Many lawyers feel unhappy too frequently or experience chronic health issues. In any courtroom image with prosecution and defence lawyers poised tensely, in any photograph of lawyers grouped around a corporate meeting table negotiating a merger or acquisition, in any shot of lawyers campaigning for social justice, the likelihood is one or more of those individuals are affected by poor wellbeing or mental ill-health. This may be because they are experiencing problematic levels of stress, clinically significant symptoms of anxiety or depression, or are facing overwhelming demands and challenges. These opening sentences may seem counter-intuitive when common media portrayals of the legal profession depict legal practice as high status, prosperous, even glamorous, with lawyers characterized as ambitious, as well as amoral and emotionless. Equally, the idea that lawyers can be suffering seems to challenge certain public perceptions of the law and lawyers as dry, dusty and lacking humanity. However, there is an international body of evidence demonstrating that lawyers experience significant issues in relation to their wellbeing and mental health. This is not about an occasional individual lawyer who is struggling in their work, this is an issue which, evidence suggests, permeates throughout the legal profession and across jurisdictions. Overall, it appears that lawyers experience lower levels of wellbeing and higher levels of mental health issues than the general population. As lawyers themselves are not fundamentally lacking in terms of their ability to manage life's stressors, and a person's work and social environment has a powerful impact upon their mental wellbeing (Ryan et al, 2010), this suggests it is the practice of law itself which can cause or exacerbate such issues: in short, practising law can make people sick.

Does this matter? A recent blog post on the topic of lawyer wellbeing in the United Kingdom (UK) elicited several comments from readers of the blog who suggested it does not (Graffin et al, 2019). Broadly paraphrased, the pattern of their responses was as follows, first, ‘suck it up and enjoy being rich’ and, secondly, ‘if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen’. Such sentiments neatly encapsulate the misconceptions which often surround such discussions.