Attorney Suicide

• Author: Jeena Cho
• Pages: 28-29

I woke up to find these words in an email: “He committed suicide.”

Suicide: the action of killing oneself intentionally. I stood, staring at my iPhone as the word

suicide repeated over and over in my head. There were so many emotions that washed over me

all at once: anger, fear, regret, remorse, grief—and others that I have no words for.

This is the first time I wa s touched by suicide. As

though I was on autopilot, I showered, got dres sed

and went to work. It seemed strange that time

continued to pass and all of my day ’s obligations

still exist ed despite this tragedy.

Later that day, I searched for all the ema ils

we exchanged and read ea ch one. I looked at the

words said and unsaid. I wa nted to find the implied

words; the words I should have heard. I went to Google,

typed in hi s name and read through all 14 pages of

Google results. I re ad through his Facebook posts. I don’t

know exactly what I w as looking for or why I was doing

this, but I did it. I couldn’t escape t he feeling that I must

have missed something. Maybe if I found some clue that

he was reaching out for help, I could go from gr ieving to

being angry at myself.

After Justin d ied, suicide went from an abstract idea to

reality. A few years later, when I fell into a deep depres -

sion, I caught myself think ing about suicide as a way to

escape. Fortunately, with a c ombination of therapy and

medication, it got better.

WHY DO LAWYERS COMMIT SUICIDE?

To fully understand the conundrum of su icide within

the legal profession, it is importa nt to assess factors that

can lead to depression. Law yers are 3.6 times more likely

to suer from depression than nonlaw yers, according to

the American Psychologic al Association. Substance abuse

rates within t he legal profession are also much higher

than for the general population. Cli nical depression and

substance abuse are high ly correlated with suicide rates.

The legal industry ha s the 11th-highest incidence of sui-

cide among professions.

According to Alex Yufik , clinical rehabilita-

tion coordinator for the State Ba r of California’s

Lawyer Assis tance Program, common contribut-

ing factors for lawyer su icide include depression,

anxiety, job stress, u nfulfilled expectat ions and a

perceived sense of failure.

According to Rac hel Fry, a clinical psychologist

in Birmingham, A labama, who often works with law yers,

“Lawyers tend to score h igher in pessimistic thinking,

which often result s in higher success rates and becom-

ing a better lawyer. However, this ty pe of thinking is also

highly correlated w ith depression.” What makes you a

better lawyer c an also predispose you to depression.

Additionally, lawyers are ex pected to work—and be

successful—in adversa rial situations. They have unpre-

dictable schedules, and they of ten lack tools to deal with

stress. All of t his predisposes them to chronic stress a nd/

or depression. Lawyers are a lso expected to be the ulti-

mate problem-solver. Fry says she often hears law yers

say that the expect ation is that they are “a superhero”

with no room for error or humanness. F urthermore, the

mental health stigma of ten discourages identification,

discussions and acc ess to care. Chronic stress and depres -

sion often trigger unhea lthy behaviors such as substance

abuse and personal problems, which ca n sometimes

result in suic ide or suicidal ideations.

WHAT ARE SOME WARNING SIGNS?

According to Fry, the war ning signs of suicide aren’t

always clear. Some individual s outwardly share their sui-

cidal thoughts or plans, whi le others might keep their

intentions secret. The main t hing to look for is changes

in patterns—someone act ing dierently, even if it feels

On

Well-

Being

SHUTTERSTOCK

Attorney

Suicide

What every lawyer

needs to know

By Jeena Cho

Practice

28 || ABA JOURNAL JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019