New movement to help Singapore lawyers with their mental health and sustainability of profession

A movement to help lawyers to eliminate unnecessary stresses in their job, promote work-life balance, and foster a healthier and sustainable workplace culture was launched on July 29.

The Mindful Business Movement was launched on July 29 during the Legal Profession Symposium 2025.

Speaking at the symposium that was held at Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said the movement represents a collective commitment to ensure that lawyers remain in the profession.

He said: “The Mindful Business Movement aims to drive awareness and adoption of the sustainability principles, support their practical implementation in legal workplaces and promote the mental health and well-being of members of the profession.”

Under the movement is a set of sustainability principles developed in response to feedback gathered during various focus group discussions that would be disseminated to law firms.

The principles include having smart meetings and communications, advocating that meetings are planned properly and run efficiently. Another principle is supporting rest and growth, with firms urged to provide mental wellness resources. Firms are also told to set aside protected time for training and mentoring.

Another principle is mindful delegation, which entails providing junior staff with clear instructions that include sufficient context, and setting deadlines that are realistic, transparent and appropriately negotiable.

The Chief Justice said the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) will develop a five-step guide to flesh out the sustainability principles.

The Mindful Business Movement was launched in partnership with various groups, including SAL and the Britain-based Mindful Business Charter.

In an interview with The Straits Times on July 22, SAL chief executive Yeong Zee Kin said the goal of the Mindful Business Movement is to inculcate workplace practices that can lead to sustainable legal careers.

Elaborating on mindful communication, Mr Yeong spoke about boundaries in the workplace and how bosses should consider if an issue is urgent before sending an e-mail or message to their subordinates over the weekend or after work hours.

If the matter is urgent, the boss should explain why it is so, he said.

“Being a bit more mindful and smart in the way we communicate – that’s actually an important aspect,” he added.

The Mindful Business Charter, which was launched in 2018, was founded by Barclays Bank and two of its panel law firms. It now has 140 signatories, including businesses outside the legal sector.

The charter’s chief executive officer, Mr Richard Martin, used to be a lawyer but left the profession to join the field of workplace culture after he recovered from a serious mental breakdown that occurred in 2011.

He told ST that the charter began with conversations about the mental health crisis faced by legal practitioners, and that while there have been efforts to raise awareness about the issue and support those struggling, there was little discussion about the causes in the workplace.

Mr Martin said that in the legal profession, there is a mindset that lawyers need to do everything their clients ask for and to do it as quickly as possible, at the expense of their own well-being.

“I think that is certainly very present in Singapore as it is in other parts of the world, and it’s not an easy mindset to change,” he said, adding that employers and lawyers need to be more caring towards themselves and each other.

Meanwhile, to help address young litigators’ disillusionment about a lack of opportunities, CJ Menon said the courts’ practice directions will be amended to provide junior litigators with a greater role in oral advocacy.

Among these changes, junior assisting counsel in hearings in the Court of Appeal, the Court of Three Judges and the Appellate Division, as well as appeals in the General Division of the High Court, will now be “ordinarily expected” to make part of the oral submissions.

Said the Chief Justice: “It is our hope that these changes will make a concrete and meaningful difference to our young litigators.

“But for these initiatives to achieve their intended outcomes, we will need our senior colleagues to embrace them in the right spirit, and to convince their clients that it is ultimately in their interests for certain advocacy tasks to be delegated to junior counsel because it reduces legal costs and allows lead counsel to focus on the main advocacy tasks at hand.”

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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