Life in the Law 2025

From January to March 2025, LawCare surveyed individuals and organisations across the sector about how working in law is affecting mental health and wellbeing.

Life in the Law 2025 sets out practical steps towards a healthier future and shows how, with strong leadership and decisive action, wellbeing can be embedded into everyday legal practice.

2025 report recommendations

1. Actively manage workloads – excessive work intensity harms wellbeing and mental health so leaders must tackle root causes by managing workloads, rethinking targets and incentives and challenging the culture of long hours.
2. Prioritise and value managing people – legal workplaces should give people managers enough time, targeted training and ongoing support and recognise management as a critical skill. Senior lawyers should not be
   assumed to be good managers without proper development.
3. Embed hybrid and flexible working options – these ways of working support wellbeing and inclusion. To work well they must be designed with care, balancing benefits with challenges (like isolation) and shaped through open dialogue and collaboration.
4. Evaluate programmes and activities that support mental health and wellbeing at work – legal workplaces should regularly assess whether
   their mental health and wellbeing programmes are working, analyse and learn from the results and make any necessary improvements and adjustments.
5. Legal education and training should equip people joining the sector with the skills and knowledge they need for a sustainable legal career.

2025 headlines

How do people feel about working in the legal sector?

• A majority (56.2%) said that they could see themselves leaving their current workplace within the next five years.
• Nearly a third (32.1%) could also see themselves leaving the legal sector within the next 5 years.
• 32.3% were ‘Not likely’ to recommend law as a career.

What are the current levels of mental health and wellbeing of people in the legal sector?

• Low levels of mental wellbeing – nearly 60% (59.1%) had poor mental wellbeing.

• 43.4% said that their mental health and wellbeing was very significantly influenced by work.
• At high risk of burnout (where people feel emotionally exhausted by and disengaged in, their work).
• 50.0% said they had experienced anxiety, either often, very often or all of the time, over the last 12 months.

What is undermining mental health and wellbeing in the legal workplace?

• Very high levels of work intensity – over three quarters (78.7%) are working over their contracted time, with nearly ten percent (8.5%) estimating they worked 21+ extra hours per week.

• Levels of psychological safety (how safe people feel to raise concerns, questions and ideas) fall in the lower half of the scale.
• Bullying, harassment and discrimination – nearly a fifth (19.5%) had experienced this at work in the preceding 12 months.

What could have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing in legal workplaces?

• Training managers – only 54.6% of those with managerial responsibilities had received training to support them in managing people.

• Valuing people management – less than a third (31.3%) of people who managed others said that their targets or billable hours were adjusted to take into account the time they need to spend managing others or undertaking appropriate training.
• Legal vocational education that better equips people with the skills and knowledge needed for a sustainable legal career.

A call to the whole sector

LawCare calls on every firm, every chambers, every in-house team, every courtroom, every professional body, every regulator, every educational organisation, every insurer, every individual and every leader to step up and take action to create a sustainable sector – one that inspires trust, is progressive, and above all, values its people as its greatest strength.

In 2026 LawCare will start a programme of engagement to develop resources and training to support leaders and organisations to put these recommendations into practice.

Find out more by joining LawCare’s Let’s talk about Life in the Law 2025 webinar on Wednesday 12 November, 12 to 1pm. Sign up here.

Life in the Law 2020/21

The original Life in the Law research (2020/21) was the first of its kind to explore mental health and wellbeing in the legal sector across the UK, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.

LawCare, supported by a committee of legal professionals and academics, conducted the research to better understand how working culture and practices impact the mental health and wellbeing of people working in law. A wide variety of legal professionals took part, sharing their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020/21 key findings:

• High levels of stress and burnout: Participants showed a high risk of burnout, especially due to exhaustion. 69% reported experiencing mental ill-health in the past year, most commonly anxiety, low mood, and depression.
• Stigma remains a barrier: Only 56.5% of those with mental health concerns had spoken about it at work, mainly due to fears of stigma and career impact.
• Workplace factors matter: Lower autonomy, poor psychological safety, and high workloads were all linked to higher burnout – regardless of job role.
• Wellbeing isn’t equal: Burnout risk was higher among younger professionals, women, ethnic minorities, and those with disabilities. These groups also reported lower levels of autonomy and psychological safety at work.
• Bullying and discrimination: 1 in 5 had experienced bullying, harassment, or discrimination—these individuals also reported worse wellbeing overall.
• Self-care helps, but isn’t always enough: Many used exercise, nature, healthy eating, and mindfulness for self-care, but work pressures often made it hard to maintain these habits. More sleep was linked to better wellbeing.
• Support and training matter: Regular catch-ups and appraisals were the most helpful workplace support. However, few managers had received training, even though those who had found it valuable.
• Wellbeing is a shared responsibility: Most participants believed that improving wellbeing should be a collective effort involving individuals, employers, regulators, and professional bodies.
• COVID-19 had mixed effects: While it brought challenges around motivation and boundaries, some found benefits in home working, such as greater flexibility and better work-life balance.

The study highlights the urgent need for cultural change in the legal sector, including better leadership training, more open conversations around mental health, and greater recognition of how different factors – such as age, gender, ethnicity, and disability – intersect to shape wellbeing. Creating a healthier legal sector will require a shared commitment across the profession.