The legal sector puts lawyers’ mental health on the agenda | Expansión

The newspaper Expansión publishes today an article highlighting the challenges, especially related to mental health, faced by legal professionals. Factors such as workload, pressure and the competitiveness required to enter this profession impact on the balance and serenity of lawyers, producing dysfunctions of varying degrees of seriousness. Almudena Arpón de Mendívil, partner of the firm, tells us how, through the professional welfare committee, the importance of correcting harmful situations in law firms is being highlighted. Historically, the stigma surrounding lawyers’ mental health has hindered access to some treatments, but it is true that, for some time now, we have been seeing a significant and very positive change in this regard.

Excessive workloads affect lawyers at all levels, as well as civil servants in judicial bodies, both in large firms and in other areas of the legal sector. According to a report by the General Council of the Judiciary, a considerable percentage of judicial bodies in Spain far exceeds the workload considered reasonable, with alarming figures in courts of first instance, social and commercial courts, as well as in sections of provincial courts.

The report concludes with recommendations such as right-sizing workloads, reducing work-related stress and setting boundaries to ensure lawyers’ wellbeing. Although progress has been made, challenges remain in the way the legal business is run and the mental health of professionals is addressed.

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