I provide external ‘reflective supervision’ for practising lawyers, alongside my coaching and mentoring.

I have a Diploma in Family Law Supervision which supports me in doing this work. (This qualification was designed with the pressures on family lawyers in mind, but is not restricted to family law practitioners). I am also a member of the Association of Family Law Supervisors.

This kind of professional development and support for lawyers is new but growing. It is has also been called:

“Luke is a brilliant and empathetic family law supervisor – he is thoughtful and insightful, and our sessions have been a precious resource in equipping me to be a more resilient (and happier) family lawyer.”

Associate, family law, London

An Outline

As a reflective supervisor, I can help you understand and develop the most important skills a lawyer needs, which are not knowledge of black-letter law but things like:

• how do you set and keep appropriate boundaries?

• how do you deal with conflict (including between you and your client)?

• how do you manage relationships?

• what can you do with all the crisis and trauma from clients that tends to end up on your desk?

• how do you really listen?

Clients often come to a lawyer at the one of the most vulnerable points in their lives, and they tend to look to their lawyer as a sort of a saviour – someone who will know all the answers, will relentlessly fight their corner, will give them “justice” and who will make everything all right for them. They can be desparate for their lawyer to have all these qualities, and sometimes sad, angry or manipulative if they fear their lawyer is not delivering.

This can put lawyers under the most enormous pressure.  It gets worse when we as lawyers get seduced ourselves into accepting this myth and believing it’s true that we can and should be delivering all these things.

Clients can sometimes refuse to accept good advice and be manipulative when we are advising them in ways they don’t like. Sometimes they may have unreasonable expectations; sometimes they need protecting from themselves. They may not want to hear that their requests/demands are not going to be possible, because “I’m paying you“ and “this is your job – you’re my lawyer”.

These are just some of the critical aspects of legal practice that external supervision helps lawyers reflect on and become clear and confident about.

An excellent explanation of reflective supervision for family lawyers is given in this LawCare podcast:

“Luke provides me with a way to think, to structure the whirling thoughts and to vocalise them.”

Senior Associate, family law, London

Vicarious trauma

In certain particularly challenging areas of legal practice it can feel exhausting, since you are regularly exposed to heightened human emotions and distress.  Your clients may have experienced (or may still be experiencing) very difficult – often traumatic – situations and you will become exposed to this on a secondary/vicarious level as you work with them. 

Prolonged and unmanaged exposure to a certain level of emotional trauma and distress can lead you yourselves to develop chronic stress, compassion fatigue, burn-out, addictions and/or workaholism.  At the very least, you are likely to experience periods of emotional exhaustion, deep worry and reduced effectiveness, as you struggle to cope with the responsibility of your role and the demands of your clients, colleagues, opponents and the courts.

It is common for lawyers in such situations to be reluctant (or feel inhibited) from telling colleagues how you truly feel; to believe that you must just ‘soldier on’ because ‘that’s what you do as a lawyer’; and you may find yourself ignoring sensible professional boundaries, such as working far too many hours or taking on certain responsibilities for your clients that should not really be part of your remit.

Most other types of professionals who support distressed and traumatised clients receive regular professional supervision as part of their role – indeed, for many, it is mandatory.  Lawyers working with the same sorts clients and issues deserve the same support. 

Vicarious Trauma in the Legal Profession: a practical guide to trauma, burnout and collective care (Fleck & Francis 2021) is a superb and very readable book which explains the challenges lawyers face when working in these demanding areas of legal practice, and what needs to be done about it. The authors describe external reflective supervision as the “gold standard” in how to care for such lawyers.

What is Reflective Supervision?

Reflective supervision offers lawyers working in challenging legal areas a confidential, safe, non-judgmental and supportive space, with ethical and professional boundaries, to support you, to help you deal with the stress of such work, and to enhance your development and growth. 

It is equally important and needed for barristers, solicitors and other legal professionals working with clients who experience distress and trauma.

A reflective supervisor is, at different times, a listening ear, a sounding board, a mentor and an educator. The process is about you thinking about you, and so it can encompass discussions about work, clients and colleagues – with you at the centre. It gives a time for you when, sometimes, it feels like there is no time for you at all.

Reflective supervision helps you understand yourself – including your own expectations - and enables you to identify your reasonable limitations and work towards a more realistic work/life balance.  We can look at how you are coping with your work, any stress you may experience, maintaining healthy boundaries, maintaining good mental health, your work/life balance and similar. 

This supervision relationship can be both supportive and (supportively) challenging – it helps you effectively care for yourself, thus enabling you to care better for your clients and colleagues.

Supervision is proactive caring rather than reactive caring – it is easier to manage your emotional self if you give yourself a set space and time to do so.

Reflective supervision is a forum for you and your supervisor to explore where an aspect of your work life may have held significance or caused a higher-than-normal emotional response.

The SRA has confirmed that reflective supervision counts towards CPD activities (‘reflecting on your practice’).

A helpful article giving the experience of two lawyers in reflective supervision is available here.

“My sessions with Luke help me be kind to myself and not beat myself up about stuff. They also help me reflect on things I want to do.”

Senior Associate, family law, London

What Reflective Supervision is not…

Reflective supervision does not provide specific supervision on the details of your caseload, such as your Partner/supervisor within your firm may provide.  Instead, we pan back and look at the wider picture of ‘you’. 

Reflective supervision is not counselling or psychotherapy, although there will be times when you feel deeply seen and understood by your supervisor because of the way we work and our training, and you may be able to make more sense of things, which can feel theraputic.  (See my explanation of my position on working with mental health.)

Reflective supervision does not give you answers – but will help you think through many questions. There is no fixed outcome or agenda – it is an organic, rather than a scripted/structured process, with a fellow professional who is trained to listen.

It isn’t about asking if something was ‘correct’ or the right thing to do.  Instead, we help you grow your self-awareness to see the impact of the decisions you make and the actions you take.

It has nothing to do with judging your ability as a legal practitioner or the quality of the work that you do.  Instead, it supports you while you go about doing your job, helping you explore why you make certain decisions and the impact they have on you.

Employers’ responsibility and benefits

External reflective supervision is something I would expect your employer to help arrange and to pay for, if you work for an organisation.  If you regularly work with distressed and/or traumatised clients then we suggest that reflective supervision is a prerequisite for keeping you safe, healthy, sane and performing well in your role. 

The return-on-investment from reflective supervision for any legal employer is likely to be substantial.  An organisation can expect to gain significantly through such things as:

• Structured and highly effective way of complying with the ‘reflecting on your practice’ aspect of SRA CPD requirements

• Improved resilience, confidence and job satisfaction for their legal staff

• Improved performance by legal staff

• Improved employee engagement

• Improved retention/reduced turnover of legal staff

• Reduction in the costs of replacing and recruiting legal staff

• Reduction in risks of client complaints and of errors/negligence

• Becoming an ‘employer of choice’ for new legal recruits

• Opportunity to win awards and differentiate from competitors

Practicalities

The success of any reflective supervision depends on the strength of the supervisory relationship. We should meet at agreed times for an hour’s discussion each time, with a commitment from you to honouring the time you’ve scheduled with me and not letting work or other issues get in the way.  

We can meet online or in person if you are based in Bristol or nearby. Sometimes we can arrange for me to visit your workplace, particularly if I am supervising colleagues of yours too.

The most common frequency for the sessions is 1 hour once a month - although it can be more frequent if required, depending on your needs (e.g. if you are going through a difficult period, case or whilst qualifying or when facing a change or transition).

Reflective supervision is open to everybody who has a legal practice – including solicitors, barristers, legal executives, paralegals, trainees and members of the judiciary. 

I bring all my experience as a barrister, solicitor, law firm owner, business coach and business mentor to this supervision work.  I am also supported by my Diploma in Family Law Supervision and my current training as a Counsellor.

Normally your firm will pay for our work (if you are an employee or partner). Privately funded options are also available.

I am covered by insurance and operate under a code of ethics and a professional body.  (You can find out more about my qualifications and practice standards here.)

Why me?

What I bring to my reflective supervision work that is unique is that I bring experience from several different perspectives and careers. I am both a practicing employment lawyer (since 1997) and also a psychological coach and trainee counsellor. In my coaching work, I specialise in working with lawyers and have particular training in stress management.

Additionally, in my legal practice as an employment lawyer, I am very used to understanding the many HR/people issues and relationship challenges that arise in any workplace - things that can often arise in reflective supervision.

So while reflective supervision is very much not coaching, counselling or HR advice, I can nevertheless draw on a really wide range of relevant experiences and skills that will help me understand you and support you.

I also run group sessions, workshops and presentations for teams, firms and chambers - both in person and online.

Next steps

For more information on how I provide reflective supervision for lawyers, please contact me to arrange a discussion. 

I am available for team/management presentations and workshops in person and online. 

What my clients say…