Written by: Suhaani Jain
Edited by: Keerthana Rao
Lawyers undergo some of the most challenging and stressful situations daily, which can cause the phenomena of burnout. They are tasked with meeting client needs, competing within the field, and generating income, among many other duties. Burnout is the "discrepancy between expectations and outcomes, or the perceived needs of a task exceeding the perceived resources" (Norton et al., 2016, p. 1). Burnout can severely affect lawyers' performance and emotional well-being in a mentally taxing and workload-heavy profession like law. How exactly does burnout impact attorneys physically and psychologically? A study by Bloomberg Law surveyed 614 attorneys and found that 52% felt burned out in their jobs (Miller-Kuwana & Ouyang, 2022). This speaks to the prevalence of burnout in the legal profession. Even more, of the attorneys who work in large law firms, only 44% “report satisfaction with their jobs” (Otey, 2014, p. 163). This means that more than a majority of attorneys are in a position, environment, or situation that falls below their expectations of an ideal job. This poses an evident problem as clients depend on lawyers to succeed in their careers and deliver their best work. Reduced attorney performance would mean less success in and out of their workplace. How can law firms address burnout to ensure employee performance does not drastically decline?
Burnout has a myriad of causes, including vicarious trauma, law school practices, and the intensive conditions attorneys operate under. Vicarious trauma, “secondhand exposure to trauma” (Martinson, 2021, p. 2), has increasingly affected attorneys. Law school pedagogy uses the Socratic method, which focuses on competition and approval over collaboration, “often at the expense of compassion, empathy, and other important components of social and emotional competence” (Norton et al., 2016, p. 6). Students desire approval from their professors, and class ranking eliminates the human aspect of being an attorney and classifies them as constant working machines instead. Further, the conditions attorneys work under are inherently stressful. They are tasked with seemingly impossible feats and hours. A study on 30 young corporate lawyers who worked on the Banking Royal Commission in 2018 revealed that they “cited lawyers working past midnight, weekends and 14-hour days as unnervingly common” (Allman, 2020). This is an abnormally large time commitment, and any professional would be at risk of burnout under these hours. The effects of lawyer burnout are widespread and influence clients, firms, and family/friends of the victim. Burnout is a prevalent issue that prevents attorneys from delivering their best work and impacts their health and professional success, which can be addressed through trauma-informed care and the creation of psychologically safe environments.
Burnout has severe psychological effects and, without being adequately addressed, can easily set in motion more serious issues hindering attorney work. Psychological effects of burnout include increased negativity, self-criticism, lack of engagement, cynicism, and anger towards people in one’s life (Otey, 2014). This affects family and friends who are the victims of unleashed emotions. A Bloomberg poll of 614 attorneys found that of the attorneys who reported their well-being had worsened in quarter four, nearly half (47%) reported having personal relationship issues (Miller-Kuwana & Ouyang, 2022). The worsening progression of burnout from Q1 to Q4 correlated with personal issues in the lives of attorneys. In professional settings, clients will endure the ramifications of lawyer burnout. Research has shown that burnout can cause “the [attorney] to believe that the client deserves their troubles” (Otey, 2014, p. 162). This harms the attorney-client relationship and restricts the professional success of attorneys. Moreover, compared to other professionals, attorneys “are 70% more likely to report depression” (Reed et al., 2016, p. 148). Depression will not only harm an attorney’s well-being, but it will disrupt their ability to complete necessary tasks. If not treated, depression can develop and become more detrimental. A study on depression in attorneys found that of the 45% of attorneys who experienced depression in their legal careers, “12% reported having suicidal thoughts at least once” (Person & Davis, 2021). This statistic conveys the physically harmful consequences of burnout and its development if unchecked. It sheds light on how severe burnout truly is and conveys the urgency of resolving the problem.
The fact that burnout can have such extreme mental health effects can be mainly attributed to the stigma surrounding burnout in attorneys. Attorneys hold a facade of being tough, resilient, and persevering, as rigorously taught through law school. A study by ABA/Hazelden revealed that “legal professionals feel a tremendous amount of shame for needing help and often their work environments do not support them slowing down or even getting help… so they may minimize these feelings initially” (Uchiyama, 2020, p. 99). This portrays the mentally tough image that attorneys hold up in fear even if they consciously realize they need treatment. Voicing mental health concerns might cause law firms to treat lawyers like delicate snowflakes incapable of being serious and tough (Allman, 2019). The label of a snowflake is so undesirable for attorneys that they deem asking for help as “career suicide” (Uchiyama, 2020, p. 98). This extreme stigma prevents attorneys from getting the help they need. Lawyers are told to simply deal with the psychological obstacles they face when that advice may aggravate their mental health rather than resolve it by bottling up emotions. Without erasing the stigma surrounding mental health issues in law, burnout victims will only grow.
In addition to psychological effects, burnout has severe physical effects on attorneys, which can lead to substance abuse and unsound decisions. Physical symptoms include “chronic fatigue, frequent headaches, and the inability to recover from illness” (Otey, 2014, p. 162). Such symptoms present an obstacle to success in and out of the workforce. Natalie Goodall, a young attorney working in an Australian corporate firm, recounted her panic attack on the road to a client’s house as a response to the accumulation of pressure she faced at work (Allman, 2019). Goodall is an example of an attorney who could recognize the causes of her turmoil and prevent the issue from worsening. However, several attorneys turn to substances, such as drugs and alcohol, in times of distress. A study conducted at a Midwestern law school found that “18% of students [in the sample] reported driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at least once in the past year, and two participants had been arrested for either a DUI or DWI in the past year” (Reed et al., 2016, p. 152). This is undoubtedly disturbing, considering an attorney’s job is to preserve and uphold the law. It questions how much trust clients can put in attorneys.
Physical effects on attorneys will impact firms by reducing productivity and leading to malpractice suits, thereby lowering the professional success of firms and individuals. A study by Gallup found that burnt-out employees are “63 percent more likely to take a sick day, and 23 percent more likely to visit a hospital emergency room” (Allman, 2019). Employee absences would mean delays in completing time-sensitive work or extra work for present employees, decreasing the firm’s productivity. A firm’s morale will diminish if its employees are absent more often or frequently sick. Even worse would be a blow to a firm’s prestige and reputation. A study conducted in Oregon found that of the 100 attorneys who had entered into “lawyer assistance programs for drug and alcohol abuse, 60% of [them] had been a subject of a malpractice suit” (Reed et al., 2016, p. 149). Not only do malpractice suits contribute to a decline in an attorney’s professional success by tainting their name, but they also damage the firm's reputation. Evidently, burnout’s psychological and physical effects must be addressed for the benefit of the attorney and the company.
Despite being proven a prevalent issue, burnout remains widespread among lawyers, attributable to a lack of formal recognition of burnout. According to research, “burnout is on the ‘spectrum’ of mental health disorders but is not recognized as a medical diagnosis like depression or anxiety” (Allman, 2019). Burnout is taken less seriously than other well-established mental health disorders, even though its effects are just as harmful. By not acknowledging the severity, less attention is diverted toward solutions such as trauma-informed care or creating psychologically safe workforces. Burnout is not acknowledged as a workplace hazard in many firms as well, even though “the implication of recognizing burnout as a workplace hazard is a step in the right direction and adds legitimacy to the emotions that so many people experience in the workplace” (Uchiyama, 2020, p. 98). A firm's inability to classify burnout as a workplace hazard contributes to its rising prevalence. Without understanding and accepting the emotional effects of burnout, law firms may invalidate the feelings of their burnt-out employees. Law schools, firms, and lawyers themselves have an obligation to address burnout and tackle its fundamental causes. Lawyers counsel and represent many clients, and being burnt out will weaken their ability to do so successfully. With more students entering the legal profession as the field advances, there is no better time to acknowledge, accept, and take action against burnout than now.
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