Managing Mental Health and Ethics in the Wake of the COVID-19 Crisis

• Author: Pamela A. Bresnahan, Stephanie L. Gardner
• Pages: 28-32

Published in Litigation, Volume 47, Number 4, Summer 2021. © 2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not

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Managing Mental

Health and Ethics

in the Wake of the COVID-19 Crisis

PAMELA A. BRESNAHAN AND STEPHANIE L. GARDNER

Pamela A. Bresnahan, who passed away in March 2021, was a partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, Washington, D.C.,

where Stephanie L. Gardner is an associate.

It has been a year—and then some. The COVID-19 pandemic is

a worldwide crisis that has rippled through all parts of society.

Law has not been immune. As firm offices were forced to shutter

in March 2020, many lawyers pivoted to working remotely full-

time. But keeping work going wasn’t the only challenge.

Perhaps you were unlucky enough to get COVID-19 or knew

someone who did. Or even just had to worry about a potential

exposure? Of course, there were more quotidian worries too.

Who hasn’t had a child or a pet walk into a work call (or seen a

colleague who has)? Or needed to step away from work to help a

kid log on (or stay logged on) to school? Carved out a nook where

one could find a quiet moment? Or dealt with kids and partners

sucking away the bandwidth on your internet connection? Indeed,

who has the bandwidth themselves for all this?

If you haven’t had to deal with these things personally over

the last year, perhaps you’re lucky—though there are certainly

other challenges you faced. On top of it all, attorneys have been

forced to navigate a new landscape of professional and mental

health challenges.

Responding to a crisis can look different from person to person

and law firm to law firm. For some attorneys, the pandemic has

created a surge of anxiety and depression, taking a toll on mental

health. But because an attorney’s ethical obligations remain the

same even in a crisis, changes in routine and environment, coupled

with the stress of a pandemic, won’t be an excuse for ethics viola-

tions. Attorneys have had to adapt to new ways of managing both

their mental health and their ethical responsibilities now that they

are working remotely. Understanding these personal and profes-

sional obligations, and knowing how to help manage both, can be

the key to successfully practicing law during a crisis.

It is no secret that attorneys struggle with mental health

and substance abuse issues. A 2016 study by the American Bar

Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs, con-

ducted in collaboration with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation,

concluded that attorneys experienced significant mental health

distress and problematic drinking consistent with alcohol use

disorders at a higher rate than other professionals. See Patrick R.

Krill, Ryan Johnson & Linda Albert The Prevalence of Substance

Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys,

J. A M., Jan./Feb. 2016. The susceptibility of lawyers

to these mental health and substance abuse issues may be exac-

erbated by the stress and anxiety in dealing with the pandemic

and the disruption that working remotely causes.

The Difficulties of Working from Home

For some attorneys, working from home feels isolating and lonely.

For others, remote work means managing child care and online