Q&A with Millie Jackson, Legal Counsel & Founder of The Balanced Lawyer

Tell us a bit about your background as a lawyer and what inspired you to start a wellness business

My career in law started after graduating from university and completing the LPC part-time whilst working as a paralegal. A few years later, I qualified into Commercial Litigation with a top regional firm.

I loved the intellectual challenge of litigation but began to find that the adversarial ethos that defined the area didn’t lend itself well to my health. I moved in-house at the start of the pandemic and have never looked back!

I love being able to give commercially focused, pragmatic legal advice and work with a diverse set of people and functions, all centred around a common goal.

I took a time out in 2022 and a step away from law completely.

Yoga had been an effective method of stress relief for me for some time, but I decided to embark on my teacher training to expand my knowledge so that I could effectively and safely share the practice and lessons learnt with others. In June 2023, The Balanced Lawyer was borne, where I began to share the power of yoga and meditation specifically with the legal community.

TBL encompasses “all things wellbeing”. Can you tell us what ‘wellbeing’ means to you and why it’s important for lawyers particularly?

Wellbeing for me is a commitment to caring for your body and mind in the most sustainable and organic way possible. From my experience, lawyers are trained to be “always on” and to operate at a hard and fast pace. This means, they have less time to think about their health, which can suffer a detriment as a result.

Can you share some common signs of burnout, or of a “poorly balanced” lawyer?

In my experience from working with lawyers and teaching them yoga, common signs of burn out or a lack of balance can include:

• Always feeling you have to have achieved something with every waking minute of your time, even on weekends
• Finding it difficult to relax or switch your brain off
• Poor sleep
• Imposter syndrome
• Stress, anxiety and depression (as well as other mental health issues)

You’re a legal counsel and a small business owner – what are your go-to practices for stress management?

• I love a weekly run, a spin class and a HIIT YouTube work out, to boost my brain with endorphins, particularly first thing in the morning
• I like an early night and reading to gently wind my brain down before bedtime, with an early old fashioned radio alarm clock for my wake-up call!
• I keep a tech-free space in my bedroom, stay away from screens from 9pm onwards and of course practice yoga and meditation almost daily
• Finally, eating well and nourishing my body with food (I love food!)

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Christmas is often such a busy time of year for lawyers. For those reading who might be feeling overwhelmed, what advice do you have for them?

Although you may feel short of time over the month of December, now may be the perfect opportunity to build in a wellness practice to your life. Can you go to bed 30 minutes earlier and get up 30 minutes earlier to build yoga and meditation to the start of your morning?

Setting yourself up with that mental and physical clarity at the start of your day will fundamentally transform how you manage your workload and approach tasks throughout the day. It is scientifically proven and you will think in a clearer and more strategic way (saving time in the long run!)

Could you provide some insights into creating boundaries when it comes to attending client events and networking while managing workload pressures?

Don’t feel you have to go to every event. Following the pandemic, employers seem to have (hopefully) adopted a less mandatory approach to out of work activities. Deeply understand and trust your own energy levels. Respect your own mental and physical limits and boundaries.

For those tasked with organising networking events, do you have any advice as to how to make them more innovative or inclusive?

The organiser of an event should aim to have actively recruit a proportionate range of attendees for the event, to ensure it is as inclusive as possible. I am a firm advocate for sober networking events as alcohol excludes people (particularly of certain faiths and religions).

If the legal industry could embrace more creative and innovative ways to network (for example networking events with a holistic wellness focus for all – like TBL’s breakfast and yoga sessions) I believe the connections forged would be more diverse, wide ranging and meaningful.

What do you think makes a great lawyer? How does wellness contribute to that?

For me, being a great lawyer means: being strategic, analytical and being able to deeply understand the mind of your client or stakeholder. Wellness and particularly meditation, can help a lawyer to harness their own mind, before they serve their client.

If you adopt a mindful approach throughout your day, you can see when emotions get heightened and where you may be entering a zone where you will not be making decisions with upmost clarity.

You can then learn how to self-regulate, dial the heightened feelings down, return to a place of calm and get back to delivering the task at hand.

What’s your one piece of advice to associates looking to progress their careers?

When focusing on developing their legal journey, potentially towards a position of leadership, associates should find a sustainable approach that works for them. Undoubtedly, many hours of hard client work and connection forging across the business will be paramount, particularly the path towards making partner.

However, if you’re trying to operate at 150mph to get there, know that this will have an impact on other areas of your life (most likely your mental and physical health) so you may want to develop your own sustainable development plan, which you know you’ll be able to commit to for the coming years.

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About Millie Millie is an in-house legal counsel and the founder of The Balanced Lawyer. TBL is a professional wellness provider to the legal industry, designed by a lawyer, for lawyers. In short, TBL teaches legal professionals how to naturally relax. Offering team yoga, breathwork & meditation classes (at your office or over Zoom) and corporate wellness workshops.