ABA Journal

Lawyer Wellness

1029 ABA Journal Lawyer Wellness articles.

Responses wanted: Motherhood penalty and caregiver bias will be evaluated in new ABA survey

The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession is launching a new survey to assess how the motherhood penalty and other caregiver bias impacts the careers of female lawyers.

4 techniques for lawyers to find instant relief from stress

It’s well known that many in the legal profession experience stress and anxiety. For some people, the inevitable uncertainty and unpredictability that come with legal work can make life more exciting and invigorating. For others, it causes depression and burnout.

Unbroken: A call for psychiatric disability initiatives in the legal profession

So many of us struggle in silence while striving for excellence, when only a helping hand and understanding—not only from family and friends but also from colleagues and those with leading positions in law firms—could guide our way to attain success as humans and as professionals.

What makes associates happy? Partners and billable-hour expectations are key

On some measures, midlevel associate satisfaction is about the same as—or slightly better than—last year.

Warm Welcome: Law firms are using wellness programs to recruit new lawyers

Attorneys generally choose a law firm based on prestige, salary, location and future goals. But today, many are adding another criterion to the list: wellness programs. Self-care, which used to be a foreign concept to law firms, has finally entered the conversation.

Senior legal counsel discusses how to align wellness and e-discovery

Ari Kaplan recently spoke with Amy Sellars, senior legal counsel for e-discovery and operations at the CBRE Group, a real estate company, and one of the founders of the Mind-Budget Connection, a new organization focused on empowering e-discovery professionals.

10 tips for lawyers to establish self-confidence and client compassion

Check out some tips to establish yourself as a competent and compassionate lawyer to potential clients, from North Carolina lawyer James Gray Robinson.

11% of law students had suicidal thoughts in the past year, survey finds; what can law schools do?

More law students are reporting a need for help with emotional or mental health problems, and more are reporting a past diagnosis of depression or anxiety, according to a survey of law students in 39 law schools.

Authors of ‘50 Lessons for Happy Lawyers’ share some top tips

Even during times less tumultuous than the one we are in now, lawyers as a profession report high levels of stress. It was this challenge that lawyers Nora Riva Bergman and Chelsy A. Castro set out to address in their new book.

Only half of class of 2018 law grads practice in law firms, NALP report finds

Ninety-seven percent of surveyed law graduates from the class of 2018 were employed, but only 51% were working in law firms, according to a joint study by the National Association for Law Placement and the NALP Foundation.

Weekly Briefs: Fish definition includes bees, court says; judge decries ‘fair-weather originalism’

Bees can sometimes be considered fish, court says

Bees can be protected under the California Endangered Species Act because they are invertebrates within the law’s definition of fish, the California…

New research examines attorneys’ sense of work value and health

Lawyers who perceive that they are most valued for their financial performance and productivity could be more likely to increase drug and alcohol use than those who feel valued for their professionalism and skills, according to a study released Friday.

How executive coaching enhances attorney performance and eases burnout

During lunch on my first day as a first-year associate at a large international law firm almost 15 years ago, one of the partners in my practice group gave me one of the bluntest pieces of career advice I’ve received: “No one cares more about your career than you do.”

Pro-Trump lawyer’s challenge to bar’s mental exam order can’t be heard by federal courts, 11th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a pro-Trump lawyer’s lawsuit contending that the State Bar of Georgia violated his constitutional rights when it ordered him to take a mental health exam.

Lawyer tried to save client leaping from 9th-floor window by grabbing his belt—he couldn’t keep hold

A lawyer in Syracuse, New York, did his best to save the client in his ninth-floor office who threw open the window and tried to leap out.

Read more ...