Once again, ALM and Law.com Compass have released their annual look at the legal profession’s mental health. The findings, from more than 3,100 responses from attorneys and staff worldwide, depict a bar in crisis, plagued by substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and feelings of inadequacy. In The Florida Bar’s 2024 Membership Opinion Survey, 70% of all respondents and 80% of those 30 and younger believe the profession is becoming less desirable.
These reports reveal not only a deep dissatisfaction with practicing law but a dim outlook for the future. Of the Compass report respondents, 68% reported anxiety, and 62% said they are physically and mentally overwhelmed. Half reported decreased job satisfaction, and 4% are recovering from substance abuse. Alarmingly, 12% admitted to suicidal thoughts in the last year, and 43% feel mental health problems and substance abuse are at a crisis level. Among Florida Bar respondents, 53% feel the public’s view of our profession worsening.
If we are unhappy in our practices, we cannot adequately serve our clients and communities or improve our industry for our successors. We as a profession are not taking care of our mental health—and it has very real implications for our collective future.
I believe so many in law are struggling because of our inability to balance our professional, civic, and personal lives.
My military experience gives me a different perspective on the value of balance for good mental health. In a deployed Army unit, there is no separation of the professional from the personal. It’s everything, everywhere, all at once—rest, work, play, combat, nourishment, socialization. When that environment is disrupted suddenly and sometimes violently, PTSD is common. In some ways, we all experienced a similar situation during COVID-19, living and working in the same confined spaces.
Max Wideman, founder of the Project Management Institute, defines a profession has having five key attributes: a unique body of knowledge, standards of entry, a code of ethics, a service orientation to the profession, and a sanctioning organization. At the Army War College, we distilled these into three distinguishing groups: special skill and knowledge, self-governance, and a duty to society to perform a function the society cannot perform itself.
Similar to the clergy, engineers or doctors, lawyers are duty bound to work at our highest potential, placing our clients’ needs at the forefront while following an increasingly complex system of rules, regulations, and technologies. As a self-regulating, uniquely skilled group, we must be mentally fit before we can provide a superior level of representation.
Most of us entered law to do good for others. The data above suggests that somewhere along our career paths, we lost sight of those ideals. The not-insignificant demands of practice, career, and family are clearly taking their toll.
We can start improving our collective mental health by removing the stigma surrounding it. We are forthcoming with our physical challenges; we should approach mental ones similarly. Additionally, there’s no shame in seeking a “trainer”—professional help. Proactively sharing concerns and worries often helps resolve perceived issues before they manifest elsewhere. Human interaction is also crucial. Ours is a people-based industry, and the ability and opportunity to conduct our business in person is a defining element.
Anticipating and addressing mental health concerns can enhance one’s leadership skills. Self-awareness and a willingness to seek (and provide) help strengthen a group’s ability to achieve lofty goals.
Great lawyers are remembered for the impact they made on their communities. A plaque at The Florida Bar’s Tallahassee headquarters dedicates the building to “… the principles of duty and service to the public” and “the improvement of the administration of justice.” These words bring forward motivations and underscore our obligations.
My mentor, the late Florida Supreme Court Justice Fred Karl, set an example for us all to follow. He lived a life of public service, from commanding a tank platoon in World War II to serving in both houses of the state legislature and as Hillsborough County administrator. Like others in his Greatest Generation, the giving back, the return to “why,” replenished whatever toll lawyering took on his well-being.
A hallmark of the legal profession is our long tradition of pro bono work. Volunteer support directly related to one’s skill set proactively contributes to the public good. The opportunities to give back, to replace what may be lost in the daily grind, are many.
Supporting legal aid organizations is perhaps the most direct way to impact our communities. It increases access to justice for those who need it most, raises awareness of the legal process, and gives familiarity with attorneys and the courts.
More directly related to lawyers’ mental health, pro bono legal aid work opens the doors to unrealized resources. We can help alleviate the pressure brought on by certain matters by connecting counsel and their clients with needed community resources. Many legal aid organizations offer CLE credits for volunteer attorneys’ training and work. We frequently offer our colleagues advice on their own pro bono matters and can even take over cases if an attorney needs to scale back. Because we maintain full malpractice coverage, we remove one more concern for volunteer counsel. Pro bono legal aid also allows the individual attorney to choose matters that most interest them and, as a source of accomplishment and self-worth, can provide a high degree of satisfaction.
Legal aid organizations offer attorneys a relatively simple way to rekindle the “whys” of their career choice. Our impact is immediate and substantive. It is easy to see the ripples created in a community when solving one person’s issues.
Karl unwaveringly committed himself to a life of giving back, greatly impacting his Tampa community and the entire state. His legacy can help guide lawyers through difficult times: Giving of oneself replenishes what our profession so frequently depletes.
It’s time to exercise our mental health and embrace the potential of our practices. Clearly, service to others is a core characteristic of a healthy bar. I believe strongly in our duty as attorneys to give back to the profession and the communities we serve; it increases the satisfaction we derive from our practice and improves our mental health, benefiting the bar, our families, our clients, and the communities we seek to serve.
Jeffrey Harvey is the chief executive officer of Community Legal Services and a lieutenant colonel in theU.S. Army Reserve. Harvey chairs The Florida Bar’s Mental Health & Wellness of FloridaLawyers Committee and also serves on its Standing Committee on Professionalism. A full listof the Florida Bar’s mental health resources can be found here.
Reprinted with permission from the July 9, 2025 edition of Daily Business Review © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.