16 April 2025

The VLSB+C’s Lawyer Wellbeing Program is pleased to support the launch of a new report into lawyer wellbeing and workplace culture from researchers at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. 

The Lawyer wellbeing, workplace experiences and ethics report examines how the perceptions of organisational ethical climate, experiences of workplace incivility, and the presence of workplace supports influence the wellbeing of lawyers. 

Around 2,000 lawyers practising under the Uniform Law Scheme in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia took part in the research. 

This was supported by the VLSB+C together with its Uniform Law partners – The Law Society of New South Wales and the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia – as part of a shared commitment to gather much-needed evidence on the wellbeing of Australian lawyers and promote systemic change. 

According to the project’s lead researcher, Emerita Professor Vivien Holmes, a key takeaway from the report was that law firms should: "introduce or improve flexible work arrangements, improve the quality of management of junior lawyers in particular, and improve the quality and availability of wellbeing initiatives for staff".

"We also need to get senior lawyers to take their own wellbeing seriously," Professor Holmes said.

As the legal regulator in Victoria, we invite all members of the legal profession to join us in considering these results and working together to improve wellbeing for all lawyers. These insights align closely with early results from our Theory of Change, which we will be launching in the coming weeks. 

We thank the lawyers who took the time to share their valuable insights for inclusion in this research. Your participation made this report possible, and will help shape evidence-based initiatives aimed at fostering a culture of wellbeing within the legal profession.

Joint Statement from Uniform Law Partners

As regulatory partners in the Uniform Law, we are pleased to have supported this in-depth and novel research undertaken by the team of multi-disciplinary researchers at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. 

This research report provides much-needed evidence on the wellbeing of Australian lawyers and highlights the need for more action from all parts of the legal profession. 

In particular, lawyers with leadership roles can influence ethical climate and wellbeing from ‘the top down’ and bridge gaps in understanding the true experiences of others, which may exist due to hierarchy. This research also highlights the risk of elevated levels of distress for those in principal lawyer roles, alongside the responsibility they may carry for others. 

We are committed to focusing on lawyer wellbeing, and we know that change is possible with individual, collective and evidence-based action. It’s also important to measure results across the system over time. 

We invite all members of the legal profession to join us in considering these results, particularly the specific recommendations and suggested areas for action. 

A sincere thanks to the team of dedicated researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne for their excellent research, analysis and reporting work.

About the VLSB+C lawyer wellbeing program 

The VLSB+C’s Lawyer Wellbeing Program is working with the legal profession to understand the systemic drivers of poor wellbeing and identify the change that’s needed to improve wellbeing outcomes. 

Find out more on our lawyer wellbeing web pages.