My mental health and physical health will suffer if I practice law any longer, a lawyer from the Leave Law Behind community says when he is burned out.
The groundbreaking study of 16,000 attorneys across 19 states by the American Bar Association and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation showed that 19 percent of the attorneys surveyed suffer from anxiety, 21 percent were problem drinkers, and 28 percent lawyers suffer from depression.
A lawyer who is unhappy experiences even more pain. Having the job description of an attorney demands more of the lawyer than he or she can reasonably provide puts lawyers at high risk for burnout. This gap creates the unique attorney burnout and lawyer anxiety you are all too familiar with.