President's column

I find it extremely alarming that one third of Scottish solicitors who took part in the recent Journal employment survey have been victims of violence or threatening behaviour in connection with their work. Thank you so much to the 1,100 solicitors and accredited paralegals who took part in the research.

Almost 40% of criminal defence solicitors, 25% of family lawyers and 19% of prosecutors have been victims of violence. Around 70% of criminal defence solicitors, 54% of family lawyers and 61% of prosecutors have been victims of threatening behaviour.

I was heartened to see Humza Yousaf, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, tweet in response to our violence survey findings: “This is unacceptable. Those in our legal profession have the same rights as anybody else in their workplace – I’ll work with @Lawscot and others to ensure we have a zero tolerance approach to violence against lawyers.”

I firmly believe there should be no tolerance of any threat of violence towards legal professionals. I want to improve solicitors’ and other legal professionals’ personal safety and build a “no tolerance” culture across the legal and justice sector to reduce violence and threatening behaviour. Let’s hope we can all come together to find preventative solutions and support for those victims of violence.

Stress: we take it seriously

The same survey also revealed that at least one in six solicitors have a problem with stress that they have chosen not to discuss with anyone, or don’t know who to turn to. Some solicitors revealed that their boss wasn’t taking their stress problem seriously. Over 27% of calls to wellbeing charity LawCare relate to stress. These findings come at a time when mental health is high on the agenda. World Mental Health Day on 10 October helped to raise awareness of stress as well as other mental health issues. The Law Society of Scotland is taking it very seriously and we held an event in Glasgow to promote our new Lawscot Wellbeing initiative, supported by charity SAMH, at Anderson Strathern’s offices on World Mental Health Day.

Lawscot Wellbeing is a dedicated online resource that provides help and guidance for members and employers. We aim to work in collaboration with NHS Scotland, LawCare, SeeMe, SAMH and other mental health charities to equip our members with information and signposting to help manage emotional wellbeing – whether that’s their own, their client’s or a colleague’s.

We won’t move forward on these issues just by talking about them. We need to push for the adoption of robust policies and procedures by employers to deal with violent or threatening behaviour. The Society will work with employers to provide support for solicitors who are victims of violence, and call for them to take their staff’s mental health seriously. Already so many firms and organisations are trying new initiatives. I hope this good work across the profession will be mirrored by many more employers soon.

Members can visit the Wellbeing section of the Society's website for further information on mental health. Additionally you can call LawCare on 0800 279 6888 for free, confidential advice.

The violence survey results can be found on the Society's website.