Lawyer Well-Being

The American Bar Association defines well-being as:

"A continuous process whereby lawyers seek to thrive in each of the following areas: emotional health, occupational pursuits, creative and intellectual endeavors, sense of spirituality or greater purpose in life, physical health, and social connections with lawyers. Lawyer well-being is part of a lawyer's ethical duty of competence."

The last part gets me every time: We have an ethical duty to take care of ourselves. Our ability to provide competent representation to our clients turns on us being well.

To be clear, the ABA adds: "[C]ompetence requires mental, emotional, and physical ability reasonably necessary for the representation."

It is no longer sufficient to grind away at our jobs, servicing clients, defending the underserved, or billing the day away.

We must recognize that to be fully competent, we must be well.

This is a cultural shift. This requires self-reflection and habit change.

None of that is easy and it won't come overnight.

But, it must be done. Our clients deserve it. And so do our colleagues, our friends, and our families.

#lawyerwellbeing #legalissues #culture #law #bestadvice