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Voice of Experience

Voice of Experience: January 2025

Resources for Lawyer Well-Being

Diane Rynerson

Summary

  • A good place to find resources is the attorney assistance program in your own state.
  • The ABA has taken a leading role in promoting lawyer well-being, integrating awareness of wellness issues into many programs and projects.
Resources for Lawyer Well-Being
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If you are reading this article, chances are good that you’ve already figured out a way to survive, or maybe even thrive, in your law career. You’re keeping mind and body together through patterns that work for you. So why should you learn more about resources for lawyer well-being?

In 2016, the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, the National Organization of Bar Counsel, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers teamed up with other groups to create a National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. The Task Force’s influential 2017 report, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, prompted articles, programs, and initiatives to combat what is, in many ways, a crisis in the overall health of the legal community. The sheer volume of information available can seem overwhelming for lawyers whose time is already constrained. And why should you take time to learn more about the topic since you are “fine”?

Whether you realize it or not, senior lawyers are role models for others in their firms, their families, and their communities. Others observe how you manage your own physical and mental wellness and can set up positive or negative patterns. I remember a lawyer in a shared office situation who yelled at his associate to relieve his own stress. No one called him about his behavior because he wasn’t part of their practice group, but it affected all the people within earshot. Consistently rewriting briefs and taking client calls while on a family vacation may cause your children to limit communication with you in the long term. The practice of law is stressful and time-consuming. Developing strategies to promote wellness for yourself and support for the well-being of those around you should be imperative for all lawyers. Knowing in advance what resources are available could make a difference when a colleague needs help urgently or when you recognize your own symptoms of burnout.

A good place to find resources is the attorney assistance program in your own state. Senior lawyers may remember them primarily as providing counseling for lawyers struggling with substance abuse. While that is still an important mission, most attorney assistance programs now provide a wide variety of services supporting physical and mental wellness. Their counselors are well-connected with other local programs and can offer advice about places to find help.

The ABA has assumed a leading role in promoting lawyer well-being, integrating awareness of wellness issues into many programs and projects, as well as, producing webinars and publications to make it easy for busy lawyers to learn about wellness in whatever format is best for them. You’ll find resources for well-being within many ABA groups, but here are some especially good places to start:

For a deeper dive into wellness resources, check out these recent offerings by ABA Book Publishing:

Other organizations that provide substantial information about lawyer wellness include the following:

Finally, what will your own wellness legacy be? Will you be remembered like Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, who risks Bob Cratchit’s mental and physical health by creating a truly toxic workplace while modeling disregard for his own well-being? Or will you be remembered fondly, like Old Mister Fezziwig?  Fezziwig’s apprentices worked hard, but he demonstrated his care for their well-being by insisting that they take a break to enjoy a festive holiday party. He didn’t just write a check to make it happen in some distant hotel ballroom while grumbling like Scrooge, “Christmas is a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every 25th of December!” Instead, he created a celebration that included his entire household and workplace, dancing merrily with Mrs. Fezziwig and ensuring that a good time was had by all.

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