On a scale of 1 to 10, how healthy is your organisation?
When last did you take a ‘sense-check’ of the mental health of your firm’s ‘competitive advantage’, namely your lawyers?
With headlines such as these screaming out, how can you afford not too?
Profession facing talent drain as mental health problems surge (https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/profession-facing-talent-drain-as-mental-health-problems-surge/5065836.article)
Why We Need to Talk About Lawyers’ Mental Health Now (http://www.lawyerswithdepression.com/articles/why-we-need-to-talk-about-lawyers-mental-health-now/)
Mental Health & The Law: Why Are so Many Lawyers Unhappy? (https://www.beyondbillables.com/blog/mental-health-law-many-lawyers-unhappy)
And perhaps one of the most tragic of these headlines – After a Year Marked by Tragedy, Attorney Mental Health Takes the Spotlight (https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018/12/28/after-a-year-marked-by-tragedy-attorney-mental-health-takes-the-spotlight/?slreturn=20190030062440),an article which recounts the heart-breaking story of a 42-year-old partner of the American law firm, Sidley Austin, Gabe MacConaill who fatally shot himself near the firm’s Los Angeles offices. An essay penned by his widow in ‘The Americann Lawyer’, detailed the extreme levels of stress and work pressure Gabe was under. In her words, “Big Law killed my husband.”
Sadly, the picture gets worse …
A 2016 report published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine following research conducted by the American Bar Association in conjunction with the Betty Ford Clinic (https://journals.lww.com/journaladdictionmedicine/Fulltext/2016/02000/The_Prevalence_of_Substance_Use_and_Other_Mental.8.aspx) indicates that ‘lawyers are really unhappy. 28% of lawyers experience mild or higher levels of depression, 19% experience anxiety, 23% experience chronic levels of stress, and 20.6% of participants struggle with problematic drinking.’ The research also indicates that 61% of the lawyers who took part in the survey had struggled with depression at some point in their legal careers, almost 10 times that of the general public!
Across the pond in the United Kingdom, a recent 2017 survey conducted by the UK Law Society’s Junior Lawyers’ Division revealed than “90% of the respondents … had experienced stress in their role with 26% saying they experience severe / extreme levels of stress. In addition, more than 25% …. stated that they had suffered with a mental health problem in the last month (whether formally diagnosed or not) with only 23% telling their employer about it.” (http://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=5064028&preview=1&hash=4885DEB88A499D5ADA6CA0FA2FE8B45C).
With statistics such as these, it is clear that the legal profession has to take a long hard look at itself and its current business model.
The archaic system of ‘billable hours’ and ‘monthly profit targets’, the long hours lawyers, particularly junior lawyers and candidate attorneys, are required to work, the culture of ‘not leaving the office before the partner does’, having to be available ‘24/7’ together with the toxic ‘tit-for-tat’ view that sadly many senior partners hold, namely that ‘I had it tough, therefore so should you’ has to change.
In addition, the unhealthy stigma within the legal profession associated with ‘mental health’ means that lawyers are more likely to simply ‘suck it up’ as opposed to admitting to suffering from, and getting support for, extreme anxiety, depression and stress.
Investing in and looking after the mental health of your lawyers is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Without a healthy, productive, motivated workforce a firm is not going to attract and retain talent, a critical factor for maintaining and ensuring the continued growth and profitability of the firm.
So what can be done to ensure the health of your firm’s ‘mind’?
- Consider appointing an independent, impartial third party, someone not seen as being associated with the firm, such as a professional coach, who can provide a confidential, safe reflective space for lawyers to discuss and speak to about their mental health issues and with whom specific goals and actions can be created that facilitate and encourage a healthier, more balanced approach and management of their workload;
- Conduct regular ‘health risk assessments’ across the firm to gauge how mentally fit and healthy your workforce and what you could be doing better;
- And most importantly, break the taboo around mental health by creating a culture, from the top down, where issues around mental health are discussed and communicated across the firm in an open, honest manner.
Ultimately, you need to decide how important your talent is to you, and whether you are simply paying ‘lip service’, or are seriously committed, to tackling and addressing this grave issue.
And ask yourself, are you committed to ensuring that your talent THRIVES or simply SURVIVES?
