The Daily Toil: Interactional Demands and Difficulties

This chapter explores the interactional demands placed on legal professionals. These include meeting the demands of clients, dealing with vulnerable clients and balancing the needs of clients with the ethical and professional obligations and requirements placed on legal professionals. It also explores the nature of many legal professional’s relationship with their colleagues, which can range from providing a supportive network to potentially creating a toxic working environment. In particular, it considers the way in which the structure of the legal profession results in those who succeed as lawyers being promoted to become managers, despite the potentially very different skillsets involved. This can lead to significant issues with mental health and wellbeing for both the team members involved and the manager themselves.