ABA Survey: Lawyers Are Stressed Out

The survey results indicated that despite the high stress levels, many law firms fail to provide adequate mental health support for their employees.

Survey statistics from a recently released survey conducted by the American Bar Association show that lawyers were stressed out before the onset of COVID-19, and the pandemic has only made things worse. Of course, that’s not surprising since it’s safe to say that the effects of the pandemic have stressed out just about everyone one way or another!

The survey at issue — the Profile of the Profession 2021 — compiles data collected by the ABA from a number of different surveys, most of which were conducted in 2020 and 2021. In the report, you’ll find statistics on a host of issues relating to the legal profession, including lawyer demographics, the pandemic and its impact on the practice of law, lawyers’ perspectives on retirement and the future, and much more.

Because the pandemic continues to impact the legal industry and the lives and practices of lawyers, the data regarding the stress and well-being of legal professionals was of particular interest. We all know that the practice of law can be anxiety-inducing in and of itself, and as you’ll see below, the uncertainties of the pandemic have only served to exacerbate stress levels for attorneys.

Pandemic-Related Stress

First, let’s take a look at how the pandemic has affected the overall well-being of lawyers. The lawyers surveyed were asked whether the pandemic had added to their work stress levels, and more than a third (40%) reported that their overall work-related stress levels had increased.

Notably, and in line with an oft-reported pandemic trend, people of color were disproportionately affected by the pandemic’s impact, with 48% of lawyers of color sharing that work-related stressors had increased.

Similarly, the responses to this question varied significantly between men and women. More than half (52%) of women lawyers shared that their stress levels had increased, whereas only 34 percent of men did so.

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Overall Stress

The disparity between women and men isn’t surprising since the survey results also showed that overall, even before the pandemic, women reported higher stress levels. Specifically, two-thirds of women (67%) reported moderate or severe stress compared with less than half of men (49%). As a result, more women than men felt burned out due to the practice of law, with 24 percent of women sharing that they’d considered leaving the legal profession due to mental health problems, burnout or stress, compared to only 17 percent of men.

The survey results also showed that the pressures of practicing law, some of which are self-imposed, can take their toll and lead to burnout. For example, when lawyers were asked to describe their work week and how they approached time off, the data showed that lawyers rarely cut themselves a break:

  • 38% said they often work long hours
  • 9% said they “never stop working”
  • 25% said they failed to take adequate breaks during the workday
  • 32% said they feel pressure to not take vacation time.

Given those responses, it’s no wonder that lawyers have high levels of burnout. Unfortunately, the survey results indicated that despite the high stress levels, many law firms fail to provide adequate mental health support for their employees. In fact, only a little more than half (56%) of lawyers surveyed agreed that their employers supported their mental health needs. One example of a failure to support lawyers is shown by the fact that only 26 percent of survey respondents reported that their law firm provides information on 12-step programs or other mental health resources.

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Concern Regarding The Return To Work

Last, but not least, as discussed above, the pandemic has only added to lawyers’ stress levels. Most recently, concerns have centered around returning to in-office work.

The future return to the office was a source of conflicting feelings for many of the lawyers surveyed. Lawyers from firms with 250 or more attorneys expressed the most concern about the return to the office. Of those lawyers, 71 percent indicated that they were concerned about safety issues related to being inside an office building during 2021 and 2022. Areas of concern included lack of ventilation and poor security in public spaces. Similar concerns were reported by lawyers from firms with 100 to 249 lawyers, 68 percent of whom were reluctant to return to the office, as were 75 percent of lawyers from firms with 50 to 99 lawyers.

In comparison, solo and small firm lawyers were less concerned. Only 42 percent of solo practitioners were reluctant to return to the office, as were just over half (54%) of lawyers from small firms with 2 to 9 attorneys.

So no matter how you slice and dice the data, lawyers are stressed out. The overall effects of the pandemic have only made things worse for many of them, and the recent uncertainty regarding the return to work isn’t helping matters.

What about you? Are you experiencing pandemic burnout? How do you feel about the return to in-office work?


Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and Director of Business and Community Relations at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.