California Lawyers Association and D.C. Bar Announce More Findings From Groundbreaking Study on Attorney Mental Health and Well-Being

June 08, 2022

The California Lawyers Association and the District of Columbia Bar shared additional findings today from a groundbreaking research project offering insight into the personal and workplace risk factors for mental health problems, substance use, and attrition among practicing attorneys.

In 2020 the two bar associations announced their participation in the project, led by attorney mental health and well-being expert Patrick Krill of Krill Strategies and Justin J. Anker of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. Now Krill and Anker have published “People, Professionals, and Profit Centers: The Connection Between Lawyer Well-Being and Employer Values,” the second in a series of papers from the project.

Key findings include:

• 62.4 percent of lawyers reported feeling most valued for their personal or professional attributes. This group also had the best mental and physical health.
   
• 27.5 percent of lawyers reported feeling most valued for attributes like productivity and responsiveness. This group had poorer mental and physical health than those who felt most valued for their personal or professional attributes.
   
• The group with the poorest mental and physical health was the 10.1 percent of lawyers who believed their employers did not value them or did not receive enough feedback.
   
• Lawyers who work in environments that value professionalism, skill, and humanity over productivity and availability were not only in better health but also experienced lower stress levels and were less likely to say that their time in the profession had been harmful to their mental health.
   
• Lawyers working in larger firms were less likely to feel valued for their professional or personal worth and more likely to be valued for their financial and productivity contributions.

California Lawyers Association CEO and Executive Director Oyango A. Snell and District of Columbia Bar CEO Robert Spagnoletti thanked the researchers for continuing to glean new insights from their collaboration on the project.

“This new, definitive research illuminates the important role professional culture plays in lawyer well-being and gives us a roadmap for helping to address one of the root causes of burnout and stress in the legal profession,” Snell said.

“Once again, Patrick Krill and Justin Anker have held a mirror to the legal profession, presenting important data on the impact of an attorney's working environment and perceived value,” Spagnoletti said. “Knowing and understanding this information will better enable the D.C. Bar to provide meaningful services to its members and those organizations that employ lawyers.”

Read more about Krill and Anker’s latest paper and the key takeaways for legal employers here.