The legal profession has long been characterised by its intellectual rigor, ethical standards, and commitment to justice. Yet beneath the polished exterior of courtrooms and law offices lies a troubling reality: legal professionals face some of the highest rates of mental health challenges across all industries.
The Minds Count Foundation is an independent, volunteer-run, charitable organisation with the objective to decrease work-related psychological ill-health in the legal community. Each year it holds a signature lecture inviting revered legal professionals from across the country to share views on mental health challenges in the profession. This year, the lecture focused on isolation and its effect on mental health wellbeing. Industry leaders gathered to confront this critical issue and explore pathways toward healthier, more sustainable legal careers.
Mental health is a fundamental requirement for professional excellence and human dignity. In legal environments, where decisions can carry profound consequences for clients and society, and the same laws of providing a psychological safe workplace still apply, the stakes of supporting professional wellbeing become even higher.
The Unique Mental Health Landscape of Legal Practice
Legal professionals navigate a distinctly challenging mental health landscape that sets their profession apart from others. Our lawyers, judges, and legal staff regularly encounter members of our community at some of their most vulnerable moments. They witness domestic violence cases, handle traumatic criminal matters, navigate devastating family disputes, and manage corporate crises that affect thousands of lives.
“The trauma of others can rearrange the furniture in your own mind,” noted Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris AM at the recent Minds Count lecture. This profound observation captures how exposure to client trauma can fundamentally alter a legal professional’s psychological landscape.
This secondary trauma – the psychological impact of being exposed to others’ traumatic experiences – creates a unique occupational hazard. Legal professionals often carry these stories home, where the weight of others’ pain can disrupt sleep, relationships, and even the work they do. The adversarial nature of legal work can add another layer of stress, as professionals must often advocate aggressively while maintaining professional relationships with opposing counsel.
The Isolation Epidemic: More Than Physical Distance
While geographical isolation affects some legal professionals, particularly those in rural practices, the isolation plaguing the legal profession extends beyond just physical distance. The very nature of legal work creates multiple forms of professional and emotional isolation that can be equally damaging to mental health.
Confidentiality requirements, while essential to client protection, can create a barrier that isolates legal professionals from normal support networks. Lawyers cannot discuss their most challenging cases with friends or family, leaving them to process difficult experiences alone. This professional isolation can be particularly acute for solo practitioners and those in small firms who lack colleagues who understand their specific challenges.
The billable hour culture prevalent in many legal environments creates time-based isolation – professionals working such long hours that they become disconnected from family, friends, and activities that contribute to mental health and wellbeing.
Hierarchical isolation also affects the profession, where junior lawyers may feel unable to seek guidance from senior colleagues. Similarly, judges face unique isolation challenges – their position requires them to maintain distance from both lawyers and the public, yet their role demands deep empathy and understanding of human nature.
Building Psychologically Safe Legal Workplaces
Creating mentally healthy legal environments requires intentional organisational design that acknowledges both the unique challenges of legal practice and the universal human need for connection and support. The workplace factors identified in Minds Counts’ comprehensive wellbeing frameworks provides a roadmap for transformation. As an employer of many lawyers across Australia and as a service provider to Australia’s legal industry at large, Thomson Reuters is proudly a signatory to the Minds Count’s TJMF Guidelines . Acknowledging this substantial issue, Thomson Reuter’s Practical Law also has a mental health and wellbeing toolkit with resources to support lawyer wellbeing from subject matter experts in Australia and around the world.
Organisational Culture and Leadership
Legal organisations must cultivate cultures characterised by trust, honesty, and fairness. This means leaders acknowledging the mental health challenges inherent in legal work and creating environments where seeking help is viewed as professional strength, not weakness. Clear expectations and effective communication help reduce uncertainty.
Psychological and Social Support Systems
Firms should implement comprehensive support systems that address both professional and personal mental health needs. This includes access to mental health services, employee assistance programs, and peer support networks. Creating communities within legal workplaces helps combat isolation while providing practical support for job requirements.
Workload Management and Balance
Addressing the root causes of legal profession burnout requires honest examination of workload expectations and time management practices. Organisations should ensure tasks can be accomplished within reasonable timeframes, provide adequate resources, and maintain appropriate control over work prioritisation. The traditional “always available” culture must give way to sustainable practices that recognise the importance of rest and recovery. Here, professional grade AI tools can help in supporting workers, with the recent ROI of Legal Tech & AI report showing that 33% report a reduction in stress, 43% stating that it makes it easier to collaborate and 32% saying that it helps them be more confident at work when using AI in their workplaces.
Recognition and Growth
Legal professionals need regular feedback and opportunities for development that extend beyond billable hours and revenue generation. Recognition programs should acknowledge not just professional achievements but also contributions to workplace culture and colleague support.
Physical and Psychological Safety
This encompasses both traditional workplace safety measures and protection from harassment, discrimination, and psychological harm.
Supporting Wellbeing Through Resources and Technology
Thomson Reuters recognises that uncertainty and lack of resources are significant stressors for legal professionals. Through platforms like Practical Law, lawyers gain immediate access to comprehensive content, expert guidance based on the lived legal experience of more than 750 lawyers worldwide, and practical information that prevents the anxiety of working without adequate tools or venturing into unfamiliar practice areas. The ability to get up to speed quickly on new matters, find answers to unexpected questions, and connect directly with an editorial team of experienced lawyer-writers through Practical Law’s Feedback Button means legal practitioners never need to feel isolated, or unsupported, in their work.
Enhancing Efficiency to Combat Burnout
In an environment where adding headcount isn’t always possible, Thomson Reuters helps legal professionals work smarter rather than harder. Unlimited complimentary training ensures lawyers can continuously develop their skills and maximise their use of available resources, while integrated technology solutions take on repetitive, time-consuming tasks that contribute to burnout. By leveraging these efficiencies, legal professionals can focus their energy on high-value work that utilises their expertise, rather than being overwhelmed by administrative burdens – a crucial factor in maintaining both professional satisfaction and mental wellbeing.
The legal profession’s commitment to justice and service makes addressing mental health challenges not just a professional imperative but a moral one. By creating workplaces supported with the right tools and frameworks, legal organisations can better serve their clients, retain talented professionals, and contribute to a more sustainable and humane legal system.
The conversation started at events like Minds Count must continue in boardrooms, courtrooms, and law offices across the profession. The future of legal practice depends not just on legal expertise but on our collective commitment to supporting the humans who make justice possible.
