In-house Lawyers: Are You Getting the Best Work from Your External Law Firms?

This article was first published on 7 April 2026 in Law.com. SLW obtained permission to reproduce the article to give the legal community a broader view of legal reports for various news syndicates.

It’s a truism that most people work best when they are under a bit of pressure, but not stressed, and when they are in a safe environment. Stress and fear both activate the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the body’s “fight or flight” response, getting in the way of our ability to efficiently provide objective, considered legal advice or analysis.

It stands to reason, therefore, that if you are an in-house buyer of external legal advice, you want lawyers working for you who are not stressed or fearful. You also want them not to be tired, because fatigue negatively impacts efficiency, accuracy and creativity.

There are going to be lots of different factors at play that will determine your lawyer’s state of mind or fatigue, and many of these are going to be outside of your control. What you can influence, however, is the nature of the relationship you have with them and how you treat them. In the context of professional services, this can have a major impact, positive or negative.

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard private practice lawyers tell me that they feel like they are at the mercy of their clients. I always invite them to reflect on that choice of language because it speaks so clearly to the nature of that relationship. If “at the mercy” of their client is how they truly feel, they are not set up to give the considered, objective legal advice or analysis that clients seek.

Lawyers the world over, like many others in professional services, have, or quickly develop, personality traits that encourage client service, people pleasing and a lack of regard for their own needs. My recent conversations with lawyers in Singapore suggest there are also deep-rooted cultural norms in Singapore that play to those same tendencies.

In perpetuating this culture within the profession, we are endangering the health of ourselves and our fellow professionals, we are working less efficiently and setting ourselves up for mistakes and poor judgment, including on matters of ethics. Furthermore, we are discouraging the next generation of potential lawyers from joining or remaining in the profession.

It does not need to be this way.

The Mindful Business Charter (MBC) is a charitable community of employer organisations with roots in the legal profession that aims to reduce unnecessary workplace stress and promote effective, healthier ways of working. As a major client of many private practice firms, Barclays, one of our founders, recognised the fear its legal team instilled in those firms and the negative impact this had not only on the health but also the effectiveness of the lawyers involved. They wanted to change that for the good of the profession but also for the quality of work they received.

At the heart of the MBC is a permission to ask for what we need and don’t need to deliver our best work. When we create that relationship between client and law firm, we build healthier relationships that are built on respect and trust—not fear. As a result, no one feels at the mercy of someone else, and we can reduce the unnecessary sources of stress in how we work. Consequently, lawyers are better able to deliver first-class service while at the same time looking after their own well-being.

In Singapore, we operate as part of a collaboration with the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), Temasek, Workwell Leaders, and Mindful Business Singapore to promote more mindful ways of working within the country’s legal profession and the wider business community. This collaboration, collectively named the Mindful Business Movement, is coordinated by SAL and is part of its wider work to create a healthy and sustainable profession.

As Paul Neo, assistant chief executive of SAL puts it: “This is the first time that leaders from across the full spectrum of Singapore’s legal profession have come together to not only openly address the cultural and workplace issues that impact mental health and, ultimately, career sustainability, but also to discuss and share how lawyers can deliver greater value-add to their clients when support measures like mindfulness guidelines are in place. The Mindful Business Movement is an important initiative aligned with our aim of entrenching a values-driven culture in our legal profession, which we see as critical towards sustaining Rule of Law in Singapore.”

Temasek, the global investment company, is another company that has incorporated mindful approaches into how it works with its external law firms. Like Barclays, Temasek is an important client, and its lawyers expect the highest quality client service and responsiveness. It also wants to work with its external law firms in a respectful way—one that enables it to get the best quality work and build healthy and sustainable relationships that benefit both the company and its law firms.

Gregory Tan, the joint head of legal and regulatory at Temasek, acknowledges the importance of this: “Occasionally, we require work to be delivered immediately, and we will make that expectation clear. But not every request demands immediate attention. By setting clear and realistic deadlines for our external counsels and being reasonable when we instruct them, we aim to foster a motivating environment for lawyers. This approach encourages them to deliver their highest quality work but also helps minimise attrition within their teams, which ultimately leads to greater efficiency and reduces risks for us as an organisation.”

This approach fosters positive feelings among the law firms and lawyers who work with Temasek, enabling them to deliver their best work more effectively. It works for everyone.

In-house lawyers are uniquely well placed to shape the kind of relationship they want with their private practice firms. You can give your external counsel permission to talk about how to work more effectively together, and get better quality work done more efficiently—based on relationships that are stronger and more human. Or, you can keep them at your mercy!

Richard Martin is CEO of the Mindful Business Charter and is also the IBA Wellbeing Commissioner. He is a leading voice in workplace mental health.

Used with permission of Law.com International. Copyright © 2026. All rights reserved.

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