The mental health of legal professionals is to be assessed through the largest ever study of wellbeing in the sector.

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, legal charity LawCare and a group of leading academics are to explore the impact of work culture and working practices on the mental wellbeing of legal professionals.

LawCare chief executive Elizabeth Rimmer said: “We hope it will give us a clear picture of how the culture and practice of law affects mental health. The results will help us to improve the support available to legal professionals and drive long lasting change in legal workplaces so that people working in the law can thrive.”

Lawyers and support staff are being asked to participate in the Life in the Law online questionnaire, and the results will form the basis of an academic paper next year.

The study will assess the day-to-day realities of life in the law and assess levels of burn-out, psychological safety and autonomy.

Researchers Dr Emma Jones (University of Sheffield), Professor Richard Collier (University of Newcastle), Caroline Strevens (reader in legal education, University of Portsmouth) and Lucinda Soon (solicitor and PhD researcher), will work on the research which is being led by Nick Bloy, executive coach and founder of Wellbeing Republic and Kayleigh Leonie, LawCare trustee and solicitor.

The questionnaire is available here.