LawCare Reports Increase in Solicitor Problems

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

LawCare has reported a 10 per cent increase in the number of lawyers reporting stress and other problems during 2009. The charity offers pastoral care to solicitors and lawyers, and claims that calls to the helpline were ‘longer and more complex’ in 2009 than ever before, citing the recession as a major factor for the difficulties.

Of the 549 cases opened by LawCare in 20009, 410 were stress related, 47 involved clinical depression, 32 related to alcoholism, while three involved illegal drugs problems. The remaining 57 involved a number of conditions such as panic attacks, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and other issues. While cases were up by 10 per cent, calls to the helpline grew by a quarter.

Just over half of those who called LawCare were able to identify the reasons behind their stress, with a quarter citing redundancy, another 24 per cent identifying financial problems, while disciplinary issues and bullying were also significant factors. Others mentioned relationship problems, bereavement, and even ethical issues – perhaps relating to high legal costs .

Hilary Tilby, chief executive of LawCare, commented that the calls were coming from across the legal profession, including solicitors at private law firms, sole practitioners, lawyers and barristers .
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