Legal mental health and wellbeing charity LawCare, academics at the University of Sheffield, and The Open University have launched a free online course for legal professionals about Working with others.
The new Working with others course is the second part of the Fit for Law series – an ongoing programme to promote psychologically and emotionally healthier ways of working within law that was developed based on evidence from focus groups with legal professionals across the UK.
The courses aim to upskill individuals and encourage positive organisational and cultural change in the legal workplace.
Working with others takes two-to-four hours in total to complete, but is broken down into smaller sections and includes videos from legal professionals discussing the ways they work and communicate with others.
The topics covered include:
- Working effectively with clients: identifying, understanding and managing client emotions, communicating with clients in person and online, and working with difficult or vulnerable clients
- Working effectively with colleagues: team working and leadership, responding to conflict, and supporting colleagues
- Collaborating with third parties
Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare said:
“This new course is an opportunity to focus on the relationships which are part of day-to-day life for legal professionals, and to further their skills on how to approach and manage these.
Healthy working relationships with colleagues and clients foster a positive working environment and are the bedrock of a culture that treats people with respect.
We know from our work at LawCare the detrimental impact poor relationships in the workplace can have on mental wellbeing and this course will help legal professionals to feel more confident in raising concerns, managing client relationships and understanding what may be driving challenging behaviour in others.”
Dr Emma Jones of the University of Sheffield said:
“Most legal professionals interact regularly with other people in the workplace, whether that’s clients, colleagues or third parties.
Working with others’ recognises that these interactions can affect individuals’ and teams’ wellbeing in a range of different ways. It seeks to provide evidence-based practical guidance on how to deal with some of the challenges that commonly arise.”
The new Working with others course, and the first part of Fit for Law which is all about managing and understanding yourself, are both available to everyone studying law or working in the legal profession in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man and could be used as CPD in some jurisdictions.
For more information visit www.fitforlaw.org.uk.
