Why Does It Matter to You? The Perfect Storm…

Personal resilience and maintaining a razor-sharp focus are both a MUST in order to navigate the myriad disrupters, the legal profession faces in Singapore, and beyond, within the APAC region.

Why do lawyers, tend to defer paying attention and prioritising their own personal health and welfare?

It is time to STOP…reflect and refocus to be better prepared physically, as well as mentally, to weather the oncoming shifts in the legal landscape.

Whether it is being forced by the business to constantly to resize, downsize, reskill requiring teams to do more with much less; or face the ever-rapid adoption of legal tech or to the impact of geopolitical instability the fact is in-house counsel are facing unprecedented complexities to have to manage.

The most resilient legal professionals, will be those who take time to pause, reflect, and realign.

YOU need to prioritise personal and professional reflection and recalibration. YOU need to consider this as not being just a luxury, but as a strategic imperative.

There is a real shift toward strategic, high-value work as well as a risk of disengagement and burnout indeed a red flag for performance. The business has increased expectations on multidisciplinary role of in-house lawyers and expect legal teams to deliver business insights as well as legal and compliance advice. Legal departments are more often being treated as a business unit within the organisation with Key performance indicators and needing to punch more weigh in value adds. The pressures of legal tech and AI adoption is placing even more pressure.

Added to this evolving dynamic is the geopolitical swirl, with local decisions being impacted by sundry factors such as trade tensions, regulatory shifts, and ESG pressures requiring greater agility and adaptability. Legal departments must evolve.

The in-house community needs to self-reflect, reclaim purpose and assess the evolving role beyond transactional work. It is worthwhile taking time out to re-educate on certain things. Build both cultural as well as emotional intelligence and resilience, to better assist navigating ambiguity. More time is needed to assess blind spots and navigating a clear path around total burn out.

Find space to do this and be firm in securing regular “me” time. By creating space for creativity and strategic thinking this will focus the mind on better managing mental fatigue caused by constant firefighting and reactive lawyering including building better overall well-being, which directly correlates with better decision-making and team dynamics.

The legal community of in-house lawyers in Singapore, stand at a crossroads. 

If you are interested in this conversation, this journey and continuing the dialogue please join the SCCA Wellbeing Chapter’s Corporate Counsels Personal Sustainability Conference on 9th October 2025. Register via this link.

An all-day immersive event 100% focused on YOU. Come and reflect, rejuvenate and realign yourself.

By Geeta Thakerar, Co convenor of SCCA Wellbeing Chapter