Kindness at the Bar: Delivering Change for the Legal Sector

By Rachael Wyartt

The latest Kindness at the Bar progress report offers an interesting shift in perspective that is potentially more meaningful than coming from any other industry.

The legal sector is defined by pressure, billable hours, networking and results. It is not an industry that you might associate with a study on the impact of kindness, yet this is where we find ourselves.

Kindness at the Bar is a research programme that was launched in 2022 by the University of Sussex, led by Professor Robin Banerjee.

It specifically explores:

· how kindness is experienced and expressed in legal practice

· how it affects wellbeing and performance

· what prevents or enables it

· and how it can be embedded more consistently

A broad set of concerns about the legal profession were raised concerning these areas, which led to the study being commissioned:

a) Wellbeing challenges at the Bar

Multiple Bar Council reports highlighted:

• stress and burnout

• poor work-life balance

• retention issues (especially for women and juniors)

• mental health concerns

b) Bullying and culture issues

Separate reviews into bullying, harassment, and discrimination exposed:

• problematic behaviours

• hierarchical pressures

• cultural resistance to change 

c) Structural pressure

The Bar operates under:

• high workloads

• adversarial court environments

• increasing backlogs and budget constraints 

 “Kindness at the Bar” is essentially asking:

“What does a healthier, more sustainable & professional culture look like?”

At Kiltti, we work with many legal organisations and have advocated for change for a long time. What we are certain of, is that a more sustainable, professional and healthy culture is available and change is possible – kindness is the key.

What does that change look like?

It’s important to acknowledge the change that is already taking place, first and foremost, the latest report shows a significant shift in language. Kindness is no longer framed as a “nice to have,” or something separate from professional capability. It is increasingly understood as part of how good work happens — through trust, clarity, and respect.

Language shapes culture.But it also reveals it.

But while the language is evolving, many of the underlying pressures of the profession remain unchanged.

The report highlights the importance of individual actions — the small, everyday behaviours that shape how work feels.

This is where kindness is most visible and what will form part of the required change.

For kindness to be experienced consistently, it needs to move beyond individual intent and into shared responsibility:

• in how work is structured

• in how expectations are set

• in how leadership is expressed

When this happens, kindness becomes less about effort — and more about environment.

Leadership plays a defining role in this shift.

Not only in what is said, but in what is seen:

• how time is protected

• how pressure is managed

• how people are supported when things are challenging

Change starts at the top and leaders need to lead by example to set healthy standards, which in turn will allow others to follow suit.

Perhaps the most important question emerging from this work is not whether kindness exists — it clearly does. It is whether it can be sustained long term.

When workloads increase, time is limited and pressure is building due to higher stakes, this is when intention is not going to be enough. It requires design, awareness, and consistency.

At Kiltti, we see kindness as something that already exists within the legal profession. The shift now is about how it is supported. Not through large gestures or statements, but through the accumulation of small, consistent choices —made by individuals and enabled by organisations.

The progress report captures an important moment of reflection. But now it needs to be translated into practice.

Meaningful change rarely arrives all at once, it builds over time, so dedication and perseverance are required for impact.

In practice, kindness does not exist in isolation. It sits alongside:

• deadlines

• expectations

• commercial pressures

• and the everyday complexity of legal work

These are not barriers to kindness — they are the context in which it must exist.

What we are beginning to see is that kindness is not something that disappears in these moments, but something that becomes harder to access without intention. Not because people don’t value it —but because the environment does not always make space for it.