The American Bar Association, through its Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), and Krill Strategies, a Pittsburgh-based legal advisory firm, released a new nationwide study on lawyer mental health and burnout that reveals substantial distress, burnout and hazardous alcohol use within the legal sector. This article provides a high-level overview of the findings.[1][2] I. Background […]
Allow me to jump to the end and tell you retirement from private practice is good, enjoyable and filled with as much as I choose. Looking back, I see how the tools I learned in recovery over the years, and the principles taught in recovery, helped me make the transition from active practice to retirement. […]
I was talking to a friend from law school about a big project she had undertaken and recently completed. As she described the multiyear project that she worked on in fits and starts, she repeatedly used the word “slacker” when referring to herself and some of the paralysis she experienced while working (unpaid, in her […]
Something interesting happened when the world screeched to a halt and the courts closed in mid-March. The lawyers we work with as volunteers and clients did not respond as everyone predicted lawyers would.[1] Were there, and are there still, fears of financial insecurity due to the decrease in new legal matters, reductions in salary, or […]
By Robynn Moraites Lawyers Weekly called me requesting a quick one-to-two sentence quote as to how I would advise a lawyer having difficulty with sleeping. Finding myself unable to succinctly summarize what I know about lawyers and sleep, a few paragraphs later, I realized I had the beginnings of this quarterly column for the Bar […]
By Robynn Moraites Why do some lawyers find it easier to kill themselves than to admit they are unhappy and need to make a change? This may seem like an overly dramatic opening to an article about lawyer mental health, but it reflects the urgency I feel about bringing to light the importance of an […]
By Anonymous Little David, with his pitiful slingshot, vs. the mighty Goliath. In a nutshell, that’s how it felt to me for much of my career as a public defender. Now, with years of recovery in Al-Anon, I realize that so much of my perception of my role as a defender was tied up in […]
By Laura Mahr After six weeks of Mindfulness Meditation for Building Resilience to Stress, lawyers from the 28th Judicial District Bar have the answer… There are few things we lawyers love more than our brains. Which is why, when our brains tell us we are tired, most of us lawyers tell our brains […]
By Cathy Killian The Lawyer Assistance Program holds support groups across the state for lawyers who are actively engaged in a recovery process (recovery from all kinds of issues, not just drug or alcohol problems). Often these meetings are topic driven, providing lawyers an opportunity to uncover, examine, explore, and share their attitudes, thoughts, beliefs, […]
By Chris Connelly Imagine every day is Saturday. The week is over, the successes and failures of the week are yesterday, the prospect of another week—stress, demands, egos, self-importance—is days away. Do what you want, where and when you want. Sit back and watch the world go by, or maybe even choose to be part […]
Close to ten years ago, the members of the Consortium for Professional Recovery Programs began discussing a collaborative project to survey North Carolina professionals. This consortium, comprised of representatives from medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, nursing, and social work, met regularly to discuss methods to improve the behavioral health issues experienced by their professionals. The […]