One in 10 young lawyers globally say they experience “suicidal thoughts” due to work
updated on 09 April 2021
One in 10 lawyers under 30 said they have experienced suicidal thoughts as a result of work, a recent International Bar Association (IBA) survey found, with wellbeing in the legal profession a “global concern”.
More than 3,000 people and 186 legal organisations took part in the IBA survey that looked at wellbeing within the legal profession as part of a global project to address the mental wellbeing of legal professionals. The survey raised issues including depression, suicide, fatigue, disrupted sleep and anxiety, and also aimed to address the continuing impact of the covid-19 pandemic on mental health.
Of the respondents, more than half of lawyers under 30 have experienced “depressed thoughts”, while 10% reported experiencing suicidal thoughts due to work. The survey’s findings highlighted that lawyers’ wellbeing levels fell below the global average, based on methodology used by the World Health Organisation, according to the IBA.
Despite employers believing that wellbeing is a priority within the workplace, 75% of the survey’s respondents aged between 25-35 said their employers should be doing more and 41% said they would not discuss their mental wellbeing issues with their employer due to fears that it would negatively affect their career or livelihoods. More than a quarter of respondents said that there needs to be increased levels of awareness regarding mental wellbeing and 23% requested more resources and direct intervention.
Young lawyers, women, those who identify as an ethnic minority and lawyers with a disability were among the lawyers who reported the lowest wellbeing scores, with one in six lawyers with a disability experiencing suicidal thoughts as a result of work-related issues, according to the survey.
Past president of the IBA, Horacio Bernades Neto said: “When I became president of the IBA in 2019, I made addressing mental wellbeing within the legal profession one of my main priorities. I had become increasingly concerned with all too frequent reports of substance abuse, severe depression and suicide within the profession. Little did I, or any of us, know of the events that were to come. The devastating effects of depression, stress, addiction and other such attacks on our wellbeing may have preceded the coronavirus pandemic, but there is no question that it has exacerbated their impact.”
