Is there a way to mute client chat without disconnecting altogether?

I recently decided to disable chat entirely when I'm playing League of Legends. I removed the ability to chat in game by setting the chat scale to -100 and moving it off screen and I disable client chat by changing the server proxy address in settings. I have seen a great improvement in my mentality while playing and I'm no longer dragged down by toxic teammates or waste time typing while in game. However when I remove client chat I also get disconnect from the friends list. So my question is...has anyone found another way to disable lobby chat in champ select without disconnecting altogether? I know sometimes it disconnects by itself but is there a way to do only while in lobby, like force it to disconnect but not have to relog?