LEAH STEELE, 37, LIVES IN BRISTOL WITH HER PARTNER

‘There is this idea that work has to be hard, but I don’t think that’s true’

hI worked as a lawyer for 11 years, specialising in contentious probate – so when somebody had died and there was a dispute over the person’s estate, I would handle it. I used to jokingly refer to it as the worst combination of criminal, family and probate law because you tend to have grieving, often somewhat dysfunctional families, who have experienced something big. Most of my cases involved historic child abuse, physical abuse, neglect, alcohol and addiction issues… It had a heavy emotional toll, but I kept going, working 70-, 80-, even 90-hour weeks for years. I spent 15 to 20 hours commuting each week.

I was doing very well from the outside. I had a magazine column and I travelled all over the country speaking and giving lectures at conferences. I was sought around the country for what I did. I was 30 years old.

Then, my mum died suddenly and I realised I was experiencing burnout.

I decided to get a job at a local law firm, which was a five-minute drive from my house and I thought that would be easier. But it was the wrong fit and I was still working too much. It got to the stage where I was crying in the lavatories most days. I was on beta blockers for anxiety and hadn’t seen my friends in months. It took all my energy just to try to cope with the week ahead.

Over the past year, we have seen studies from the International Bar Association and the mental-health and well-being charity LawCare that show the average lawyer is at high risk of burnout and scores highly for exhaustion. Last year, a study found that 26 per cent of lawyers are actively looking to leave the profession altogether. But it doesn’t need to be this way.

Beyond the law, Gallup’s 2020 poll found more than three-quarters of workers were experiencing some level of burnout, and in the same year, the Health and Safety Executive found more working days had been lost than ever before, with more than 50 per cent of cases of absence from work due to stress, depression and anxiety, conditions that have a huge overlap with burnout.

I have now changed my role, so instead of practising law, I am helping other lawyers to avoid burnout.

I don’t like seeing lawyers quit their careers, but so many do, just to protect their health. There is this idea that work has to be hard, that it has to hurt to be worthwhile, but I don’t think that’s true. If you encourage people to go more slowly, they will be with you for much longer.

I would love for us to remember the lessons we’ve learnt from the past couple of years, when we saw that there are so many ways to work, and that we can do it in a way that enhances everyone’s happiness and wellbeing.

We are in the middle of a huge societal change and we have an opportunity to completely remake the working world, which has been the same nineto-five since the 1920s.

I wanted to be a lawyer from the age of eight. I thought they helped people. Now, I still help people, but in a way that doesn’t hurt me.

I now work less than half the hours, I don’t travel any more, I work from home, I see my pets and my partner, and I don’t wake up every day dreading what’s ahead.