Stress, stigma, and support: A lawyer well-being guide

Over a quarter, or 25.7 percent, of participating legal professionals in Ontario have had suicidal thoughts since the start of their careers, versus a 24.1 percent average across Canada. This is according to the final report of the National Wellness Study by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC) and Université de Sherbrooke.

This study, among others, shows that even as lawyer well-being is discussed more often, the profession still has more work to do when it comes to mental health. In this article, we will talk about these issues and the factors driving lawyer mental health challenges, and outline strategies firms and individuals can use to address them.

Issues and factors on lawyers' well-being in Ontario

There are many internal and external issues and factors that affect a lawyers' well-being and mental health. This is why lawyers' well-being issues rarely come from one cause, as they usually arise from a mix of several factors.

Below are some discussions of these issues and ways to cope with them. To start, here's a podcast from Canadian Lawyer's CL Talk on mental health traps for lawyers and a practical guidance on when and how to seek help:

Bookmark our Practice Management page if you're looking for articles on improving how you and your law firm work day in and out.

Lawyers at a higher risk of mental health issues

As a lawyer, you can face higher risks of certain mental health and addiction issues, compared with the general population and many other professions. This can be attributed to the nature of the profession or the way that firms and workplaces operate.

These issues include alcoholism, drug abuse or addiction, depression, anxiety, and suicide. As these problems pile up, they can affect your judgment and reliability, creating a domino effect for your clients and the justice system as a whole.

Pressures on lawyers are built into legal work

Extreme pressure can create gems in geology, but it doesn't work the same way within the legal profession. When sustained over a long period, these pressures can negatively affect your performance as a lawyer and spill over into your personal life.

Some of these pressures include:

• Heavy responsibility for other people: Feeling responsible for your client's freedom, money, family, or future can create constant pressure. When this pressure continues for long periods, it can increase your risk for stress and burnout or even make it harder for you to step back and rest
• High expectations and low tolerance for error: The public expects high standards from you as a lawyer. At the same time, there is often little understanding or patience when a mistake happens. This mix of high expectations and low tolerance can create a sense that failure is not an option, which can feed anxiety and perfectionism
• Adversarial practice and competition: Daily work can be adversarial, especially if you're working in litigation. Factors such as your opposing counsel, tight timelines, and "win or lose" outcomes can all raise stress. All of these can make you feel pressured to bring in work, stay billable, and protect your position in the firm
• Growing complexity of law and practice: The law continues to grow in scope and complexity, with all its changing rules, procedures, and technologies, making the profession very demanding. Feeling constantly behind or missing something can wear lawyers down over time
• Difficult and unhappy clients: When your client is demanding, anxious, or angry, that pressure increases. You may feel caught between strict legal limits, professional rules, and what the client wants to do. To add, difficult clients often bring more calls, emails, and urgent demands, sometimes much more than you can handle.

When not managed properly, these pressures can lead to serious risks of mental health issues.

Lawyers' workload and practice structure

In addition, the way that the profession works contributes to the current state of lawyers' well-being. This includes overall workload and how tasks accumulate and are managed.

Too much work, and the wrong kind of work

Many lawyers take too much work to meet financial needs or firm targets. Your work may feel uninteresting or repetitive, or that you must accept it to keep your income steady, which can also lead to "compassion fatigue."

Over time, this mix of volume and boredom can drain your motivation over time, particularly when it continues for years. It can also increase the temptation to put off difficult tasks, instead of facing them head on.

Low control, especially for junior or new lawyers

Junior or new lawyers are also prone to mental health and workload issues:

• usually, they're the ones who have little to no control over their files or schedules, or
• they may also be given tasks without any say on timing or approach

This minimal control can increase stress, more so when this is combined with long hours of work and with no time to rest. It can also make it harder to develop healthy work habits early in a career, leading to future problems which can be difficult to overcome later on.

When hours and billings must be met

The same National Wellness Study reports that 74.6 percent of participating legal professionals with billable-hour targets work more than 50 hours per week, while 53 percent of those who do not have billable-hour targets reported working similar hours.

Clearly, many lawyers work long days, evenings, and weekends, leaving little time for anything else. Over time, this can affect both physical health and mood, which also limits the lawyer's ability to recover from hard cases or conflicts in or out of work.

Isolation and firm culture

Isolation can make normal stresses feel unmanageable; the National Wellness Study states that emotional demands pose a challenge to the wellness of legal professionals. Some lawyers, especially in small firms or sole practice, work with little day-to-day support. Even in larger firms, a lawyer can feel alone if there is little mentorship or open discussion about struggles.

Structural and stigma-related factors

Stigma around mental illness and addiction is a major factor. You may worry that opening up will harm your career, reputation, or opportunities. This fear can stop you from seeking help early and lead to problems being hidden until they surface as a client's complaint or disciplinary matter.

Strategies to address mental health issues for lawyers

Below are some strategies that you or your firm can do to address mental health and well-being issues. In any case, here's another podcast from CL Talk about lawyers' well-being, this time about burnout solutions for the legal profession:

To be updated on Ontario's legal scene, bookmark our Practice Areas page which has features from different areas that you may be specifically practicing in.

Looking for reliable resources on lawyers' well-being

Several organizations, including the law society, provide well-being services for those seeking professional help:

• Law Society of Ontario (LSO): has several services and linkages that you can refer to:
  • Personal Management Guideline (LSO Guidelines)
  • Member Assistance Program (MAP)
  • Coach and Advisor Network (CAN)
  • Discrimination and Harassment Counsel (DHC)
  • well-being resources promoted by the LSO
• Canadian Bar Association (CBA): maintains a lawyer wellness hub where you can view the different programs offered by the CBA
• Ontario Bar Association (OBA): provides several wellness initiatives organized by the OBA, including the Mindful Lawyers Series, Parent & Caregiver Network and Peer Support Network

These resources complement the LSO's Rules of Professional Conduct, which help ensure that lawyers and firms maintain both professional and healthy work environments.

Building daily mental health and wellness habits

The LSO Guidelines highlight physical health as one way to lower the risk of mental health problems in some cases. It encourages simple, repeatable habits, including:

• eating regular, well-balanced meals
• maintaining a healthy lifestyle
• doing regular aerobic activity
• getting enough sleep and rest

The Guidelines also suggest that you support building your own mental health resilience through small, steady habits:

• organizing workspaces, making files and tasks feel manageable
• delegating to assistants, students, or junior lawyers where appropriate
• using contract lawyers if workload becomes too heavy
• taking regular breaks during the day

Challenging stigma and building supportive culture

To counter stigma around mental illness and addiction, the LSO Guidelines also say that legal workplaces can:

• promote a culture that values balanced lives and personal and professional fulfilment
• maintain a respectful and considerate workplace where people feel supported and mentored
• provide education about mental illness and addiction, including common signs and ways to help
• encourage open dialogue about mental health and addiction issues

Treating lawyers' well-being as human rights and accommodation duties

As part of improving practice management, firms can treat lawyer well-being and mental health as human rights and accommodation duties.

Notably, mental health and addiction issues are disabilities under Ontario's Human Rights Code. One method to address this is to adjust workloads, schedules, or duties, depending on the situation.

Reducing isolation through firm and peer support

Regular meetings, social gatherings for all firm staff, and active participation in local and other law associations can reduce isolation within a firm and create spaces where everyone can share their concerns.

Lawyer well-being: A shared responsibility across the profession

The numbers are hard to ignore, especially when more than a quarter of Ontario's legal professionals report suicidal thoughts at some point in their careers. It shows that problems with lawyer well-being are not simply personal flaws, but structural warning signs. As such, treating lawyer well-being as a core part of risk management, rather than a side issue, is now part of running a modern practice.

Visit our Events page for the upcoming lawyer conferences and other gatherings for legal professionals across Canada, many of which address lawyer well-being and mental health.