CBA Record Feb-March 2018

YLS Special Issue: The Benefits of Belonging

struggling with substance abuse and mental health problems increase dramatically. If unrecognized and untreated, these issues will carry from law school into these stu- dents’ careers. In light of the findings of the 2016 lawyer study and a 2014 law student study, a national task force was commissioned to address lawyer well-being. In its report, released on August 14, 2017, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommenda- tions for Positive Change, the task force proposed a slate of recommendations for law firms, law schools, regulators, the judiciary, bar associations and professional liability carriers. The report can be viewed at https://www.americanbar.org/content/ dam/aba/images/abanews/ThePathToLaw- yerWellBeingReportRevFINAL.pdf. The task force recommendations focus on five central themes: • Identifying stakeholders and the role each can play in reducing the level of toxicity in the profession, • Eliminating the stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors, • Emphasizing that well-being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence, • Educating lawyers, judges, and law stu- dents on lawyer well-being issues, and • Taking small, incremental steps to change how law is practiced and how

Many of these lawyers’ mental health and substance abuse issues can be traced to law school. It is in law school that these lawyers began to experience the intense stress that can lead to anxiety, depression, substance abuse and other mental illnesses. Stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions among law students are problems that continue to generate a national discussion among faculty, administrators, and students. While students entering law school suffer from clinical stress and depression at a rate that mirrors the national average, that rate sharply increases during the first year of law school. Through the duration of their legal education, the rates of law students

Did you know that lawyers suffer from anxi- ety, stress, depression and substance abuse in numbers more than twice that of the general population? A 2016 study conducted by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association examined sub- stance abuse and mental health problems in the legal profession. The study, called The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys, was published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, February 2016– Volume 10–Issue 1, pages 46–52. The study surveyed a number of lawyers across the country and found the following: • 20.6% qualified as problem drinkers vs. 9% general population • 28% struggled with depression vs. 3-9% general population • 19% suffered from anxiety vs. 1.5% general population • 23% experienced symptoms of stress vs. 3% general population • 11.5% had suicidal thoughts vs. 3.5% general population The rates of substance abuse and mental health issues among the surveyed lawyers are significantly higher than those for the general population. Also, the survey found that younger, less experienced, attorneys, in the first 10 years of their practice, exhibited the highest incidence of issues involving substance abuse and mental illness.

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