Kerry Lawlor works with legal and professional teams, providing reflective practice, therapeutic supervision, therapeutic coaching and mental health-related training. She explains why reflective practice should be adopted as standard by family lawyers and legal professionals.
As a psychotherapist and supervisor, reflective practice has long been a tool in my professional kit. A wellbeing initiative for professionals across a range of industries, it’s encouraging to see it gaining momentum within the legal sector, particularly in the family law space, where professionals are working closely with families with children at the centre of their cases.
In therapeutic and social work environments, reflective practice is mandatory. It’s now widely understood that professionals in these fields can’t be expected to absorb vicarious trauma, grief and discourse without a solid framework of support.
The 2026 Family Solutions Group (FSG) Putting Children First report argues that family law falls into the same category and should be subject to the same support-based non-negotiables. And it makes its case incredibly well.
Psychological safeguard
The advice lawyers give often shapes a child’s future. In a field characterised by conflict, fear and heightened emotions, reflective practice provides a safeguard for both children and lawyers, helping them feel psychologically safe, calm, and in control.
Sir Andrew McFarlane summed this up beautifully when he said: “I sometimes compare the role of a family judge to that of a trauma surgeon… you’ve got to be emotionally connected enough to understand what’s going on, but protected so you aren’t drawn into the emotional fallout yourself. But equally, you couldn’t do the job if you didn’t have enormous empathy for the individuals in front of you.”
I have experienced lawyers holding very complex, often tragic, children matters, with nowhere to go with the feelings it brings up for them. They’re often expected to manage the impact of communications or tricky hearings, then go back to work to pick up the next task.
Having the space to let off steam, talk things through and even cry has been enormously beneficial to their emotional regulation and their sense of being supported in this difficult and challenging role.
Connecting the dots
The Putting Children First report has connected the dots, brilliantly demonstrating that reflective practice is also linked to improved child welfare and case outcomes. As Carrie Norris, new chair of the FSG and child inclusive mediator with a background in social services, comments: “There are key benefits to how we relate to our clients, cases and the other parent and their legal team.
“With proper reflection on how we have dealt with issues and greater insight, there is a direct impact on the whole family and in particular the children who we don’t represent and who we don’t see. Hopefully, with proper reflection, we can recognise the personal impact we might have on this family but, importantly, without concerns about judgement and being able to show our vulnerabilities.”
Through this ‘children-first’ lens, the idea of reflective practice suddenly shifts from a ‘nice to have’ wellbeing exercise to something crucial to child welfare, and legal careers that don’t end in burnout.
Ultimately, the report has sparked a long-overdue conversation within law firms and legal professionals about whether reflective practice should become a mandatory part of a lawyer’s working life.
What is reflective practice?
Reflective practice is about creating an environment where an individual can take intentional time to look inwards; somewhere they can examine their thoughts, feelings and reactions to certain situations, guided by a qualified practitioner.
Some sessions may focus on a single event. Some may cover multiple scenarios, asking questions, such as: ‘What did you think and feel when this happened? ‘What went well and what didn’t go so well?’ ‘Can you make sense of what happened?’ ‘Is there something else you could have done?’ ‘What will you do next time – will you do anything differently? ’
There’s no doubt in my mind that in an emotional field such as family law, legal professionals need a safe place to reflect and I have seen the beneficial effects of this in practice. While we recognise the impact of traumatic events is significant for the family and friends of those affected, we also must acknowledge that the professionals working in close relationship with their clients can be deeply affected.
I have known solicitors to repeatedly revisit correspondence, replay conversations, ruminate on meetings and face difficult, distressing discussions with family members in the aftermath of the traumatic life events in which they are intrinsically involved. It would be naive to assume this does not have a profound impact on nervous systems and psychological processing – as well as the other cases that continue to demand attention.
How reflective practice supports family lawyers
Builds critical thinking: Reflective practice is a gateway to critical thinking. It allows a person to develop situational awareness, pattern recognition, intuition, and ultimately strategic thinking without becoming overwhelmed by emotion or past trauma.
Develops resilience in stressful situations: Reflective practice helps people objectively examine stressful situations, spot patterns of behaviour and start developing tools to handle things differently in the future. People who regularly engage in reflective practice often feel much more resilient to conflict, difficult conversations or vicarious trauma because they’ve taken the time to develop strategies that slow down their responses and are less led by impulsive emotions.
Creates healthier client relationships and management: When dealing with such personal matters and highly emotional cases, the boundaries between solicitor and client can easily blur. In his paper From psychotherapy to legal practice: the use of clinical supervision by lawyers in England and Wales, Marc Mason found that legal professionals who engaged in reflective practice or supervision felt more empowered to manage client relationships and any potential transference as a result.
Not when, but how
The findings of the Family Solutions Group report have changed the question from ‘Should we incorporate reflective practice?’ to ‘How do we incorporate reflective practice?’
The success of reflective practice will depend on the nature of the cases, the individuals in the business, and the resources available. But I remain firm in my belief that the firms which make it part of their workplace culture will see benefits for their teams, clients and children of clients.
Rebecca Dzioban, partner and head of division at Penningtons Manches Cooper, said of the reflective practice at the firm: “From my perspective as a strategic partner, it has been invaluable to introduce a regular, protected space for individuals to pause and focus on themselves. This has had a clear and positive impact on wellbeing and resilience, which in turn benefits our people, our clients, and the wider team.”
We cannot ignore concerns about cost, particularly the impact on smaller firms already and fee-earner productivity. But in my experience, and Rebecca’s and many others like her, the benefits far outweigh the cost.
Family lawyers are better able to support clients, work more effectively, think more strategically, build greater self-awareness, and avoid the compassion fatigue and burnout that are so common in this field.
I believe we need to view reflective practice as an investment – because the cost of doing nothing could be much higher.
About the author
Kerry Lawlor is the founder of The Law Space, where she provides reflective practice, therapeutic supervision, therapeutic coaching and mental health-related training to legal and professional teams. Drawing on over eight years as a BACP-registered accredited psychotherapist, Kerry supports professionals with the complex mix of personal and professional challenges that arise in high-pressure, high-responsibility roles.
