With one survey accounting for at least 15 suicides by Kentucky lawyers since 2010 — mostly middle-aged white males with extensive legal experience — lawyers in the commonwealth stepped up to help curb an alarming trend of fellow legal professionals taking their own lives.
According to a Kentucky Bar Association official, the incidence of depression for the general population is 10 percent; for lawyers, it’s 40 percent. There’s also a higher rate of alcohol or drug addiction among lawyers.
“Generally, lawyers are very high performers, Type A personalities, perfectionists and performance-driven. They’re at the top of their class in college and then go to law school,” said Yvette Hourigan, executive director of the Kentucky Lawyer Assistance Program.
Hourigan says law students are taught pessimistic thinking, because they must know all of the things that could go wrong in litigation during a trial. They’re doing their job representing clients.
“In law, it’s win or lose. That’s a lot of pressure. They’re in a combative posture, constantly adversarial,” Hourigan said. “This combination creates a state of fight or flight. Chronic anxiety and stress do things to your brain. It creates depression.”
Kentucky lawyers seem particularly at risk. Hourigan calls it the “Bermuda Triangle” or “Perfect Storm” for suicide. In addition, Kentucky is ranked high nationally for incidence of depression and drug and alcohol abuse.
The pressure to succeed begins in law school and only worsens when newly minted lawyers hit the job market.
“When I graduated from law school, most of my classmates found good jobs. That’s not the case anymore,” said Hourigan. “Today, the cost of law school has at least quadrupled. Kids graduate from law school with $140,000 in debt. They will then go to work in a job that will not pay that back. They don’t have the potential to earn that back. It’s just overwhelming, the stress of getting new business. There is such an economic impact.”
Some who can’t join big firms instead hang their own shingles, but they may not be equipped to run their own businesses.
The Kentucky Bar Association is concerned and has responded. For a number of years, a program called Lawyers Helping Lawyers operated to deal primarily with addictions. Today, with depression and suicides becoming more common, a more wide-ranging organization is in place. Kentucky Lawyers Assistance Program (KLAP) wants to help the lawyer who is either crying out for help or who is too afraid to confront their problems.
“We have two full-time staff people working to assist lawyers having drug, alcohol and emotional issues and make them aware of what’s available to help with their problem,” said John Meyers, executive director of the Kentucky Bar Association. He leads a staff of 50 employees and oversees the programs, policies and activities of the KBA.
In recent years, the KBA has reached out to its membership at regular meetings.
“Kentucky is one of the few states whose bar association provides free continuing legal education to its members. In the fall, we will go to nine different locations in the state,” Meyers said.
In 2012, the KBA presented this topic: Awareness of High-Functioning Impairments. The program was an attempt to raise members’ awareness that colleagues may appear to be performing daily tasks sufficiently but there may be emotional issues under the surface. The seminar gave attendees some tools to spot those situations.
In 2013, the program shifted to the topics of depression and suicide.
Is the KBA getting a handle on the issue?
“We hope so,” said Meyers. “We have tried to shine light on the problem and that it is something we all need to talk about. We need to help each other out.”
Hourigan says there has been good news to report on the state of mental health within Kentucky’s legal community. KLAP’s mission to reach out to Kentucky lawyers is making headway. So far, KLAP has addressed more than 7,000 lawyers in the state through KBA lectures and hopefully has reached some of those most in need of help.