were well-behaved in his presence.
I worked with Rebecca to develop a deep connection with her worthiness, this then enabled Rebecca to express that she was ambitious and did want to build a successful business but not at any cost. The team environment and her own health were important to her. She allowed herself to imagine that all of this could be true at the same time.
We worked together to create a business strategy and a team restructure that played to strengths and motivations.
Team meetings became focused and energising. Bad habits in meetings were highlighted and addressed. Clarity of the aim of the meeting became an essential feature of meeting planning, fear of missing out at meetings was openly discussed in the team which helped get agreement on who really needed to be at meetings.
Rebecca learnt that creating psychologically safety was important in her team and that she was good at it but she needed to improve how she communicated her high standards expectations so the standards were clear and understood. A fear of conflict, due to her desire to receive approval had negatively impacted how she communicated the required high standards to the team. Coaching helped Rebecca to understand and manage her fear of conflict and have to difficult conversations without getting into to conflict.
Rebecca developed a morning routine that invigorated her mind and body. She let go of her expectations of what a good morning should look like and instead developed a routine that worked for her. The benefits of this morning routine helped Rebecca to put boundaries around her going to bedtime. Within weeks, Rebecca noticed an improvement in her focus.
Being a Partner at a law firm comes with immense pressures and responsibilities, but it is possible to thrive, both personally and professionally, with the right support. Rebecca’s journey highlights the significant impact that tailored coaching solutions can have on improving mental health, performance, and leadership. By addressing underlying emotional challenges, clarifying work motivations, and fostering a healthier, more productive team dynamic, Rebecca was able to rebuild her sense of purpose and take control of her career.
Her story serves as a reminder that mental health is not just about recovery, it’s about creating sustainable practices that allow individuals to maintain balance in a demanding profession. On this World Mental Health Day, it’s important for law firm Partners to reflect on their own well-being and seek the support they need. As the pressures of leadership grow, so too must our commitment to ensuring mental health is prioritised, not just for the sake of the individual, but for the success and mental health of the teams they lead. By investing in mental health awareness and support strategies like coaching, law firms can create a more resilient, high-performing culture that empowers Partners and their teams to thrive.
If you are Partner at Law Firm and you want to start challenging how you do success, click here to download a resource to help you.