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Mental Health

154 ABA Journal Mental Health articles.

Read this year’s Ross Essay Contest winner, ‘26 Days’

University of Pittsburgh Law School graduate Murphy DePompei’s short story, ‘26 Days,’ about an associate struggling to avoid alcohol at a firm event, is the 2025 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction.

Nov 26, 2025 10:29 AM CST

How tough-on-crime policies shift the burden to public defenders

Across the country, criminal justice policy is undergoing yet another pendulum swing. After over a decade of reform efforts focused on decarceration and diversion, states are now reembracing the all-too-familiar tough-on-crime approaches.

Nov 24, 2025 1:55 PM CST

‘Prestige is no longer the primary currency of success in law,’ survey suggests

Lawyers are divided on whether income or flexibility and autonomy are their top priorities in legal practice, according to findings of a survey of 132 attorneys by Paragon Legal, a provider of temporary lawyers for in-house legal departments.

Nov 17, 2025 9:57 AM CST

Bryan Garner on the problem of time-toggling

Lawyers often make their prose harder to follow than it needs to be. One of the worst culprits is time-toggling—those unannounced leaps from present to past, from recent to remote, from actual to hypothetical.

Nov 17, 2025 9:12 AM CST

About 1 in 5 law students have a disability, new survey finds

A survey released this week from Indiana University found that among U.S. law students, about 20% reported that they have a disability of some kind—ranging from mental health conditions to physical disabilities—and often feel unsupported.

Nov 6, 2025 11:38 AM CST

Lawyer suspended following ‘unconventional, erratic and threatening behavior’

A lawyer has been suspended from Ohio law practice for 18 months, with six months stayed, for an incident in which he confronted ex-colleagues with a hatchet and challenged the name partner of his former law firm to a duel.

Oct 23, 2025 11:33 AM CDT

Supreme Court sharply questions law banning conversion therapy

The Supreme Court sounded deeply skeptical Tuesday about a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for gay and transgender minors, suggesting the justices may scuttle the statute and similar restrictions in nearly 30 states.

Oct 7, 2025 1:28 PM CDT

Secondary trauma hits attorneys hard; here’s how to navigate it

There’s a lesser-known but profound challenge within the legal profession: secondary trauma. For many attorneys and judges, the emotional toll of handling distressing cases can accumulate, creating lasting psychological impacts.

Aug 12, 2025 9:23 AM CDT

From man’s best friend to a lawyer’s best partner? How some law firms utilize therapy dogs

A study in the American Psychological Association’s peer-reviewed journal Emotion found that the participants who spent time with their dog after a stressful task experienced a better mood and reduced anxiety than those who did not. So law firms and the courts have been steadily adding therapy dogs, court facility dogs and untrained dogs that happen to be calm and comforting. The ABA approves: The House of Delegates passed a resolution in 2021 supporting the use of trained dogs to help witnesses during testimony.

Aug 1, 2025 1:20 AM CDT

Prominent South Carolina lawyer arrested for allegedly yelling in public while clad only in underwear

A prominent South Carolina lawyer allegedly identified himself as “Superman” and “God” when he was arrested for erratic behavior last week, according to local news coverage of the incident.

May 20, 2025 12:28 PM CDT

What to know when hiring the next generation of lawyers

It's not your grandfather's law firm anymore. Technology, shifting societal norms and generational differences are reshaping today's legal practices. To attract the new generation of legal professionals, lawyers must throw out "the way things have always been done" and reinvent their firm's culture.

May 19, 2025 11:11 AM CDT

More lawyers report billable-hour pressures affect their mental health, survey finds

Billable-hour pressures are negatively affecting mental well-being, according to 65.5% of lawyers and staff members surveyed by ALM and Law.com Compass.

May 15, 2025 9:16 AM CDT

How will you celebrate Well-Being Week in Law?

The first week of May is an opportunity for a highly stressed profession to take a step back and consider some self-care by celebrating the Well-Being Week in Law.

May 7, 2025 4:30 PM CDT

How to negotiate mental health challenges in the law

“Even after having lived with major mental health issues, I can’t shake my outmoded ways of thinking about them and the people they afflict—myself included. We’re all judging people with mental health issues because we’ve been trained to.”

Mar 27, 2025 9:13 AM CDT

Severed body parts, conspiracy theories and Elvis Presley impersonators featured in Netflix documentary

The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga explores an assassination attempt on former President Barack Obama and how it all tied back to an alleged discovery by an Elvis Presley “tribute artist” of severed body parts in a hospital refrigerator.

Mar 24, 2025 8:57 AM CDT

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Law prof sues Boeing, alleges toxic fumes inhaled on flight

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