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05 March 2020
Issue: 7877 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Creating a healthy work culture

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Laura Uberoi explains why lawyers should embrace a no- or low-alcohol-focused approach to work events

The Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society (the JLD) launched a new guide—Creating a healthy alcohol culture in the legal profession (the guide) earlier this year. Its aim is not to stop individuals drinking alcohol, but to promote awareness and create opportunities to foster a healthier, more inclusive approach to work-related activities. The guide was featured in nearly every national newspaper and discussed on various radio stations, so why is it attracting so much attention and what can you take from it?

 

Time for change?

 

There are four main factors encouraging organisations and lawyers to rethink their approaches to alcohol:

  • Improved mental and physical health. Harmful drinking is the biggest risk factor for death and ill health among 15-49 year olds in the UK. Since 2017, the JLD has run an annual survey examining the levels of extreme stress and mental-ill health among junior lawyers. This survey highlights that alcohol is a contributing factor to mental ill-health and in some cases is being used as a coping
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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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