Better ways of working: how Epigram and the MBC are making work smarter, healthier and more effective

For law firms, the pressure to deliver quickly, accurately, and on brand is constant. Tight turnaround times, multiple stakeholders, and evolving client expectations often mean the way work is done gets overlooked. Yet that’s exactly where the opportunity lies, in rethinking the everyday processes that create stress, inefficiency and miscommunication.

At Epigram, we’ve been exploring this challenge through our partnership with the Mindful Business Charter (MBC), a framework and community for businesses that aims to reduce unnecessary workplace stress and create healthier, more productive environments.

As a creative agency working closely with the legal sector, joining the MBC was a natural step. It aligns with how we already aim to operate: responsibly, collaboratively and with respect for people’s time and wellbeing.

Tackling the root cause, not just the symptom

One of our first MBC projects focused on what we call “amend stress”, the hidden pressure caused by unclear feedback, last-minute requests and version chaos. We recognised that while designers feel this acutely, it’s a shared challenge across the legal world. Lawyers, marketing teams and business development professionals all face similar pain points: competing deadlines, vague instructions, and an ever-present expectation of immediacy.

Rather than creating another internal policy, we developed something practical and shareable, the Best Practice Guide: Amends Made Easy. This concise, visual guide helps clients and teams brief revisions clearly, efficiently and considerately. It outlines mindful ways to request and manage changes, from using PDF mark-up tools to consolidating feedback and setting realistic timelines.

The goal was simple: reduce stress and wasted time on both sides, while improving the quality of the final output.

Extending mindfulness to the pitch process

Building on that success, we turned our attention to another common source of pressure: pitch work. Tight deadlines, evolving content, and multiple contributors often make pitches one of the most stressful parts of professional services marketing.

Our Painless Pitching guide was designed to help change that, offering structured advice for law firms on how to make the pitch process smoother, smarter and more collaborative. It explores communication habits, realistic timelines, and role clarity, all framed around the principles of the Mindful Business Charter.

The guide sets out practical recommendations drawn from real client feedback, helping firms balance quality, creativity and efficiency and ultimately make the experience more rewarding for both marketing teams and partners.

Real impact, measurable change

Both Amends Made Easy and Painless Pitching have had tangible results. Designers are better able to focus on creativity, while clients receive work that more closely matches their expectations. The ripple effect has been great – smoother workflows, happier teams, and better outcomes.

Mindfulness at work isn’t about slowing down, it’s about working smarter and with greater respect for people’s capacity and time.

Why this matters to the legal sector

For law firms, membership of the MBC represents more than a badge of honour, it’s a tangible step toward sustainable productivity. Reducing avoidable stress benefits everyone: teams perform better, clients receive higher-quality work, and firms build cultures that attract and retain talent.

As a long-standing design partner to global and UK law firms, we see this first-hand. The same principles that make a mindful business also make for more effective collaboration with creative partners. When expectations are clear and communication is respectful, the results are stronger, visually, strategically and commercially.

Looking ahead

At Epigram, we’re continuing to build on the success of Amends Made Easy and Painless Pitching, developing new initiatives around mindful delegation and smarter collaboration. Our aim is to make meaningful change both within our business and across the industry we serve.

Because when we design with mindfulness, we don’t just make better work, we make work better.