The Effects of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Mindfulness on Solicitors’ Well-being

Rising reports of poor mental health and well-being in lawyers across multiple jurisdictions, notably the United States of America, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK), have led to a growing international focus on this topic. Yet there remains a paucity of empirical data on the well-being of solicitors practising in England and Wales. Framed by self-determination theory (SDT), we undertook a cross-sectional survey of 340 trainee and qualified solicitors in England and Wales to (1) benchmark the psychological well-being of solicitors against other UK occupational groups and adult population norms; and (2) test relationships between mindfulness, satisfaction of basic psychological needs (perceived autonomy, relatedness, and competence at work) and psychological well-being. The SDT components positively and significantly related to well-being. Mindfulness partially mediated the pathway between basic psychological needs satisfaction and well-being, suggesting that satisfaction of these needs may in themselves facilitate higher mindfulness, thereby contributing to greater levels of well-being. We conceive that autonomy, relatedness, and competence at work provide the psychological space necessary for mindfulness to be cultivated, within which well-being can thrive. These findings support the importance of a systemic approach to solicitors’ well-being to safeguard basic psychological needs in the workplace.

This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in International Journal of the Legal Profession. Lucinda Soon, James J. Walsh, Almuth McDowall & Kevin R.H. Teoh (2022) The effects of basic psychological needs satisfaction and mindfulness on solicitors’ well-being, International Journal of the Legal Profession, 29 (2), pp. 143-158, DOI: 10.1080/09695958.2021.2020657. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.