The legal industry has a reputation for being a high stakes profession, composed of some of the most mentally strong and intellectually adept legal professionals. It can be easy to overlook the common stressors of everyday life – professional and personal – and their impact on legal professionals considered to be at the top of their game. Complicating matters, many attorneys are reluctant to admit when they are struggling. Law firms that fail to prioritize their attorneys’ mental wellbeing could be placing significant risk on their businesses, not to mention the people driving those businesses.
This past August, attorney Michael Padden was banned from practicing law in Minnesota by the State’s Supreme Court for an extensive background of misconduct. Among Padden’s misconduct, he was found to have forged client signatures, given clients poor legal advice and pocketed client fees. During Padden’s hearings, he claimed to have suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which the court was unable to consider without proof. While Padden’s mental health struggles could be a valid explanation for some of his behavior, many of the damage done through his misconduct, including to his ability to practice law, could have been avoided if his mental health struggles were better addressed.
Why mental health matters
In a survey of about 2,000 California and Washington D.C. attorneys, The University of Minnesota’s Department of Psychiatry’s Stressed, Lonely, and Overcommitted: Predictors of Lawyer Suicide Risk report revealed attorneys are two times as likely to have suicidal thoughts than other U.S. professionals. Of those who reported having suicidal thoughts, more than 65% of them said their legal profession had been harmful. These issues aren’t new, but society’s willingness to talk about them is. And understanding what is at risk is the first step to addressing mental health support in a professional capacity.
An attorney’s mental health is one of the main drivers of their behavior. It is not uncommon in our industry for highly respected, committed attorneys to fall victim to burnout and begin missing deadlines or offering lackluster counsel. And while some in the legal profession may consider burnout and pressure to be a symptom of the industry, attorneys should not have to struggle silently, leaving their clients underserved and opening themselves and their firms open to malpractice claims.
Developing mental health support strategies
Mental health support in law firms can be a key risk mitigation strategy and crucial to the longevity and well-being of your attorneys. Consider a few of the following mental health support strategies:
- Offer resources: Mental health resources such as therapy or counseling, or subscriptions to wellness apps that can help team members address their stressors and cope are crucial to building beneficial mental health habits. Attorneys who have access to such resources through their law firms may be more inclined to take advantage of them. Each law firm’s resources will vary based on the needs of their attorneys and their input should be considered.
- Discuss warning signs: In most cases, attorneys experience burnout gradually and will exhibit warning signs along the way without noticing. Law firms should train their attorneys for warning signs of mental health concerns such as becoming disengaged, absenteeism or sudden personality shifts to ensure they know how to identify them in themselves as well as their colleagues.
- Encourage open communication: In most professional environments, people are reluctant to talk about their mental health struggles for fear of seeming unreliable or being judged. Law firm leadership should work to develop a culture that encourages their attorneys to be forthcoming about their mental health. Ensure attorneys know how to seek out support, where to speak with someone anonymously if they choose and establish regular check-ins with them.
Should an attorney’s mental state impact their work performance and case work, law firms should be equipped with legal malpractice insurance to minimize any damage to the entire business. Malpractice insurance for attorneys will help with costs related to a malpractice lawsuit, as well as any business interruption costs.
In a profession that too often requires attorneys to be superheroes, it is time for law firms to begin investing in their mental well-being. In addition to having a team of mentally sound law professionals, law firms will benefit from increased productivity and creative thinking that results from good mental health. Consider teaming up with an insurance professional who specializes in insurance for the legal industry to evaluate how your firm invests in your team’s well-being, how you can improve your efforts and contribute to rewriting the legal profession’s reputation as an industry that recognizes and values mental health.
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