Why a greater emphasis on managing stress and general wellbeing is needed in the legal profession

Ms Beko, who has written a book on how lawyers can enjoy being at work more, believes that people in the profession need more help managing stress and their general mental health and wellbeing to avoid suffering burnout.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Ms Beko said: “Without supporting people with proper training on time management, stress management and things like that, you’ll just have people burning out, off with chronic stress or leaving.”

It could also mean that people produce work to a lower level than they are capable of doing so.

Lawyers are continually leaving the profession because of high levels of stress and a lack of management of it, she added.

Ms Beko was running her own commercial property practice and having started it from scratch, built it up to a “good business”

However, Ms Beko noticed that she was suffering from chronic stress and starting to have panic attacks.

“I was saying yes to everything, working all hours,” she says, “at that point I thought I can’t really do this anymore and this isn’t the life that I wanted.”

That’s when Ms Beko decided to write The Authentic Lawyer to help others in the legal profession manage their wellbeing better and be themselves at work.

Ms Beko said lawyers need to realise that it is “absolutely normal and okay” to seek support and guidance around stress management.

While the landscape has improved, there is still a stigma attached to seeking help for issues such as burnout.

She added: “There’s no failure in getting help. I say to people it’s a strength. You reach out and get help like I did and your life improves ten-fold.

“I don’t like to hear that people have quit because they think that it can’t change.”

What the help looks like will be different for everyone and firms shouldn’t adopt a one size fits all approach, Ms Beko says.

She added: “You’ve got to give them the information and the tools but you’ve got to do it in a way that personalises it for the individual and actually see how they could implement it in their life.”

Legal Studio, established in 2014, has four employees and 20 consultants working under the firm’s banner.

Ms Beko’s role as head of mission will see her focus on coaching, training, development and wellbeing for everyone at the firm including the consultants.

She said: “We’re attracting lawyers to come and join us who perhaps haven’t had that support in the past because law firms aren’t always great at providing that.

“We’re probably the first, certainly from the self-employed model, that offers that support from the board level.

“It fits with my personal mission because for the last six, seven years I’ve been doing a lot of work in the mental health and wellbeing space for lawyers.

“My personal mission is to make sure that stress isn’t part and parcel of the job anymore and lawyers aren’t continually leaving the profession because they can’t balance the home and family life with their work.”

Joining Legal Studio has been a “perfect fit” for Ms Beko as she has similar views as CEO Ian McCann on matters around wellbeing.

She said: “There’s too many lawyers who leave the profession or live half a life because they’re not happy with what they’re doing. We certainly saw eye to eye on that.”

Opening an office in Manchester

Hannah Beko has helped Legal Studio open an office in Manchester. It currently has Ms Beko and her assistant but the firm is looking to grow the office.

She said: “Legal Studio has been in Leeds for eight years and I know they wanted to expand.

“Manchester is a fantastic legal market to expand into. It’s also my natural home. I trained in Manchester 20 odd years ago.

“I’ve worked there all of these years as well. I’ve got a lot of connections in Manchester. It’s a natural place for me to be opening an office and hopefully bringing across some of my connections.”