Half of women working in legal services say their current working pattern is unsustainable for their long‑term health, and 67% have considered changing jobs or taking a career break because of wellbeing concerns. For a profession obsessed with retention and reputation, that is less a wellbeing problem and more a pipeline crisis.
The new Pressure Points: Mapping Women’s Wellbeing in Law report, from the Next 100 Years project with RPC, LawCare and Goodbody Wellness, surveyed more than 500 women across the legal sector.
The topline numbers are brutal, showing that 85% reported health and wellbeing issues affecting their work in the last five years, including stress (83%), anxiety (71%) and burnout (53%), often in toxic combination.
Seven in ten reported constant exhaustion or low energy not fixed by rest, the kind of chronic fatigue that quietly empties your talent pipeline long before anyone hands in a resignation letter.
Yet the report’s most law‑specific finding may be more cultural than clinical with forty‑three percent of women saying they do not feel able to raise health and wellbeing concerns at work without risking negative consequences, and only 42% believe their employer takes women’s wellbeing seriously.
One respondent captured the unwritten rule: you “just have to get on with it” and avoid looking like “trouble or difficult” in front of partners. In other words, presenteeism remains a safer bet than honesty.
Women’s health issues are a key issue in the legal profession. Almost a third of respondents had been affected by menopause symptoms and a quarter by menstruation‑related issues, with others citing baby loss, fertility treatment and pregnancy‑related complications.
Policies exist, but patchily: around half report a menopause policy, 41% see support for working parents, and only 36% are aware of fertility or miscarriage policies.
Although women are increasingly achieving major leadership roles among law firms, as we have reported, the ongoing issues clearly continue so far as workplace stress is concerned.
When asked what actually drives the strain, the answer was not ping‑pong tables. The biggest pressure point is balancing work with caring responsibilities, named by 42% of women, followed by poor leadership and long hours coupled with limited understanding of women’s health.
Wellness apps will not fix a billing model that assumes an unencumbered worker, which is perhaps the report’s core challenge to law firm leadership: treat wellbeing as a major issue for law firms, not an individual failing.
The authors call for audits of working patterns, billable‑hours expectations and cultural norms, default flexible working, enforced menopause and fertility policies, structured support for maternity returners, extended carers’ leave and real psychological safety around disclosure.
Or, as performance coach Ann‑Marie Goodbody (pictured) puts it, this is “a performance crisis hiding in plain sight”. Until recovery is built into the system – not squeezed into the margins – the profession will keep losing the very women it says it cannot afford to lose.
