The PAMELA network seeks to help not just lawyers, but clients as well
Legal aid lawyers in the UK are being encouraged to join a support network for those going through perimenopause and menopause, reported the Law Society Gazette.
Solicitor Dr Laura Janes announced the launch of the PAMELA network at last month’s Legal Aid Practitioners Group’s flagship conference. In her announcement, she pointed out that 70 percent of legal aid lawyers are women.
“We need to support each other and share experiences and ideas, and not just us but our clients. There will be clients going through the [menopause and perimenopause] too, and it will affect their presentation and needs,” she said at the conference.
Janes wrote in a LinkedIn post last week that “learning about the perimenopause has transformed my life, and so many lives of women I know.”
“Legal aid and advice work is literally fuelled by women. It is also highly stressful, which does not combine well with the anxiety and other symptoms that so often affect women going through the perimenopause and beyond,” she wrote. “And, we are under resourced: So much of the menopause support is focused on corporates entities or big institutions.”
Janes explained that the PAMELA network would enable members to share resources and ideas such as policies, practices, and information.
“So many of our clients are also affected, and the network will provide opportunities to see how greater knowledge and understanding of the (peri)menopause can impact on outcomes,” she wrote.
Kate Muir, who authored the book “Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (but were too afraid to ask)”, is set to attend the network’s inaugural online event. A launch event will be held next year once enough people have signed up to the network.
In 2020, the Law Society of England and Wales advocated for openness to menopause discussions in the workplace to commemorate Menopause Awareness Month.
