Authored by: Rob Mohr
The American Bar Association (ABA) celebrated Well-Being in Law Week from May 6th-10th with four webinars on various topics connected to the theme of “Well-Being Reboot: A Fresh Start for Positive Change.” Each webinar is eligible for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit and is available on-demand to ABA members through their website (https://www.americanbar.org/cle-marketplace/cle-library/). The recordings available are:
- Let’s (Not) Get a Drink: Why Decentering Alcohol Can Transform Inclusion and Well-being for Our Legal Practice
- From Overwhelmed to Empowered: Confronting Navigating Caregiver Responsibilities and Change
- Enhancing Your Legal Work (and Life) with Technology and Innovation
- The Superpower in Lawyering Part 2—Humanizing Your Law Practice: Elevating Your Legal Skills with Additional Tools
The week, which aligns with May’s designation as Mental Health Awareness Month, is sponsored by the Institute For Well-Being In Law, an organization born out of the 2017 National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. The task force released a report that same year, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change. The report addressed the growing issues the task force observed lawyers facing, such as depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse, by providing recommendations for every facet of the legal industry, including judges, regulators, employers, bar associations, law schools, liability insurers, and lawyer assistance programs.
A 2023 study by Krill Strategies and the University of Minnesota demonstrates there is still work to do to improve mental health in the legal industry. The 1.962 lawyers who participated in the survey reported thoughts about suicide at just under twice the rate of the CDC’s 4.3% statistic for all adults from a 2022 study. Out of those 8.5% of lawyers who had suicidal thoughts, 66.3% agreed that their time as a lawyer had been detrimental to their mental health. Conversely, of lawyers who had not thought about suicide, 27.1% responded that their job had negatively impacted their mental health. A deeper dive into that 8.5% revealed that junior associates make up 14.1% of that group and that lawyers at private firms are the most affected.
The ABA’s 2020 Journal of the Professional Lawyer, which surveyed 1,034 judges, found problematic alcohol use in the last year, as defined by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), at a rate of 9.5%. Alarmingly, a 2016 survey found the rate of problematic alcohol use in the last year at 20.6% among lawyers. Another study also concluded that women in law were experiencing “risky or hazardous levels of drinking” at a higher rate than men.
Advocate Capital understands the stress and challenges involved in the legal industry, specifically in personal injury law. If you or a loved one is struggling, there are resources that can help. Please visit the ABA’s Directory of Lawyer Assistance Programs (LAP) here to contact the LAP for your state. These programs provide confidential support to judges, lawyers, and law students who are struggling with substance use disorders or mental health issues.
