“The drink and our industry have a long and fruitful friendship”
It’s a well-known fact that the legal industry is one of the more stressful professions a person can choose. Long days, busy workloads and a consistent level of client pressure keeps the cortisol levels slightly higher than average.
It’s also widely accepted that the law and alcohol consumption, all too often, go hand in hand. Do you sigh with relief while pouring a large glass of wine at the end of a particularly busy day? I do sometimes. And I know I’m not alone.
Then there’s the networking. I definitely know I’m not alone when I say that networking and alcohol go hand in hand. Whether drinks are a stressbuster after long hard days, or simply to provide some ‘Dutch Courage’ in a room full of strangers with familiar faces, networking events can often be the most challenging place to remain sober. And when you have to do a lot of networking on a weekly basis, which many of us do, it can lead to all sorts of problems.
The fall-out from these moments can all too often be catastrophic. Whether it’s a bad decision on one night, or the long-slow burn of a niggling alcohol dependency, it’s hard to get away from. The drink and our industry have a long and fruitful friendship. For many, this becomes a reoccurring theme, networking after networking, drink after drink. I come to this not as someone who is preaching, but as someone who has both struggled over the years with the balance of building a network and avoiding the free bar. Thankfully I have developed some good coping mechanisms and I encourage my staff to do the same, but it’s not easy.
Organisations like the Conveyancing Foundation and Law Care work tirelessly to support colleagues in the profession by offering a confidential, no-judgement service. In 2023, Law Care reported a 24% increase in people contacting their service, citing heavy workloads, unrealistic targets and workplace culture among the reasons as to why they were feeling the strain.
At Aconveyancing, we are working with the Forward Trust as our official charity partner in 2024. The trust helps people break free from the vicious cycles of addiction, crime and associated mental health difficulties. They deliver services within communities, in prisons and provide support at their renowned residential and regional addiction treatment settings of Clouds House in Wiltshire, The Bridges in Hull and The Brink in Liverpool.
The Forward Trust claim that ‘everybody knows somebody’. A sentiment I strongly agree with and I believe that we can do more to raise awareness of addiction within our industry, work hard to stop the stigma surrounding addiction and amplify conversations around the support available to those who might want to seek help.
Removing the stigma that surrounds addiction is crucial. We’ve taken such strides in conveyancing to protect our employees, whether that be maternity leave, menopause training or managing stress levels. We’ve also taken great strides in working more collaboratively as an industry – yet that comes with an ironic price as collaboration requires networking and networking often involves alcohol. If you’re someone, like me, who attends two or three events per week, it can be very easy to fall into the ‘I’ll just have the one’ trap. We need to readdress the connection between networking and drinking, and remove the stigma that surrounds someone asking for help.
Promoting mindful drinking is another key to moving forward, supporting anyone who is attending an event while working on healthier drinking practices. While the prosecco is flowing, what options are we giving to the non-drinkers? It’s time to treat non-alcoholic options with the same energy.
Healthier drinking cultures in the profession can have a significant impact on mental and physical health, diversity and inclusion, bullying and harassment and productivity. Interestingly, it’s the younger generation who are driving the change. I notice they’re not interested in drinks after work, preferring to go to the gym or even walk together. They’re happy to drive to networking events and don’t seem to have developed the connection with alcohol as deeply, may we all learn more from them!
We’re hosting our second summer networking event in June and while it won’t be a completely alcohol-free event, we are taking the non-alcoholic options seriously and working with a company to supply grown-up options. It’s a small step, but one more than we made last year.
Tips from Law Care on how to identify whether you’re drinking too much.
For more information on our charity fundraising, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/aconveyancing-ltd-forward-trust
