Harnessing the power of mindfulness to support your legal career

How do we perform at our best?

A recent survey asked Australian Government in-house lawyers ‘What does a high performing government inhouse team mean to you?’. From over 150 responses, the three most common answers identified an environment which was collaborative, supportive and efficient.

Each of these attributes is essential to delivering consistent, high-quality work both as an individual and a team. However, as these attributes require a high level of thinking – which tends to suffer first when we are stressed, fatigued, or overworked – they are not so easily achieved in a high-pressure legal team.

Window of tolerance

The window of tolerance is a psychological concept that describes the optimal level of arousal where a person can function at their best. When an individual is within this zone, they can effectively manage emotions, think clearly, engage with others and navigate daily challenges. For legal professionals, staying within this window is crucial; it enables clear reasoning, sound decision-making, problem-solving and empathy. These attributes and capacities are required for high-quality legal work.

However, the legal practice is inherently high stress. Tight deadlines, demanding clients and adversarial conflicts can push lawyers beyond their own window of tolerance. The profession also tends to attract ‘Type A’ personalities – those who are ambitious, highly organised and often perfectionistic. While these traits can drive success, they can also make individuals more susceptible to stress, rigid thinking and burnout.

When someone moves outside their window of tolerance, they may experience one of two responses:

• hyperarousal – feeling overwhelmed, anxious, angry or highly reactive
• hypoarousal – feeling numb, disengaged, withdrawn, or mentally ‘shut down.’

Both states impair a person’s cognitive function. Under extreme stress, the brain shifts into ‘survival mode’, relying more on the primitive brain regions such as the brainstem and limbic system, which control instinctual responses (fight, flight, or freeze). Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex (the area responsible for rational thought, decision-making, and impulse control) becomes less active. Essentially, a person’s ‘thinking brain’ takes a backseat, making it harder to process complex information, regulate emotions or consider long-term consequences.

How employers can help their teams manage stress

A person’s window of tolerance is not fixed - it can expand or contract based on life experiences, coping strategies and environmental factors. Managers and teams can play a critical role in helping employees maintain, and even grow their capacity to handle stress. This can be achieved through:

• providing psychological safety – creating a work culture where staff feel secure in expressing concerns without fear of judgment or retaliation
• active listening and validation – acknowledging and validating challenges rather than dismissing or minimising their struggles
• flexible work practices – allowing staff greater control in how they manage workloads and complete tasks where possible
• training in emotional regulation and resilience – encouraging mindfulness, breathing techniques and other stress management strategies
• fostering a supportive team environment – ensuring that colleagues look out for each other and that senior lawyers model healthy work habits.

By prioritising well-being and fostering resilience, legal professionals can remain within their window of tolerance more consistently, enabling them to perform at their best while maintaining ethical awareness and professional integrity.

Supporting professional standards

The Australian Public Service Commission recognises the concept of the ‘window of tolerance’ and the importance of supporting psychological safety to ensure Australian Public Service (APS) staff operate with integrity. The APS Integrity Taskforce’s Report Louder than Words: An APS Integrity Action Plan made 15 recommendations including a recommendation to ‘bolster the capability of the APS to lead with integrity with a focus on ethical decision making and fostering psychological safety.’

Several of the 10 key insights from the Centralised Code of Conduct Inquiry Taskforce Final Report, published by the Australian Public Service Commissioner in relation to the Robodebt Scheme, highlight links between workplace culture, the capacity to perform effectively and ethical behaviour. These include:

• Insight 1: Leading and building healthy workplace culture
  • It is important to foster a workplace culture open to critical analysis. Leadership plays a critical role in shaping a work environment where employees feel supported and safe to raise concerns. Leaders set the tone for workplace culture – if they engage in poor practices or neglect their own well-being, employees are likely to follow suit.
• Insight 3: Behaving ethically and making ethical decisions
  • Ethical decision-making was often misunderstood as simply following procedures. This narrow interpretation of ethics can limit critical thinking and discourage employees from questioning whether a process is in the public interest. Ethical behaviour extends beyond mere compliance and staff need to demonstrate leadership, trustworthiness and integrity in all actions. Encouraging ethical reflection beyond mere rule-following strengthens accountability and integrity.
• Insight 6: Managing workload and information flow
  • The Report gave an example of a respondent receiving an average of 4,000 emails per month. It is unrealistic to expect senior leaders to read, understand and adequately handle each of these emails in addition to their other duties effectively. The Report recommended agencies support senior officers to ensure their workload, combined with time pressures, do not impede their capacity to perform their role with care and diligence.

Stewardship

Stewardship is a new APS value that requires staff to be deliberate, active and reflective in their approach to work. It emphasises long-term thinking and a commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring that the APS remains a professional and trusted public service.

Stewardship means:

• looking beyond immediate tasks to consider the long-term impacts of decisions
• drawing on the breadth of wisdom and experience available
• sustaining expertise
• building and maintaining genuine partnerships
• investing in the community
• remaining driven by the public interest, rather than short-term pressures.

Meeting these expectations requires staff to operate within their window of tolerance. Supporting staff in maintaining wellbeing and ethical decision-making is essential to upholding the value of stewardship.

How can we maintain this window of tolerance?

There are many simple things you can do to expand your window of tolerance. Some options include breathing exercises, micro-breaks, going for a walk at lunch, getting some sunshine and stretching. Taking short ‘micro-breaks’ throughout the day, lasting ten minutes or less, can assist in resetting our window of tolerance by improving concentration, reducing stress, boosting energy and preventing burnout.

Takeaway

Mindfulness and movement strategies should not just be treated as optional self-care practices. They are important tools for legal professionals striving for sustainable success. By fostering workplace environments that prioritise mindfulness and ethical awareness, all staff can contribute to a culture of resilience, integrity, and peak performance. Implementing small daily habits like mindful breathing, micro-breaks and desk stretches can have a significant impact on maintaining cognitive function, reducing stress and promoting long-term career sustainability in the legal profession.

Disclaimer
The information in this article is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, we do not guarantee that the information in this article is accurate at the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.

Published by:

Elizabeth Carroll

Natasha Gibbons

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