#7: Progress, the Pandemic & Prioritising Mental Health - with Elizabeth Rimmer

This week I’m joined by Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, the UK’s mental health charity for the legal community. Elizabeth began her career as a lawyer at Leigh Day, before transitioning to the VCSE sector. Years later, she found herself drawn back to the legal industry in a different capacity - one which lets her combine her knowledge of the law with her passion for mental health and wellbeing. For Elizabeth, wellbeing means (primarily) daily dog walks and time with her parents, but she’s advocating for a broad and flexible definition of wellbeing throughout the legal industry. This conversation could have continued into multiple episodes, and there may well have to be a Part II sometime! But in this episode, we discussed: Elizabeth’s route into law and back again How the legal industry has changed from the 90s to the present day The impact of the pandemic on lawyer mental health and wellbeing How firms can support their lawyers to have better mental health Management training The impact of the billable hour and billable targets on lawyers Better ways of evaluating lawyer performance The importance of making (and being allowed to make) mistakes Skills-based training at law school (And dogs) If you want to find out more about Elizabeth and stay up to date with her thoughts on the industry, you can find her on LinkedIn. You can find out everything you need to know about LawCare and how to get in touch on the LawCare website. Please, if you’re struggling, do give them a call. The book Elizabeth is currently reading is The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.