My ‘dream job’ a nightmare
Solicitor tells of mental health hell as the legal system faces ‘collapse’
A STRESSED lawyer is quitting her “dream job” due to the impact the legal profession is having on her mental health.
Lyndsey Barber, 37, who has represented clients at every Scottish sheriff court, says legal aid rates have left many firms short staffed.
And she says her mental health has suffered – and is now taking medication due to her increased workload.
She is hoping speaking out will help bring change in how the Scottish Government funds legal aid lawyers.
Her decision comes after the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association – Scotland’s biggest criminal defence lawyer group – said the justice system is “in imminent danger of collapse” because of the payment deadlock.
Lyndsey, who has been a lawyer for nine years, said: “Criminal defence is all I ever wanted to do. It’s really upsetting that I feel this way.
“The vast majority of clients have anxiety and depression. If only they knew that was something I was fighting every day and took action about.
“It takes all my energy every day to open a courtroom door. Clients can’t see we are vulnerable or struggling – we’re there to assuage their fears and do the best for them. There was almost a feeling of invincibility when you put the gown on, but that’s not there for me any more.
“I am not doing the job to the standard that I want to, or I don’t feel that I am.
“Accordingly, the decision for me is to walk away.”
She said firms are so short staffed lawyers are unable to represent clients in trials, so have to ask for postponements, leading to a backlash from judges.
She explained: “I have found myself being spoken to abysmally. I’m on enough medication, because I’ve got such poor mental health, that would knock out a horse. I’m being outspoken because I don’t want anybody else to feel this way.”
She said it was “soul destroying” to see others “physically affected by the job”, adding: “It kills me that I won’t do the job that I think I’m good at any more.
“When I told colleagues I was quitting, not one of them told me it was going to get better, to stay and to rethink.
“The response from the majority was that if they had an out they’d take it.”
The Scottish Government was asked to comment.
It kills me I won’t do the job I think I’m good at LYNDSEY BARBER ON PACKING HER ROLE IN