By Julius Melnitzer | May 7, 2025
Sadly, the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Workplace Wellbeing Survey 2024 Analysis and Discussion reports that law firms still don’t understand “the importance of addressing workplace well-being challenges”.
The heart of the problem seems to be that line managers, who are crucial to supporting mental health, “currently lack the recognition, support and training necessary to fulfill this role effectively”. Indeed, Chris Jones, a Professional Wellbeing Commission member who is one of the report’s principal drafters, told the IBA that line managers are themselves vulnerable to well-being challenges “if they are not provided with the necessary training, support, and resources” enabling them to manage workplace well-being.
George Strathy, then Chief Justice of Ontario and a prominent mental health advocate who is now a mediator and arbitrator at Arbitration Place, is of similar mind.
“The lack of training for people who manage lawyers is what resonated with me in the IBA study,” he said. “We pick leaders in law firms not because they’re good managers, but because they’re good lawyers, so you often find people in leadership whose main interest is furthering their careers. Many don’t have much inclination to get involved in training because, for the most part, law firms don’t reward training.”
All this is even more surprising given the profits-per-equity-partner mentality pervading so many law firms. Dr. Emma Jones, also a Commission member and principal drafter of the report, notes that growing research evidence supports the “strong links” between employee well-being and key business outcomes.
“The Report demonstrates that what people think are the drivers of workplace wellbeing, such as compensation, are not what are most predictive of wellbeing,” she told the IBA. “Critical amongst these drivers are a strong sense of trust, inclusion and belonging.”
Barry Leon, also an arbitrator and mediator at Toronto’s Arbitration Place, previously a judge of the commercial division of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and formerly a partner and coordinator of Torys LLP’s litigation and dispute resolution practice, is among those baffled by law firms’ lack of responsiveness.
“Lawyer well-being is not a new concern, but, in today’s world, it is a broad, high-profile and increasingly significant issue,” he says. “So it is surprising that in the mid-2020s, law firms around the world continue to grapple so much with what they should and should not be doing or not doing.”
Canadian law firms, in particular, should be well-versed on the subject, given the recent release of the Omnibus Report on the National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada, prepared under the auspices of the Universitė de Sherbrooke and funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. The research emphasizes significant concerns about the mental health and well-being of legal professionals in Canada and the need for systemic change.
It’s also been almost three years since Strathy underscored the critical role of wellness in his much-publicized paper on The Litigator and Mental Health. He’s emphatic that the profession’s economic model is the prime impediment to law firms coming to grips with mental health issues.
“Law firms don’t let anything get in the way of hours, and so their approach is to drive juniors as hard as they can, because juniors’ revenues will reflect in partners’ revenues. It’s a completely fallacious approach because the cost to the profession of mental health issues far exceeds the profits to be earned by driving people that way.”
Still, Strathy is hopeful that things will improve.
“A few law firms – certainly not every one of them – have told me that they have started to change the way they treat juniors. But what’s clear is that the change has to come from the top, because if that doesn’t happen, there’s going to be a revolution from the bottom. And that may already be occurring, as many young people are now choosing where to work, at least in part, by considering how firms will treat them and what their expectations are.”
As Strathy sees it, resistance from the “old guard” is an impediment as well.
“They’re the ones who saw themselves as gladiators and maybe still do, and they’re not particularly sympathetic to people seeking support.”
Strathy lauds the work of the Mindful Business Charter, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The group’s goal is to “remove unnecessary sources of stress and promote better mental health and wellbeing in the workplace”. A handful of leading British law firms and some of their leading clients, including major financial institutions, founded the group, which now boasts 140 law firms and businesses as members.
“There’s been a lot of international takeup on this approach recently,” Strathy says.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Gowling WLG LLP, and McInnes Cooper are the Canadian members. International firms operating in Canada that are members include Baker McKenzie, Clyde & Co, Dentons, DLA Piper, DWF, and Norton Rose Fulbright.
But Strathy isn’t quite as enthusiastic about the Canadian group.
“They say they’re members, but they don’t seem to be doing much.”
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at julius@legalwriter.net or on his website.
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