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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    May 01, 1997

    Wisconsin Lawyer May 1997: Status of Stress in the Legal Profession

    Status of Stress in the Legal Profession

    By Dennis W. Kozich

    The past 10 years have seen a multitude of articles in both the popular and legal press on the stresses lawyers experience. There also have been serious studies conducted that have attempted to understand what is happening and why.

    The American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section surveyed more than 3,000 lawyers in 1990 and found that "[a] significant number of them were increasingly dissatisfied with their careers. To a great extent, lawyers linked their career dissatisfaction to increased levels of mental and physical stress." 1

    The work of Elwork and Benjamin also concluded "[t]hat lawyers' profession-specific occupational stresses are what causes such high levels of mental illness and substance abuse ... [as well as being] a major contributing factor to physical illnesses such as coronary heart disease." 2

    The earlier findings were again confirmed in an extensive study on this subject reported in the 1995-96 Journal of Law and Health . It stated that "One professional group, lawyers, is particularly subject to psychological distress which can manifest in a variety of counterproductive actions and impairments." The study found that "The data and analyses presented ... manifest a highly alarming fact: a significant percentage of practicing lawyers are experiencing a variety of significant psychological distress symptoms well beyond that experienced by the general population." 3

    Dennis W. Kozich, U.W. 1970, is vice president and general counsel of MetaStar Inc., Madison, and a consultant to WisLAP. He also coordinates WisLAP's Stress Helpline. In addition to his law degree, Kozich holds a Ph.D. in counseling.

    Endnotes

    1 Amiram Elwork, G. Andrew, H. Benjamin, "Lawyers in Distress" in Law In a Therapeutic Key: Developments in Therapeutic Jurisprudence, at 572 (David B. Wexler et al. eds.) (Carolina Academic Press, 1996).

    2 Id., at 578.

    3 Beck, Sales and Benjamin, Lawyer Distress: Alcohol-related Problems and Other Psychological Concerns Among a Sample of Practicing Lawyers, 10 J.L. & Health (1995-96) at 1-2.


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