Colin M. Black (Suffolk), The Rise and Fall of the Mental Health Inquiry for Bar Admission, 50 Cap. U. L. Rev. 537 (2022):
The legal profession suffers from a mental health crisis, and it continues to lose lawyers to suicide and substance abuse. Take Peter and Gabe for example.
Peter graduated first in his law school class, secured editor-in-chief of the law review, and landed a prestigious job as a patent lawyer. He had a beautiful family and a lucrative career. Less than twenty years into his successful legal career, Peter died a drug addict. Peter’s last call was for work—“vomiting, unable to sit up, slipping in and out of consciousness, [he] had managed, somehow, to dial into a conference call.”
Gabe graduated third in his law school class and landed a prestigious job at a large law firm. He had a beautiful wife, a loyal dog, and a well-paying job. On Sunday, October 14, 2018, Gabe received an email and had to go to work. He kissed his wife goodbye, encouraged his dog to cuddle her, and left for work. Gabe arrived at his high-rise office building, parked his car in the garage, and shot himself in the head. He died instantly. Peter and Gabe are just two high-profile representatives of the legal profession’s mental health crisis.
In a study of 28 occupations, lawyers were 3.6 times more likely to suffer from depression than any other occupation. Various empirical studies suggest that approximately twenty percent of lawyers suffer from clinically significant alcoholism, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. In contrast, the general population’s depression rate is between three and nine percent, and its alcoholism rate is about ten percent. The legal profession is consistently a top three profession for depression.
The mental health crisis not only affects the lawyer, but also their career, loved ones, clients, employers, and the justice system. In 2016, the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Lawyer Assistance and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation published their survey-based study of approximately 13,000 practicing attorneys (the Study). Twenty-eight percent of the respondents struggle with depression, nineteen percent struggle with anxiety, twenty-three percent struggle with stress, and between twenty-one and thirty-six percent qualify as problem drinkers. Interestingly, seventy-five percent of the respondents completely skipped questions about drug use. Of the lawyers that answered those questions, 5.6 percent used cocaine, crack, and stimulants; 5.6 percent used opioids; 10.2 percent used marijuana and hash; and nearly sixteen percent used sedatives.
