Sustaining Success: Summer Wellness Strategies for Busy Lawyers 36

• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 4 Pg. 36
• Year: 2025
• Pages: 36

Sustaining Success: Summer Wellness Strategies for Busy Lawyers 36 Vol. 38 No. 4 Pg. 36 Utah Bar Journal July, 2025

Lawyer Well-Being

by Dr. Matt Thiese

Most lawyers do not need a reminder that the profession is mentally and physically taxing. The pressure to deliver, the constant stream of deadlines, and the ingrained culture of overextension are all too familiar. Summer rarely brings the pause it promises, as client needs and billing demands continue without interruption. Still, this season offers a distinct window, not for escape, but for intentional recalibration.

With even modest changes to routine, attorneys and their support staff can reinforce their well-being and sharpen their performance without stepping away from their professional obligations. Mounting evidence indicates that the legal profession is in the midst of a mental health crisis.

As one article reports, a 2024 survey by the American Bar Association reported that 75% of associates experienced burnout and 60% noted a decline in their mental health over the past year. Travis Whitsitt, The Evolving Role of Mental Health in Legal Recru iting: How Firms Are Addressing Burnout and Well-Being, Vault, https://vault.com/blogp/ vaults-law-blog-legal-careers-and-industry-news/the-evolving-role-of-mental-health-in-legal-recruiting-how-fimis-are-addressing-bumout-and-well-being (Feb. 20, 2025). These findings underscore the persistent mental health challenges facing the legal profession and highlight the continued need for systemic reform in work culture and expectations.

Burnout and chronic stress were pervasive across all experience levels. Here in Utah, a pre-pandemic study found that 17.5% of lawyers had symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder or MDD. Matthew Thiese et al., Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation Among Lawyers and Other Law Professionals, 63 J. Occup. & Env't Med. 381, 381-86 (2021). MDD is a serious and common mental health condition that affects how a person feels, thinks, and functions in daily life.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), MDD is:

• characterized by a period of at least two weeks during which a person experiences a depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in most activities.

• accompanied by other symptoms, including:

- significant weight loss or gain, or changes in appetite

- insomnia or hypersomnia (sleep disturbances)

- fatigue or loss of energy

- feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt

- difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions

- recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

Am. Psychiatric Assoc., Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Ed. 2013). To meet the criteria for MDD, these symptoms must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning and cannot be attributed to substances or another medical condition. Left unaddressed, MDD can impair decision-making, interpersonal relationships, and even ethical...