Richard Martin
Richard is the CEO of the Mindful Business Charter, a cross business initiative to reduce the stress we experience at work and which is a key cause of workplace mental illness. He is also a principal consultant at workplace consultancy Byrne Dean and is on the IBA Wellbeing Commission. He formerly chaired the steering committee of the Lord Mayor of London’s This is Me campaign which uses story telling to break down the stigma associated with mental illness. He is a qualified coach and mental health first aid instructor. His first career was in law, becoming a senior employment law partner before mental breakdown in 2011 left him in hospital for a month and unable to work for two years. His experience of breakdown and recovery is the subject of his memoir, This Too Will Pass – Anxiety in a professional world, published in 2018. He is a father of three grown up children and splits his time between London and rural France.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 1995
Experience
- Byrne Dean Limited (2013 - 2024)
- Speechly Bircham (2005 - 2013)
- Gouldens/Jones Day (1993 - 2005)
Membership
- Commissioner of IBA Wellbeing Commission
- FRSA
Qualifications
- LLB (1991)
- Foundation in psychotherapy and counselling (2013)
- Mastered executive coaching programme (2018)
Education
- Cambridge University (1988 - 1991)
- College of Law York (1992 - 1993)
- Regents University (2012 - 2013)
- Meyler Campbell (2017 - 2018)
6 Contributions by Richard Martin
PRACTICE NOTES
Designing and delivering a mental health and wellbeing strategy for legal teams: scope, business case, implementation and review
The scope
A first question is whether you aim to act within your team—large or small—or across a broader area, or even the whole organisation. Taking an organisation-wide route can mean more resource on tap, closer alignment between your team and others, and a chance for your team to be recognised for leading a significant, organisation-benefitting initiative. With the legal case for action, it also aligns with your obligations to the wider organisation.
However, a whole-organisation initiative can introduce delay—you will need to bring others with you; some may feel it more properly sits in their remit, and seek control or, at the very least, a role in decision-making. That path should, ultimately, help secure wider buy-in, but it may come with delays and compromise.
If you are a senior leader in the organisation, you have the chance to be the visible champion, using your authority to drive action and secure budget. There may well, of course, be people throughout the organisation...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Hybrid Working, Mental Health and UK Employment Law: culture, inclusion, flexible working rights and indirect discrimination
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic marked a profound shift in how many of us do our jobs, overturning long‑standing routines. This note concentrates on hybrid working—flexibility over where work happens—while, unavoidably, also brushing against flexible working, which concerns when we work.
An historical context
At first, most people laboured at or near home—on the land, in small home-based manufacture, and in local services. The industrial revolution—bringing factories and large-scale farming—meant people had to travel to a workplace so they could collaborate on the same machinery or tend shared fields, flocks and herds. Meanwhile, as printing and related technologies spread, commerce triggered an explosion in document production. People in document-centred roles—for example, lawyers and accountants—needed to be where the papers were stored to avoid generating multiple copies of everything. One driver for the rise of the modern office was to house—and work on—that ever-growing volume of documents. Naturally, offices evolved into far more than mere document stores...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Mental Health and Well-being for Legal Professionals: Understanding Stress, Anxiety and Depression and Their Workplace Impact to Inform Effective Well-being Strategies
This Practice Note sets out to clarify what is meant by mental health and well-being, and to unpack terms that are often (mis)used in this context. These include:
stress
anxiety
depression
Promoting positive well-being depends on recognising the typical challenges that surface at work. The purpose of this Practice Note is to deepen your understanding of how different mental illnesses affect people, so you can identify issues as they emerge and be better equipped to put an effective well-being strategy in place.
The spectrum of mental health
When we consider physical health, we naturally picture a spectrum: at one end, optimal functioning where we feel fit and healthy; at the other, serious illness, with a range of milder symptoms and conditions in between. What sits at the “positive” end varies from person to person. For example, an Olympic athlete’s view of optimised physical health and capability will differ markedly from that of a typical middle-aged lawyer. We can think of mental health in the same way...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Mental Health in Legal Teams: Causes, Legal Duties, Business Case and Practical Steps to Reduce Stigma and Protect Well-being
This Practice Note outlines how widespread stress is and the threats to mental health across the legal sector, explains why mental health and wellbeing deserve serious attention, and sets out steps you can take to safeguard employees’ wellbeing. It also examines the effect of stigma around mental health and practical tools for tackling such stigma.
Mental health and lawyers
A substantial and growing body of studies and commentary now documents the markedly higher rates of psychological distress among lawyers than in the general population. Illustrative sources include the 2021 IBA report, ‘Mental Wellbeing in the Legal Profession—A Global Study’, and the 2023 Mindful Business Charter White Paper, ‘Raising the Bar: Addressing the state of mental health in the legal sector’. The causes are complex, but are commonly viewed as centring on three areas:
personal characteristics often seen in lawyers—whether those traits draw people to law, are fostered by legal work, or both—including perfectionism, a tendency to catastrophise, putting others’ needs ahead of one’s own, self-esteem dependent on others’ perceptions, a strong conscience, moral strength, and a heightened sense of responsibility
the nature...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Promoting mental health in legal practice: structural wellbeing strategies, protective resources and intervention options aligned with the Mindful Business Charter
Practice Note
Every organisation is unique; what succeeds in one setting may fall flat in another. Factors such as size, set-up, culture, and maturity all matter, and only you can judge what fits your context. This Practice Note shares ideas on resources to explore, alongside measures you might already use or be considering, which can shape wellbeing even when that link is not immediately obvious. Some options call for external expertise, while others can be handled internally.
Research is increasingly clear (see, for instance, William Fleming): meaningful gains in employee wellbeing come less from supporting only those already struggling, or running exercise and healthy eating drives, and more from structural, system-wide action that tackles the roots of mental distress. The Mindful Business Charter (MBC), a community of employer organisations with foundations in the legal sector, offers a framework to guide this.
Protective resources: aimed at preventing issues before they arise.
Interventionist resources: designed to support people once difficulties emerge.
Do not be discouraged by the breadth of suggestions set out here. If...
In-house Advisor
PRACTICE NOTES
Protecting mental health in legal practice: practical wellbeing strategies including self-awareness, connection, five ways to wellbeing, healthy habits, tackling workplace stress, and accessing support
Mental ill health does not pick and choose. Wealth and fame are no defence; it reaches people of every age. The myriad sports stars who have spoken frankly about depression, in particular, make clear that physical fitness is no guarantee of psychological health. It affects all ages, and physical health is no guarantor of mental health. Nevertheless, there are a number of steps we can take to try to care for ourselves—and for those around us.
Self-awareness
The first, and most vital, step is to understand mental health—what thriving feels like and the signs and symptoms that might point to problems. This is not typically taught at school. Attend training sessions if you can. Read about it. Without that grounding, you cannot promote positive wellbeing or notice when difficulties could be developing, for you or for others nearby. For further information see Practice Note: Understanding mental health and wellbeing.
That learning must be paired with self-awareness. Practise paying attention to your feelings and thoughts, recognise them for what they are and, if they seem to indicate there could be something...
In-house Advisor
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