Welcome to your November wellbeing spotlight

Each month we’ll put a spotlight on wellbeing news, thoughts, events and support from across the Bar and further afield:

Spotlight

Book your place on our new trauma-informed practice training

You operate in high-pressure environments with tight deadlines, high stakes and complex human dynamics. That pressure alone is intense. When combined with emotionally charged proceedings or clients with challenging personal histories, it can push you and your clients into heightened states of anxiety and distress, often without conscious awareness.

To support barristers, clerks and chambers staff, we have launched new trauma-informed training sessions, which will take place online:

• Training for barristers: Wednesday 21 January and Tuesday 3 February
• Training for clerks and chambers staff: Wednesday 28 January

Join two former barristers, Rebecca Norris and Camilla Wells, in this interactive training session to understand how to navigate human responses with increased awareness and skill. Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, our training will provide valuable insights, language and practical tools to support both your wellbeing and your professional practice.

News

Barrister wellbeing improves but still work to do

The overall levels of wellbeing and job satisfaction of barristers continue to improve but the Chair of the Bar Council says there is still a lot of work to do.
Results from the Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar report 2025 show that all 4 main wellbeing measures* are higher than the previous survey, with 69% of respondents reporting they have good job satisfaction, compared to 61% in 2023.

Read the full report on the Bar Council website

Read news coverage from Legal Futures and Legal Cheek

UK’s big law firms risk losing talented staff over ‘unmanageable’ stress

A survey by Chambers and Partners has found that two in five associates at big law firms plan to leave their jobs in the next five years due to stress and lack of support.

Read the full article on the Financial Times (subscription required)

Living in Limbo: Stop retraumatising survivors 

A record number of rape and sexual offence trials face delays and unacceptable waiting times, new research by charity Rape Crisis England and Wales has revealed.

The report, Living in Limbo, makes 16 recommendations to the government, including building a more trauma-informed justice system, a long-term and resourced strategy to recruit and retain criminal barristers and introductory meetings between witnesses and prosecuting barristers.

Thoughts

• LawCare’s latest research, ‘Life in the Law 2025’, highlights how legal working culture continues to impact mental wellbeing across the sector. In parallel, the Bar Council’s ‘Wellbeing at the Bar Report 2025’ echoes many of the same findings. LawCare’s Chief Executive Elizabeth Rimmer has considered both reports side by side and she says the message is clear: it’s time for collective, sustained action to build a healthier legal culture. Read Elizabeth’s blog

• Wellbeing is one of the priorities for new president of the Law Society, and the third Welsh president, Mark Evans. For International Men’s Day, he shared a blog in the Law Gazette on recent data on mental health and support available in Wales, including the Welsh government’s In Work Support Service, which provides free access to therapeutic support for employees of SMEs or the self-employed. Read Mark’s blog

• Professionals who work with traumatic material or traumatise clients can themselves be affected. Lou Campbell, trauma-informed mental health professional, explores the impact of secondary and vicarious trauma in the legal sector in a piece for The Barrister Magazine

Events

Let’s talk about anxiety webinar – LawCare – Thursday 5 February 2026

LawCare is hosting a free webinar exploring what anxiety looks like in the legal sector and practical ways to cope. Book your place on the LawCare website.

Support 

• How to support mental health at work publication
• Help a colleague – Wellbeing at the Bar
• GP access for you and your family – DoctorLine

Got a wellbeing event coming up? Want to share your story? Contact us