Biglaw

Former Sidley Partner's Mental Health Struggle Resonates With Attorneys

People share the very real price of a Biglaw career.

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(Image via Getty)

Back in January, Kent Halkett, a former partner at Sidley Austin, wrote a piece for the Tennessee Bar Association urging the profession take mental health seriously, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. It’s a sensitive subject and Halkett’s article’s had a tremendous impact, not just because mental health has historically been verboten, particularly at high-powered law firms, but because of the death by suicide of Sidley partner Gabe MacConaill.

MacConaill was found in the firm’s parking garage with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. After his death, his widow, Joanna Litt, wrote a provocative op-ed titled “Big Law Killed My Husband,” detailing the stress and “maladaptive perfectionism” MacConaill dealt with and it has struck a nerve among lawyers everywhere. When Halkett opened up about his own experience, at the same Biglaw firm no less, it had a cascade effect.

Now the Tennessee Bar Association has shared some of the responses to Halkett’s original piece. In combing through the reactions, a recurring theme jumps out — the legal industry has to reckon with mental health issues. Take a look at some of the reader reactions Halkett’s article has sparked:

  • What brave words. What you said and Gabe’s widow said about the culture of BigLaw totally disregarding mental health and depression is correct.
  • As you point out in your article, lawyer mental health is still taboo and I’m not sure anyone has written about it so nakedly before. We can tell our firms when we need parental leave or medical leave, or even when we have a body ailment. No one feels like we can tell our firm(s) that the pressure of the job is affecting our mental health.   
  • Your article makes me reflect on the harm I actually may have done some unsuspecting associate, and I sincerely hope I have not been even a partial cause of depression or related illness in any of my colleagues. But the truth is, our desire to do things right and spare clients from the slightest oversights exacts a price, and your article wisely asks our colleagues at the bar to reflect on the potential for dire consequences of obsessing over a desire for perfection.

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  • Law in general, and Big Law in particular, has become a VERY hard way to earn a living. The problem you discuss is real, both in the practice’s effect on individuals and especially the culture that views “medical” issues so differently from “mental” issues and you have done a wonderful job explaining that.
  • I am proud of your courage. I am gladdened by your adaption and survival.  I am ashamed that I have been part of firms that generated such outcomes. I got out of big law. Not because it is inherently evil, but because the pain within was becoming oppressive. .. I have had my own issues with depression. You have opened the topic. I pray others will read and begin to deal with it in their lives.
  • This is powerful. Thank you for authentically sharing your experience and insights. It is so critical to emphasize that just as there is no shame in diabetes, there should be no shame in mental illness. Unfortunately, shame becomes a prison that traps many from asking for help. I agree serious change is necessary to create a safe environment within law firms for attorneys to feel safe in asking for help.

Hopefully, this is the first step in Biglaw doing better.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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