In courtrooms, boardrooms and breakout rooms, I hear the same quiet fear: “I do not belong here.”
As someone who has worked across the legal sector for nearly two decades, and lived through my own recovery journey, these words hit hard. Whether whispered by a trainee, a seasoned associate or someone working in operations, they reveal something urgent. Belonging is not a luxury. It is a foundation. If we are serious about reshaping legal services to meet society’s needs, we must centre inclusion, compassion and lived experience in how we support people across the profession.
I am the founder of MCG Consulting, a specialist consultancy launched in July 2024 to help legal organisations create psychologically safe, recovery-informed cultures. We work across the sector to address stigma, drive systemic change and build frameworks for inclusion, particularly around addiction awareness, mental health and mentoring for social mobility. We offer strategic consultancy, tailored talks and programmes that challenge assumptions and help leaders respond meaningfully to complex personal challenges in their workforce.
At MCG, we are guided by an exceptional Advisory Board made up of senior leaders from business, law and social impact. Each of them gravitated towards MCG because of their belief in recovery, inclusion and culture change. Their insight and diversity of thought continue to shape MCG into the kind of consultancy the legal profession needs now.
Through this work, we are seeing a shift. Leading firms and institutions are beginning to move beyond reactive policies and towards proactive, culturally intelligent action. They are recognising that addiction and mental health are not fringe concerns. They are central to inclusion, professional ethics and workplace safety. When left unaddressed, these issues lead to attrition, risk and reputational damage.
Over the past year, I have delivered talks and consultancy to law firms, financial institutions and legal bodies across the UK and Ireland. I have written for the Law Society of Scotland, spoken on panels for the Law Society of Ireland, contributed to LawCare’s work on recovery and featured in The Law Gazette. I represent MCG on the This Is Me steering committee (the Lord Mayor’s Appeal initiative tackling mental health stigma in the workplace), alongside organisations such as the Bank of England, BlackRock, Barclays, PwC and KPMG. I also serve as Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees at ReachOut, a mentoring charity supporting young people aged 9 to 14 in underserved communities across London and the North West.
Much of what we do at MCG is grounded in the principle that support must be human, not transactional. We offer confidential guidance for individuals in crisis, alongside organisation-wide strategies to ensure people feel safe before they reach that point. Our mentoring programmes support those entering the profession without traditional networks or advantages, helping them not only get through the door but also feel they belong once inside.
Recovery, in this context, is about much more than sobriety. It is about rebuilding connection: with ourselves, with others and with purpose. That same principle applies to inclusion more broadly. We need to design legal workplaces that foster connection over perfection, openness over fear and honesty over performance.
As I prepare to be sworn in as a magistrate this summer, Jacqui MacDonald-Davis’s reflection on diversity in the magistracy continues to resonate with me. Her reminder that “magistrates come from all walks of life” speaks directly to the need for legal environments that reflect the full spectrum of lived experience, not only in the judiciary but across every corner of the profession.
Reshaping legal services is not just a policy ambition. It is a cultural one. The time to act is now. We have a responsibility to build a profession shaped by empathy, inclusion and the courage to do things differently.
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