Let's talk about imposter syndrome webinar

Highlights from the webinar

• Imposter syndrome affects many people in the legal profession. It is common amongst high achievers who often set unrealistically high standards.
• There is a tendency to dwell on negative feedback and catastrophize.
• Legal businesses are also impacted - missed opportunities and lower productivity.

What makes it worse?

• Feelings of worth coming from academic and professional achievements.
• Isolation and a lack of feedback – this was a big issue during the pandemic as people lost their informal support networks.
• Social media can make you feel that you aren’t working hard enough.

How can you manage these feelings?

• Remove the power of failure – build a support network and a psychologically safe work environment where you can talk about your mistakes and be supported.
• Try to talk to people. This especially important for younger legal professionals who rely on the experience and support of senior colleagues and managers.
• Talk about how you are feeling and have an open mindset. Imposter syndrome is not new but not enough people talked openly about it before now.
• Positive reinforcement – remember when you have done something well or you get a compliment. One suggestion was to have a ‘nice things’ email folder to save these.
• Stop praising and valuing overwork and competition culture.
• Don’t believe everything you see online.
• Try to change how you think about your achievements.
• Empathy, kindness and compassion (including self-compassion)

Chair

• Lloyd Rees is a Knowledge Lawyer in the Freshfields Global Transactions Knowledge Team. Lloyd is a trained Mental Health First Aider and is the founder and Co-Chair of the Freshfields UK Mental Health Affinity Network – the employee-led network dedicated to mental health and wellbeing. He has contributed to many publications on the topic of mental health and the legal profession including The Telegraph, The Lawyer and Legal Cheek. He has also appeared in numerous podcasts, webinars and events speaking about mental health and the legal profession. Lloyd is also a LawCare champion.

Panel:

• James McFarlane is extremely passionate about ending the stigma around mental health and runs a Men’s Wellbeing Group for those involved in the legal profession in Scotland. James is also a mental health first aider, has written extensively and appeared on various podcasts discussing his own mental health challenges and the wellbeing challenges within the legal profession as a whole.
• Katie McKenna was a Scottish Solicitor for over ten years and worked for Harper Macleod, Digby Brown and the Law Society of Scotland. Katie has always been powerful advocate for mental health within the legal profession; working on the creation of Lawscot Wellbeing, initiating research with charity SeeMe and as a helpline volunteer and peer supporter for LawCare.  Working with LawCare inspired Katie’s career change into psychotherapy. Katie holds a COSCA counselling certificate from the University of Strathclyde and is studying for a Masters in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. Katie is undertaking groundbreaking research on the perceptions and attitudes on counselling held by Solicitors in Great Britain for her dissertation due for publication later this year.  
• Malvika Jaganmohan is a barrister specialising in family law. Following a serious mental health crisis in her pupillage year, Malvika has tried to encourage open discussions around mental ill-health amongst lawyers and the support that can be put in place for them. She runs a blog called ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ which aims to challenge mental health stigma within the profession.