Unhappy Lawyers

A National Survey was conducted on the health and wellness of the Canadian legal Profession, resulting in a 390 page report, published in October 2022. (The National Study on the Health and Wellness Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada, October, 2022. (The “Sherbrooke Report).  I was not surprised to find out that many of the grievances expressed by the over 7000 participants who took the survey point out the same issues that were endemic to the profession when I was called to the Bar in 1990 and have remained throughout my career as a lawyer.   The Sherbrooke Report highlights the following issues within our profession:

LAWYERS FEEL TRAPPED:

• Either you have to work impossible hours or on the flip side you don’t have enough clients to meet targeted billings and worry that you will be terminated.  

• If you plan to have children, as a lawyer there really is no part-time employment, if you take maternity leave, unemployment insurance is inadequate.

• You desperately want to leave private practice but can’t find a non-law job and the coveted government law jobs are far and few between.

• You are constantly terrified of making a mistake and being sued by the client or being reported to the law society/LawPro.

LACK OF MENTORSHIP:

• lack of guidance and unclear expectations.

• What you learned in law school did not at all prepare you for the real world of law.

• Lack of feedback.

• It’s a sink or swim philosophy.

• You are a burden or wasting billable time by asking questions.

LAWYERS MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES ARE TABOO:

• There is a lack of empathy - Firms only care about billable hours, not about people.

• Expectations for perfection and immediate responses are crushing.

• If you admit to having mental health issues, you fear repercussions.

• There is a stigma towards mental health - you are embarrassed and ashamed to admit it,  colleagues are patronizing towards you if you don’t suck it up.

• There is no confidence in the assistance program offered by the Law Society: One branch of the Society investigates and disciplines you while the other Branch supposedly is there to help you.  Many lawyers don’t have trust in the resources being provided.

• Counsellors don’t understand the pressures of our work.

• There is a downplaying of  mental health issues for fear of what colleagues, clients might think of you.

• There is a stigma for admitting to a mental health issue, unlike having cancer or a broken leg.

• People think you are mentally defective if you admit to having a mental health issue.

COMPASSION FATIGUE:

• Many lawyers face recurrent emotional demands from interactions with clients.  On the one hand, you derive a sense of fulfillment by helping clients in distress but on the other hand the exposure to intense emotional demands are more likely to deplete your resources and you experience frustration and anger – leading to burnout.

LACK OF CIVILITY:

• There is a lack of civility among members of the profession.

• there are toxic personalities in law who are working out their own anxieties and mental health problems on anyone who they perceived as being weaker.

• Dealing with a peer who is civil and reasonable on the other side of a dispute is rare.  And at the end of the day you must deal with demanding clients who think they know what the law is and demand to know why you aren’t doing what they are telling you to do.