New Mental Health Study Sounds Alarm on Higher Suicide Risk Among Lawyers

February 13, 2023

On February 13 the California Lawyers Association and the District of Columbia Bar shared additional findings from their groundbreaking research project that provides insight into the personal and workplace factors that put lawyers at heightened risk of suicide ideation.

In “Stressed, Lonely, and Overcommitted: Predictors of Lawyer Suicide Risk,” published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Healthcare, 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 found that lawyers were twice as likely as the general population to contemplate suicide.

Using a random sample of approximately 2,000 practicing lawyers who participated in the 2020 survey conducted by the two organizations, Krill and Anker examined the relationship between thoughts of suicide and various factors —  including perceived stress, loneliness, work overcommitment, work–family conflict, alcohol use, and prior mental health diagnosis — that negatively and disproportionately affect lawyers. The research found that a significantly greater proportion of lawyers who contemplated suicide indicated that working in the legal profession was detrimental to their mental health and contributed to their substance use and feelings of burnout.

Other key findings from the study, the third in a series from Krill and Anker, include:

• Perceived stress was the number one predictor of suicidality. Compared to lawyers with low stress, those experiencing high stress were 22 times more likely to contemplate suicide, and lawyers with intermediate levels of stress were 5.5 times more likely.
• Lonely lawyers were nearly three times more likely to contemplate suicide, and those who are highly overcommitted to work more than twice as likely.
• Male lawyers were twice as likely to contemplate suicide, a notable difference from the general population where women experience higher levels of suicidal ideation. Prior mental health diagnosis also increased the risk of suicidal ideation.
• The profile of a lawyer with the highest risk for suicide is a lonely or socially isolated male who has a high level of unmanageable stress, is overly committed to their work, and may have a history of mental health problems. The heightened risk of suicidal ideation extends well beyond this specific profile.

“The legal profession has known that lawyers are disproportionately predisposed to suicidal thoughts, but we’ve been largely relying on assumptions and anecdotes to understand why,” Krill said. “With this research, however, we now have the beginnings of a data-driven formula for successfully mitigating risk and ultimately saving lives.”

Krill and Anker also identified key takeaways for legal employers and other stakeholders:

• A twofold strategy whereby stressors in lawyers’ lives are reduced, and their stress tolerance is enhanced, would seem to be the most effective approach for mitigating the stress-suicidality risk in the lawyer population.
• Considering the profound impact of stress on lawyer suicidality, all options should be considered for mitigating stress, including an examination and recalibration of attitudes, norms, and cultures relating to their work.
• Employers may be able to help mitigate some of the loneliness their lawyers experience by making collaboration and regular social interactions in the work environment more of a priority.
• Given the high rates of alcohol misuse among lawyers, efforts to combat loneliness and isolation should avoid reliance on alcohol-based events as a primary means of increasing socialization and connection.
• By raising awareness of the notable downsides of being too committed to one’s work, encouraging lawyers to set appropriate boundaries in their lives, and reframing notions of success, the legal profession may be able to temper the harmful effects of work overcommitment.

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

“The results of this joint study validate what the California Lawyers Association has known for quite some time — attorneys spend so much time taking care of others and do not take enough care of themselves,” Snell said. “Alongside our partners at Krill Strategies, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, and D.C. Bar, we commit to all attorneys that our focus has been and will always remain the health and well-being of attorneys. The data released in this study will further guide the strategies we are actively designing to mitigate these trends of self-harm and improve overall well-being.”

“Thanks to Patrick Krill and Justin Anker’s groundbreaking study of the lives of lawyers, we now have a better understanding of the many challenges they face in the pressure-filled legal profession. In addition to experiencing higher-than-average rates of depression and substance use disorders, Krill and Anker have confirmed that lawyers face a higher risk of suicide,” Spagnoletti said. “Bar associations should lead the way in providing their members with critically important mental health services to reduce lawyer suicide. The D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Program, which provides lawyers access to free confidential mental health, addiction, and well-being resources when they need them, is one example of how bars can support their members at risk of self-harm.”

In 2021 Krill and Anker published “Stress, Drink, Leave: An Examination of Gender-Specific Risk Factors for Mental Health Problems and Attrition Among Licensed Attorneys,”  which offered insight into the personal and workplace risk factors for mental health problems, substance use, and attrition among practicing attorneys.

They followed it up in 2022 with “People, Professionals, and Profit Centers: The Connection Between Lawyer Well-Being and Employer Values,”  which found that 62.4 percent of lawyers reported feeling most valued for their personal or professional attributes. Their research also showed that 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.