Burts: Let’s prioritize mental health in legal education

The month of October is often an exciting time — a month marked by the embrace of cool autumn weather, various fall festivities, tasty, themed treats, and of course, electric energy of enthusiastic football fans across our nation. But October also highlights a cause that is probably less likely to come to mind — mental health awareness and advocacy.

Oct. 10 is recognized annually as Law Student Mental Health Day. Every year the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the ABA Law Student Division provide programs and resources to combat the stigma and offer support to law schools and law students across the country. This day is also recognized globally as World Mental Health Day.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, 970 million people around the world, or 1 in every 8 people were living with a mental disorder, with depressive and anxiety disorders being the most common. The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that more than 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed in a 2023 National Health Interview Survey that 5% of adults 18 and older regularly had feelings of depression and 12.5% regularly had feelings of worry, nervousness, or anxiety. With so many individuals grappling with their mental health it should be no surprise that the legal profession is not exempt from this reality.

A 2016 landmark study conducted by the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation highlighted the prevalence of mental health concerns within the legal profession.

It showed that 28% of attorneys participating in the study struggled with depression and 19% of those surveyed struggled with anxiety. Additionally, 23% of attorneys were impacted by stress. The study further revealed the connection between mental health concerns and alcohol use disorders. Among the attorneys surveyed who screened positive for problematic alcohol use, the study showed significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Amid this ongoing conversation of well-being in the profession, there has been a lot of attention and focus on the law student population in the last several years.

The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being showed nearly 70% of respondents reported needing help for mental or emotional health problems over the past twelve months, an increase from 42% in the 2014 survey. Nearly 33% of respondents reported they had seriously thought about attempting suicide at some point in their life. Nearly 40% of respondents reported an anxiety diagnosis.

Law students also reported experiencing significant trauma. Over 80% of respondents answered yes to experiencing at least one form of trauma of fifteen categories, including categories such as sexual assault; physical or emotional abuse; natural disaster; or serious illness or injury.

The survey states an important truth: “What is clear is that our law students need help.”

I could not agree more. As highlighted by the survey, today’s law students are facing significant mental health challenges. But law students need more than help. They also need hope and a sense of compassion from the community they are working so diligently to enter.

While competence is a key foundation of legal education, the new generation of law students are also looking to cultivate a culture of compassion and community.

I realized the importance of well-being to these students while previously working in law school admissions. I spent a lot of time meeting with prospective and admitted law students.

We would discuss the various programs and offerings that made the law school unique. Students were interested in all the things you’d expect — job prospects and placements, notable alumni, externships and internships, and the layout of the law library where they would spend the majority of their time over the next few years.

As recruitment cycles continued, I started to realize a pattern was emerging among students. They were interested in checklists, but they were invested in the care and support offered by the law school.

Students wanted to have meaningful conversations around mental health support and resources. They wanted to know what well-being initiatives looked like for the student body at the law school. After disclosing their personal backgrounds and mental health challenges and concerns, students wanted to know what support and accommodations would look like as they navigated their own journeys.

This realization of law students prioritizing their overall well-being has only been further cemented since I joined the Indiana Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, or JLAP, in 2023. Nearly 20% of the clients we serve are law students around the state. We spend significant time partnering with the Indiana law schools to provide various presentations and programs throughout the year. We value our role as external partners and the opportunity to confront and combat many of the challenges in the profession.

As the academic year kicked off in August, I met with new law students at their orientation programs for IU Maurer and IU McKinney. Over several days, I had the opportunity to talk to students one-on-one, in small and large groups.

The same consistent messages emerged. New law students were eager to build community, and a law school’s sense of community was a determining factor for their school choice.

New students eagerly shared about accessible alumni and friendly faculty. They described collaborative environments and caring, compassionate administration that made them feel seen, heard and valued. They shared how empowered they felt to show up authentically. Some shared their mental health concerns but were comforted by conversations and support they received from student services.

What I’ve known to be true anecdotally from my experience with law students, continues to be supported by research. As shared in the 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being, students valued environments that fostered collaboration over competition.

The study also revealed that students shared the way law school employees contributed to their overall wellness.

“Cited repeatedly were caring professors and friendly staff, and an environment that promoted diversity and inclusion,” the study said. “Opportunities to socialize and to have study groups and peer mentors were also mentioned as items that the students found as helpful.”

Legal education is evolving, and law students are demanding more of the profession. More connection, more community, more compassion.

In its daily work, JLAP has the opportunity to model and amplify the importance of compassion and community in the profession.

Law students are the future of the profession, and they are leading the way forward in the Lawyer Well-Being Movement. Will we continue to hear words like “competitive” and “cut-throat” to describe the profession? Perhaps, but students are charting a new path centered on compassion and care.•

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Nicole Burts, J.D., is a clinical case manager at the Indiana Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program. Prior to joining JLAP, she served as associate director of student recruitment at Indiana University McKinney School of Law. Opinions expressed are those of the author.