Do I belong here?
Have you ever felt that you’re not cut out for the role you’re in? For over three quarters of junior solicitors this is an all too familiar feeling. With International Women’s Day tomorrow, it is as important as ever to discuss why young female lawyers suffer from Imposter Syndrome, but in reality, it can affect any lawyers. Therefore, it is equally as important to provide some tips on how anybody, regardless of their gender, can learn to overcome this feeling.
What is it and how does it affect lawyers?
The BMA define imposter syndrome as being the feeling of inadequacy that persists despite evidence of success. This can manifest as a number of symptoms such as an inability to accept compliments and self-deprecation, but it is not in and of itself an illness. It can however cause an illness, with stress being the most obvious, but anxiety and other conditions also developing if it is not addressed. Although it can and does affect a diverse range of people, it appears to disproportionately impact women in the legal profession, in particular those aged 34 or below.
Women tend to experience many of the individual signs of imposter syndrome (as well as the condition as a whole) more than men. YouGov found that when asked, 72% of women had trouble accepting compliments whereas only 59% of men asked reported this. The same sample found that when asked 62% of women said they criticised themselves more than other people criticise them, which was 5% higher than the figure for the general population.
Data from the last census showed that women were broadly well represented within the legal profession. They made up 39% of barristers, 52% of solicitors and 76% of Chartered Legal Executives. Looking at these statistics, you could be forgiven for being surprised that women don’t feel like they belong in the law when they seem to make up a large part of it. However, when looking at legal professionals with 15 or more years’ experience, these numbers dropped to 33%, 44% and 73%. On this basis, it is reasonable to assume that one of the reasons that young female lawyers are disproportionately affected by Imposter Syndrome is that they still perceive the law to be male dominated because in terms of senior members.
It is important to note two things from this. Firstly, just because the legal profession appears to be male dominated in senior positions, does not mean that it will remain this way. Most firms now have policies and schemes in place to give women an equal opportunity to become a successful lawyer. Secondly, there is no guarantee that creating a situation of total equity will prevent young female or male lawyers from experiencing Imposter Syndrome.
How can you overcome Imposter Syndrome?
Given the two statements above, it is extremely important now to consider what practical steps can be taken to help lawyers who do suffer with Imposter Syndrome.
We recently spoke to Rebecca Kennedy, who is one of our Paralegal Managers, for her thoughts on how to tackle imposter syndrome as a young lawyer. Her key piece of advice was to lean on a mentor to discuss your feelings of self-doubt. In a previous conversation with Andrew Kane, the importance of mentors to paralegals was highlighted, but in truth a mentor is valuable to lawyers at all stages of their career. In the same way that an NQ might feel out of place when the stabilisers of their Training Contract are removed, a new partner might think they’re out of their depth when they progress from being a Senior Associate. In all situations, having somebody to voice your concerns to and talk through solutions is always a positive step.
This article has already stated that one of the possible causes for Imposter Syndrome within the legal profession is the high level of competition. As such, one obvious way of tackling the problem is to stop comparing yourself to other lawyers. In some ways, this almost seems like a nothing statement, similar to “have you tried stopping worrying?” However, re-framing your goals to value learning and self-betterment over perfection can help to combat this. If you think that anything short of perfection is unacceptable then this can be daunting, but if you accept that you can and should improve within the role then this removes self-pressure.
The BMA’s definition of Imposter Syndrome requires that belief in inadequacy to be in spite of any accomplishments and successes. This very definition recognises that a person must be succeeding in their role in some form, otherwise they cannot be distinguished from a true fraudster. Therefore, one way of tackling Imposter Syndrome is to make a conscious effort to celebrate your professional successes. These don’t just have to be large wins (e.g. becoming a partner), rather they can be smaller wins on a day to day basis that show you are improving (e.g. proposing amendments to deficiencies you spot in a contract. The key is to reward yourself in some way, be it self-affirmation or some material reward, when you get things right to remind yourself you do belong.
Another way of dealing with Imposter Syndrome is to distance yourself from your role. The Gazette once described this as being “a person who practices law, not a lawyer”. Many lawyers have the perception that clients expect them to know everything about the law. In truth, this is impossible, and a good lawyer is actually one that acknowledges that they don’t know everything.
Conclusion
Although it’s clear that imposter syndrome affects many women in the legal profession, it’s equally clear that the issue does not discriminate on the basis of gender. Anyone regardless of their gender, age or seniority could develop it which is why it is so important to be aware of ways of tackling it.