The Wellness Docket: A focus on mental health and wellness in the legal professions

I was thrilled to be invited by the Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association to write a regular column on their blog about mental health and wellness in the legal professions. It is wonderful that CLIA has turned its attention to this important issue that all of its subscribers are no doubt encountering in their day-to-day work.

In this space over the coming year I plan to write about the latest news, studies and trends related to the mental health and wellness in the legal professions. Since my own personal experience with mental illness early in 2021, I have spent a lot of time and effort researching, communicating and advocating for better practices that will assist lawyers and paralegals with enduring and thriving in our very challenging profession.

In this first edition, I wanted to present you with some of the facts. Recently, phase I of the first-ever study on health and wellness in the legal professions in Canada was concluded. Some key findings of the study are:

-       59.4 % of participants had levels of psychological distress

-       28.6 % of participants had moderate to severe depressive symptoms

-       35.7 % of participants had anxiety symptoms

-       24.1 % of participants have had suicidal thoughts while a member of the professions

-       55.9 % of participants reported signs of burnout

-       Only 1/3 of participants who had suicidal thoughts sought help.

Although there is a renewed focus on this issue in Canada, the crisis knows no borders and significant research and writing on these topics can be found coming out of the United States, England and Australia. In October 2021, the New York State Bar Association released a report titled  “This is Us: From Striving Alone to Thriving Together”, which was the work product of the Task Force on Attorney Well-Being. The working group made a series of ambitious recommendations including a proposed “Law Firm Roadmap” for well-being best practices that included capping billable hours at 1800 annually, that supported the use of allotted vacation time, improving human resources best practices and knowledge amount law firm owners, encouraging the use of sabbaticals and more.

The recommendations from the first phase of the Canadian study have similar themes. The authors break down various primary and secondary sources of stress on lawyers and paralegals and identified findings related to those stressors. Finally, they identify 10 specific recommendations for the professions to strive towards, which I repeat below:

1. Improve preparation of future professionals to support them to deal with psychological health issues;

2. Improve supports and guidance available at entry to the profession;

3. Improve the continuing professional development (CPD);

4. Where relevant, evaluate the implementation of alternative work organization models that limit the impact of certain risk factors on the health;

5. Implement actions aimed at destigmatizing mental health issues in the legal profession;

6. Improve access to health and wellness support resources and break down barriers that limit access to these resources;

7. Promote diversity in the profession and revise practices, policies and procedures that may include or create discriminatory biases;

8. Consider the health of legal professionals as integral to legal practice and the justice system;

9. Develop a culture of measurement;

10. Foster a better work-life balance in the legal profession.

In my view, it is going to take a lot of intentional work by the leaders in the profession – individual law firm leaders, the law societies, professional organizations, the courts, insurers and other stakeholders – to change what has become a brutal work culture for many people. It is my goal to use this space to keep CLIA stakeholders informed about the latest news and research related to mental wellness in the legal professions and to continue the dialogue. If you have any ideas for relevant topics for a future article, I would love to hear from you.  

* Erin Durant is the founder of Durant Barristers a litigation, investigation and sport law firm. She is also the author of “It Burned Me All Down” which is a book about her experience with mental illness as a practicing lawyer. The book also makes recommendations for legal workplaces to improve their work environments. She also has experience representing lawyers in both malpractice and disciplinary hearings. She can be reached at edurant@durantbarristers.com