A key aim of the Legal Geek Conference 2018 has been to raise greater awareness around the importance of looking after one’s mental health.

Our keynote speaker George Biggar – a Senior Associate at Taylor Wessing – set the scene at the start of the day with a passionate talk stressing that everyone possesses a mental health status, and that taking care of it should be factored into everyday life; as should being aware of the mental health status of family, friends and colleagues.

The matter is very close to George’s heart. In 2011, George’s family lost their mother, Anne, to depression. George spoke with extreme frankness about how Anne – a highly successful lawyer with a caring and engaging personality – had battled depression every day of her adult life.

In her memory George rowed the Atlantic last winter in a team a four to raise money for mental health charity Mind. Their world-record breaking crossing raised £240,000 for the charity and all contributions at this year’s conference have gone towards Mind as well.

Thank you very much to everyone who has donated so far. Anyone unable to donate on the day who would still like to, can do so via our dedicated JustGiving page…

…or text your donation to 70070

George’s world record On 12 December 2017, George and 3 friends – all amateur rowers – embarked on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000+ nautical mile row across the world’s second largest ocean. 29 days, 14 hours, and 34 minutes later they had completed their challenge 6 days faster than the previous record.