Lawyer Statistics & Studies

What We Know

We know that the legal profession has a very serious "well-being" problem. Lawyers suffer from emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder (SUD) - Primarily alcohol abuse - at rates far exceeding those found in the general public.

Within the last few years, the profession has taken action to address its pronounced well-being and SUD problems. Momentum is increasing to bring about systemic change, primarily through enforcement emphasis on the ethical duties that lawyers with managerial and supervisory authority in law firms and legal service organizations have to enact and administer efficacious SUD protocols.

The Studies

What we know of lawyer distress and SUD, beyond the anecdotal, is gleaned from the work of a small group of dedicated researchers. Beginning In the mid-1980s, Dr. Andy Benjamin of the University of Washington, and his colleagues, spearheaded three seminal studies conducted in 1986, 1990, and 1995. This work revealed that the disturbingly high rates of emotional distress and SUD exhibited by legal professionals begin to manifest in law school, and continue to remain exceptionally elevated after graduates pass the bar and enter the legal profession.

While other professions, notably the pilots and physicians, implemented efficacious programs to address psychological distress and SUD decades ago, the legal profession has lagged. Benjamin's work essentially sat on the shelf for a quarter-century until 2016, when Patrick Krill, et.al. took up the cause and conducted a landmark study in conjunction with the ABA and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. The findings of this study sparked the ABA to adopt resolutions 105 (2018) and 300A (2021), and create a framework for dealing with the lawyer well-being and SUD crisis.

In May 2021, Krill and colleagues published their findings from a study designed to ascertain the effects of certain legal workplace attributes on producing psychological distress and SUD among practitioners.

Each of these studies is summarized and analyzed below.

It Starts with Law School

The 1986 Benjamin study focused on the role of legal education in producing psychological distress in law students. G. Andrew H. Benjamin, Alfred Kaszniak, Bruce Sales and Stephen B. Shanfield, The Role of Legal Education in Producing Psychological Distress among Law Students and Lawyers, American Bar Foundation Research Journal, Spring, 1986, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring, 1986), pp. 225-252. The authors found that before starting law school students had no appreciable elevation of psychological distress compared to the normative population. However, within just a few months of entering law school, these students began to experience elevated levels of psychological distress at rates far above normal.

The testing in this study measured typical symptoms associated with psychological distress using widely accepted and validated survey modalities. The areas measured consisted of the following:

Somatization - reflects vague physical symptoms not explained by an existing physical disorder or related to side effects of medication, drugs, or alcohol
Obsessive-compulsive - involves thoughts and actions that recur in an un-avoidable or ritualistic manner
interpersonal sensitivity - reflects intrapersonal feelings of inadequacy and inferiority that arise as the subject maladaptively responds to interpersonal relationships depression-focuses on depressive symptoms that are suggestive of a pro-longed, sad state triggered by an overreaction to stressful events
Anxiety - comprises a set of symptoms involving psychomotor tension, autonomic hyperactivity, apprehensive expectation, and hyper-attentiveness.
Hostility - characterizes opposition in feeling, thought, or action to adversive stimuli, with frustration and unexpressed aggression forming the underlying dynamic phobic anxiety focuses, unlike anxiety, on symptoms relating to an intense but unrealistic threat from some specific object or situation
Paranoid ideation - comprises a "mode of thinking" typified by "projection, hostility, suspiciousness, centrality, and fear of loss of autonomy.
Psychoticism - focuses on the extent of social alienation and isolation with extreme ratings possibly signifying loss of contact with reality, hallucinations, or delusions.
Depression - Negative mood affect, characterized by persistent sadness and a lack of interest or pleasure in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities. It can also disturb sleep and appetite; tiredness and poor concentration are common.

The researchers discovered that law students, as a cohort, had elevated levels of psychological disturbance, with 20% to 40% testing above the normative population for the conditions considered. These elevated levels of psychological distress began a few months following enrollment in law school and persisted for the next three years. The authors found no significant relationships between symptom levels and age, undergraduate grade-point average, law school grade-point average, hours devoted to undergraduate studies, hours devoted to law school studies, or bar passage. Any differences due to gender were explainable.

They compared their law student findings with levels of distress measured in medical students. While the medical students showed elevated levels compared to the general population, their rates of psychological distress were much lower than the rates exhibited by law students.

Benjamin, et. al., theorized that a number of factors may cause the increase in psychological distress experienced by law students. Among the potential factors discussed are: 1) Excessive work-loads, especially during the first year; 2) High student to faculty ratios; and 3) Unbalanced development of student interpersonal skills. Law school focuses too much on development of analytical skills and devotes inadequate emphasis on development of interpersonal growth.

The authors recommended further study to analyze those aspects of the law school experience that lead to such high rates of psychological disturbance. Unfortunately, as subsequent studies of lawyers have shown, abnormal levels of psychological distress, and elevated rates of SUD, continue after graduation and manifest in the practice of law.

1990 Study

In 1990, Benjamin and colleagues conducted a subsequent study to assess the prevalence of depression, alcohol abuse, and cocaine abuse among attorneys. G. Andrew H. Benjamin, Elaine J. Darling, Bruce Sales, The Prevalence of Depression, Alcohol Abuse, and Cocaine Abuse Among United States Lawyers, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Vol. 13, (1990) pp. 233-246.

This study involved a random sample of 10% of the Washington State Bar Association membership. The researchers examined the variables cross-sectionally over years of practice. They found that 19% of the lawyers suffered from statistically significant elevated levels of depression, compared to 3% to 9% of the general population. 18% of the attorneys were problem drinkers, compared to 10% of the normative population. Cocaine abuse among lawyers was 1%, substantially below the 3% rate found in the general public.

Percentages of attorneys suffering from depression, problematic drinking, and cocaine abuse. Data was derived from a random sample of practicing Washington attorneys.

1995 Study

Benjamin, et. al. conducted another study in 1995. Connie J. A. Beck, Bruce D. Sales & G. Andrew H. Benjamin, Lawyer Distress: Alcohol-Related Problems and Other Psychological Concerns Among a Sample of Practicing Lawyers, 10 J.L. & Health 1 (1995-1996). This study empirically analyzed the causal connections between the emotive attributes of the "lawyer persona," and elevated rates of psychological distress and SUD among practitioners.

The findings of this research are alarming. While conducted over a quarter of a century ago, the problems revealed have likely not improved with time, but rather, as shown in the 2016 ABA/Hazelden Krill study, the prevalence of psychological distress and SUD in the profession continue, unabated.

The 1995 study measured psychological distress on a number of scales. One of the primary instruments used by the authors was the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). It measures nine specific subscales, including:

Somatization which represents "distress arising from perceptions of bodily dysfunction... [that] have all been demonstrated to have a high association with disorders of a functional etiology, although all may be reflections of true physical disease;
Obsessive-compulsive behavior which "focuses on thoughts, impulses and actions that are experienced as unremitting and irresistible by the individual" and are unwanted;
interpersonal sensitivity which "centers on feelings of personal inadequacy and inferiority, particularly in comparison with others. Self-deprecation, feelings of uneasiness, and marked discomfort during interpersonal interactions are characteristic...;
Depression which represents "[symptoms of dysphoric mood and affect are represented as signs of withdrawal from life interest and lack of motivation. In addition, feelings of hopelessness, [thoughts of suicide], and other cognitive and somatic correlates of depression are included;
Anxiety which represents "general signs such as nervousness and tension . . . panic attacks and feelings of terror. Cognitive components involving feelings of apprehension, and some somatic correlates of anxiety are also included;
Hostility which indicates thoughts, feelings or actions that are characteristic of the negative affect state of anger, and reflects qualities such as aggression, irritability, rage and resentment;
Phobic anxiety which represents "persistent fear response to a specific person, place, object or situation which is characterized as being irrational and disproportionate to the stimulus, and which leads to avoidance or escape behavior;"
Paranoid ideation which represents "paranoid behavior fundamentally as a disordered mode of thinking. The cardinal characteristics of projective thought, hostility, suspiciousness grandiosity, centrality, fear of loss of autonomy and delusions...;"
Social alienation and isolation which represents "a graduated continuum from mild interpersonal alienation (withdrawal, isolation) to dramatic evidence of psychosis (thought-control).

The authors calculated the percentages of attorneys falling two standard deviations from the mean in each of the nine subcategories, which is indicative of a clinically positive diagnosis requiring treatment. The percentages of lawyers, broken out by gender, falling two standard deviations from the mean are presented in the table below.

Percentages of lawyers, differentiated by gender, scoring two standard deviations above the mean of the general population on specific diagnostic measures, indicative of clinically positive psychological pathology requiring treatment. The BSI scales are statistically normed where 5% of the general population falls into a clinically positive category of two standard deviations from the mean.

These findings are shocking. A substantial percentage of lawyers suffer clinically significant psychological distress, far in excess of rates found in the general public, particularly in the forms of interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, social alienation, and depression.

The authors performed a sequential canonical analysis to determine correlations between potential causal emotive states vis-a-vis the elevated subcategories of psychological distress exhibited by attorneys. They found that anger was the one predictive variable for the elevated levels of distress. That anger is the correlative emotion underlying these distress states isn't necessarily surprising. Anger is a foundational component of a wide array of mental suffering, and attorneys live in an environment where anger is the currency of career. An attorney must both confront and engage in anger on a near-constant basis to function in the zero-sum construct and adversarial system that characterizes the practice of law.

Anger is a primal motivator that is closely intertwined with the fight or flight human survival mechanism. Anger can be rational, irrational, or justifiable. It is often turned inward, causing internal distress and dysfunction. Anger can be projected outward as assertiveness, aggression, or hostility, causing interpersonal problems.

Anger is one of the fundamental human response mechanisms to fear, the other reaction being avoidance. Fear makes us feel vulnerable, threatened, and unsafe. We utilize anger to quell our fears and feel better (safe and secure) by forcefully asserting control over threats in our environment. Anger, in proper doses and properly channeled is an essential survival response, but living in prolonged states of heightened, unhealthy anger leads to dysfunctional distress implicating a wide array of psychological diagnoses.

Living in elevated anger causes neuronal brain change, resulting in deficits in short-term memory and judgment. It also has a profound effect on the body. Anger releases hormones, primarily adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. These secretions increase heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, muscle tightness, etc. Living in a prolonged state of anger has been shown to double the risk of cardiovascular disease, and significantly increases the risk of stroke. Anger is strongly linked to a host of other physical ailments.

We tend to become subconsciously habituated to our primary emotive states. It is postulated that attorneys "can't shut off" anger and the other negative affect states we utilize at the office and in court. We bring our anger home, and we take it into our social circles and other areas of our lives. Anger disrupts our interpersonal relationships, causing increased alienation and isolation, leading to more distress, more anger, more isolation, and more dysfunction.

Lawyers receive virtually no "emotional" education or training. The vast majority of legal professionals remain unaware of the deleterious emotional effects imposed by the professional environment. But there are proven protocols and strategies that one can incorporate and practice that quell the negative effects of living in an environment characterized by anger-inducing hostility and aggression. Harnessing appropriate assertiveness and the positive, motivating force of anger, while diminishing its profoundly negative effects is critical for effective advocacy. Unfortunately, the majority of practitioners don't know how to develop and practice healthy emotional regulation.

The Link Between Anger and Alcohol Consumption

The authors of the 1995 study reference the research linking anger to alcohol consumption. Alcohol provides a cathartic means of venting pent-up anger. It also facilitates an escape from distressing emotions rooted in anger. Several other studies, notably with war veterans that have suffered traumatic events, have found a correlation between anger and increased alcohol consumption. It may be that the same mechanisms that motivate the use of alcohol to self-medicate and numb the trauma of battle also apply to lawyers, who spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with conflict, and the anger inherent in a conflict-oriented environment. This paradigm may explain why physicians, who also practice in pressure-filled, detailed-oriented, high-stakes career environments, suffer from psychological distress and SUD at far lower rates than legal professionals. The practice of medicine lacks an inherent conflict orientation, resulting in far less anger, leading to lower rates of distress and SUD.

As expected, Benjamin found substantially elevated levels of alcohol consumption among lawyers in the1995 study. Lawyer's "current" alcohol consumption was indicative of SUD at a rate twice that of the general population (20% compared to 9%). The probability of developing a lifetime drinking problem was an exceptionally shocking finding. The study found that 70% of attorneys will engage in drinking patterns consistent with SUD at some point during their careers, compared to only 14% of the general population.

2016 ABA Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Study

In 2016, Patrick Krill and colleagues, in collaboration with the ABA and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, conducted a study comprising a sample of 14,895 attorneys across 19 states. Krill, Patrick R. JD, LLM; Johnson, Ryan MA; Albert, Linda MSSW. The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys, Journal of Addiction Medicine: January/February 2016 - Volume 10 - Issue 1 - p 46-52. The study generated data on psychological distress and substance use patterns amongst attorneys, with the largest sample size to date. This study did use volunteer sampling methodology, which creates the potential for self-selection bias that could skew study findings.

Psychological Distress Findings - 2016 Study

The 2016 ABA/Hazelden study assessed lawyer psychological well-being in three main categories: Depression, anxiety, and stress. The authors used the 21 item version of the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) survey form as the psychological assessment tool for their study. The DASS-21 has demonstrated reliability and validity.

The DASS-21 findings in the 2016 study showed exceptionally elevated levels of psychological distress. The prior Benjamin, et. al. studies used a different measurement tool, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Both the DASS-21 and BSI are normed to the general population, and while slight variations are expected, they are generally correlative. The BSI measures nine specific subscales; seven are related to "stress" indices, and one scale each that measures depression and anxiety as separate categories. The DASS-21 amalgamates "stress" expressions into a single category. The 2016 study's general population comparative findings are summarized in the table below.

The graph and table above represent the 2016 ABA/Hazelden findings. The "Depression" value is adjusted to omit that portion of the lawyer cohort who tested positive for mild depression. Figures for moderate, severe, and extreme depression found in the study are included and normed to the general population on the same scales, based on studies assessing the prevalence of moderate, severe, and extreme depression in the general population of adults in the U.S.

Substance Use Findings - 2016 Study

Krill and colleagues surveyed their study cohort across a broad spectrum of drugs of misuse. They used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess alcohol use and the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) to ascertain drug abuse patterns. Although a significant number of the lawyer cohort endorsed using substances other than alcohol, a majority failed to complete the full complement of the DAST questionnaire. The lack of sufficient data relative to diagnostically significant drug abuse test criteria prevented the authors from drawing empirically sound conclusions concerning drug abuse, leading them to abandon their inquiry into SUD involving drugs of misuse other than alcohol.

The data breaking out current substance use rates among attorneys, compared to rates for the general public as detailed in the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data set for 2015, are presented in the table below.

The data represent the percentages of lawyers, and American adults, who consume a particular substance on a monthly basis. The data for the general public is derived from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). 2015 NSDUH data was chosen because it is temporally consistent with the data collected for the lawyer survey. The data for both groups are consumption percentages only, and not diagnostically indicative of SUD relative to any particular substance.

Alcohol & Lawyers

The study found positive AUDIT screens indicating hazardous, harmful, and potentially alcohol-dependent drinking in 20.6% of the lawyer cohort. The rate on the same scale in the highly educated workforce is 11.8%. The AUDIT-C subscale, which assesses the quantity of alcohol consumed as diagnostically significant for current SUD, and predictive of future alcohol abuse or dependence, showed lawyer AUDIT-C scales to be twice the level exhibited by physicians. Alcohol is by far the most problematic drug of abuse plaguing the legal profession. Unfortunately, we don't yet have robust data to accurately assess the impact that other substances of misuse may have. The data suggest that attorneys use cocaine at a far lower rate than the general public, but the data from the 2014 ABA survey of lawyer assistance programs indicates that lawyers seek treatment for cocaine addiction through LAPs at the same rate as the general public.

Opioids and Sedatives

Opioid and sedative use rates among lawyers is concerning. The data indicate that legal professionals consume these drugs at a greater level than the rest of the adult population. Potentially troubling trends are emerging. Anecdotal reports from treatment centers indicate a surge in opioid-impaired attorneys seeking treatment. Opioid use among attorneys was found to exceed levels in the general adult population. Opioids are extremely debilitating when one becomes pathologically habituated. They are highly addictive, and addiction to these drugs tends to develop over a relatively short time frame. Opioids are also very deadly because of their high overdose potential. Over the past several years, the opioid/opiate epidemic has claimed more overdose lives annually than the entire number of US service personnel lost throughout the Vietnam War. Also worrisome are early reports indicating a sharp increase in opioid overdose deaths nationally since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ABA/Hazelden study findings were similar to those of the earlier Benjamin studies, with one notable exception. Benjamin, et. al. found that rates of problematic drinking increased with length of time in practice. Krill's data showed the inverse. Younger attorneys are now engaging in problematic drinking at far higher rates than the older cohort, with 28.9% of attorneys practicing less than 10 years testing positive for problematic drinking by AUDIT-C criteria.

This finding paints a disturbing picture for the future. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), unlike some other forms of SUD (opioid use disorder, for example), typically takes many years to manifest as disabling. People often drink heavily through their twenties and thirties and still maintain the ability to function at a high level. Those who progress and develop late-stage alcoholism typically become increasingly dysfunctional in their forties to early fifties. The trend showing younger attorneys drinking far more heavily portends a potentially significant future increase in maladaptive AUD dysfunction as these younger attorneys age and progress further into their legal careers. Moreover, the demographic groups known as the Millennials and Gen-Zers, those now comprising the younger generation of lawyers, experience psychological distress at far higher levels than older generations. Psychological distress is a driver of SUD.

Unless efficacious, systemic measures are implemented, it appears probable that the already crisis-level rates of psychological distress and SUD in the profession will increase into the future.

Opioids - Anecodote

Trends in the Legal Profession

The differences in measurement tools make it somewhat difficult to perform a one-to-one comparison between the study findings detailed above. However, the testing modalities used by both Benjamin et. al, and Krill and colleagues, are normed to the general adult population, enabling a reasonably clear picture of emerging trends.

The elevated rates of depression and problematic drinking were virtually the same in both the Benjamin and Krill studies. The anxiety measures differed significantly between both bodies of work. Benjamin found anxiety at a 25.1% rate, while Krill's anxiety finding was 19.2%. Differences between the measurements in the BSI test used by Benjamin, and the DASS evaluation used by Krill, may explain the variation in anxiety scale findings. It's unclear if the different tools used by both researchers skewed these results, or if the anxiety levels in the legal profession have decreased over the intervening quarter-century. We suspect that the testing modalities, or other factors, explain the different findings. In any event, more study is warranted. The comparisons generally indicate stasis (except as noted), albeit at unacceptably high levels. There are, however, two potentially troubling trends, touched on above.

First, lawyers consume opioids and sedatives at higher rates than the general population. These drugs are highly addictive and tend to lead to disabling, maladaptive behaviors far more quickly than alcohol use disorder (AUD). We're also seeing increasing numbers of lawyers seeking treatment for a primary opioid addiction.

The other troubling trend concerns the high rate of problematic drinking among the younger cohort of attorneys in the 2016 ABA/Hazelden study. This trend shows a direct reversal of Benjamin's findings in the 1990s and indicates a potentially significant future increase in attorneys with AUD as this group of younger lawyers ages. Charts and tables comparing the studies are detailed below.

The data represents percentages of attorneys positive for depression, anxiety, and problematic drinking in the 1990s studies conducted by Andy Benjamin, and in the 2016 Krill - ABA/Hazelden study. Attorneys as a cohort are significantly elevated in all three categories compared to the general public. The researchers used different testing modalities which may account for some portion of the variation. The findings indicate that the legal profession's elevated rates of depression, anxiety, and problematic drinking remain at unacceptably high levels.

Krill, et. al. 2021 Study

In May 2021, Patrick Krill and Justin Anker published their findings of a study consisting of a sample of 2863 California and D.C. lawyers Justin Anker, Patrick R. Krill, Stress, Drink, leave: An examination of gender-specific risk factors for mental health problems and attrition among licensed attorneys. This research aimed to study predictors of stress, substances misuse, and attrition in the legal profession. The potentially causal variables studied were, overcommitment to work, the imbalance between effort and reward, work-family conflict, workplace permissiveness toward alcohol, and prospects for promotion.

The authors used the following tests: Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7); Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C); Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI); Your Workplace Questionnaire; Work-Family Conflict subscale from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire.

The data on attorney alcohol usage, compared to the normative population, showed that lawyers currently drink at far higher rates. The data also revealed that far fewer lawyers have quit drinking compared to the general adult population, while a significantly lower number of attorneys are lifetime abstainers.

Data from 2021 Krill, et. al. study showing percentages of attorneys who are current drinkers, former drinkers, and lifetime abstainers. This data is compared by us to the general adult population. Current user data for the general adult population is derived from the 2020 NSDUH figures for the percentage of the adult population consuming alcohol on a monthly basis. This number was thought to best correlate with attorney current drinking patterns as measured in the 2021 lawyer survey. When consumption of any alcohol over the prior year is the metric, the general population use figure is 61% of the US adult population.

The data is consistent with the prior studies showing substantially elevated levels of alcohol use among attorneys as compared to the general public. The data also reveals a troubling paradigm. While 14% of the general public are "former drinkers" only 7% of attorneys fall into this category. It is reasonably assumed that most who are former drinkers have quit drinking to resolve an AUD problem. The data likely indicates that attorneys are addressing and resolving AUD issues at only half the rate of the US adult population.

The study showed that 30% of the attorneys screened positive on the AUDIT-C scale for high-risk hazardous drinking, yet only 2% of the attorneys in this study had ever received an AUD diagnosis. This finding implicates a substantial under-diagnosis of AUD amongst lawyers, considering the data showing that alcohol problems permeate the profession at rates that far exceed those found in the general adult population. The study found that workplace permissiveness towards alcohol was correlated with elevated risky drinking behavior.

The study also found that a significantly greater proportion of female attorneys than male attorneys engaged in risky drinking (55.9% vs. 46.4%), and hazardous drinking (34.0% vs. 25.4%). The alcohol use gender pattern differences observed in attorneys are the inverse of the same pattern in the general population, where men engage in risky and hazardous drinking at rates far higher than women.

Psychological Findings - 2021 Krill Study

The researchers found that 2 to 4 times the number of younger attorneys reported moderate to high stress compared to the older lawyer cohort. This younger group also exhibits the most disturbing patterns relative to problematic alcohol use. Law schools and legal service employers would be wise to adopt measures to reduce stress levels among students and younger attorneys and implement measures to curb drinking and address SUD.

The study found that heavy workload and overcommitment were strongly correlated with high levels of stress. Heavy workload is part and parcel of the practice of law, but there are strategies, structures and protocols that can be deployed to reduce the harmful effects of these stress inducing elements. Stress is strongly correlated with lower cognitive function, mistakes, and a host of physical maladies.

Another finding concerns attrition. 24.2% of women and 17.4% of men are seriously contemplating leaving the profession due to stress-related variables. Work-family conflict and work overcommitment were the two variables most strongly correlated with attrition. Turnover in the legal profession is much higher than in other professional career fields. According to a 2020 National Association for Law Placement Foundation study, 15 out of 20 law firm associates will leave their firms within six years, amounting to an 18% yearly turnover rate, roughly equivalent to the Krill findings.

Turnover is exceptionally costly for legal services employers. Hiring replacement attorneys often involves paying a recruitment fee. Training is expensive. Significant duplicative work write-offs are a common expense incurred to get a replacement lawyer up to speed. It is estimated that replacing a departing lawyer costs one to one and half times the amount of the departing attorney's salary. Jarrod F. Reich, Capitalizing on Healthy Lawyers: The Business Case for Law Firms to Promote and Prioritize Lawyer Well-Being, 65 Vill. L. Rev. 361, 400 (2020).

Law firms and legal service organizations that reimagine their approach to the well-being of their colleagues by implementing structures and protocols to foster a healthy work environment will gain a distinct and profitable competitive advantage. Not only is turnover dramatically reduced, but productivity soars when people work in environments that foster well-being. See Financial Benefits.

SUD Treatment Statistics - Lawyers

We don't yet have a clear picture of the percentage of attorneys with SUD who get treatment or otherwise achieve SUD remission. The 2016 Krill ABA/Hazelden study found that 6.8% of lawyers surveyed had undergone treatment for alcohol or drug abuse. In their 2021 study, Krill and colleagues found that only 2% of lawyers had received a diagnosis of SUD. There is significant incongruence in these two findings that require further study to explain. In the 2021 survey, 7% of lawyers identified as former drinkers. The reasonable inference is that the majority of this group of former drinkers stopped drinking to resolve an AUD problem. The motivators leading these lawyers to stop drinking and their paths to abstinence are unknown. It seems likely that most of this group found the way to a sober life on their own accord. Studies of the general population show that roughly half of those afflicted resolve their SUD problem without formal treatment or assistance from support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. It is theorized that this cohort has less severe SUD and may lack the stronger genetic propensity to develop later-stage addiction. Whatever the answers to these questions are, we can conclude with a high degree of confidence that the pathways to abstinence in the legal profession are haphazard and lack the efficacy of a systemic approach. Hence, the low rates of SUD resolution among lawyers when contrasted with the high rates of substance abuse in the profession.

The best evidence indicates that AUD rates in the legal profession are somewhere in the low to mid 20 percentage range, about double the rate of the general population. If only 2% to 7% of attorneys are resolving an AUD problem, then the majority of AUD afflicted attorneys continue to practice impaired. The number is unacceptably high, with upwards of 260,000 active, licensed attorneys practicing law with some level of AUD.

As stated above, we don't have a good picture of the impact of other drugs of abuse on the profession. We have data from the ABA lawyer's assistance program (LAP) survey for 2014 (the latest year) that breaks out treatment sought by primary drug of abuse. We have compared that data with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) annual treatment survey for 2014. The comparison comes with caution. It is not statistically vetted and we know that only a small fraction of attorneys utilize LAPs as a pathway to recovery. Still, the comparison does provide some insight into the substances most abused by legal professionals. Not surprisingly, alcohol is the drug most implicated in the legal profession. The comparison table is provided below.

The data for attorneys is from the 2014 ABA survey of lawyers assistance programs (LAP) - Percentages of attorneys seeking treatment through LAPs delineated by primary drug of choice. Data for the general public for those same substances of abuse is from the SAMHSA 2014 Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), which records primary drug of choice for adults in the general population of the US, admitted for SUD treatment in 2014.

The Clarion Call - Reimaging the Practice of Law

The legal profession has a serious well-being problem, rooted in the inherently stressful nature of the practice of law, the business structures that demand overcommitment, and a culture that fosters unhealthy emotions, particularly anger. Dysfunctional self-medicating through aberrant levels of alcohol consumption are not adequately addressed, resulting in extraordinarily high rates of alcoholism.

If the profession is to "recover," it will have to engage, in much the same way an addict must engage in his recovery. The profession must first accept that it has a problem and be willing to do the work to overcome the problem. There will be some pain in doing the work, but growth through necessary change always involves pain. Once the course is charted, and the path defined, incredibly beneficial change begins to occur. This change is gradual, and often imperceptible until suddenly the incredible, positive results of these efforts manifest.

One of the statements I learned in recovery that has stuck with me is this - You don't choose to adopt a program to work to better yourself. You choose between a conscious program and an unconscious program. You are already working a program. We all are working some sort of program. Is it the kind of program that gives us the life we want or the program that gives us the life we just accept?

Legal professionals spend their time and talents mostly working an unconscious program, born of systems that tend to promote unnecessary suffering and dysfunction. There are structures, strategies, and protocols that can elevate us out of our individual and collective subconscious ruts. Those organizations that have adopted and adhere to the conscious business model in the administration of their business have achieved astounding results. Yet this way of doing business is virtually unknown throughout the legal profession.

At least a third of lawyers are either depressed, anxiety-riddled, drunk or a combination of all three. Those firms and legal service organizations that make the effort to consciously address the causal factors leading to these debilitating conditions will not only gain an exceptional business advantage, they will prosper and find fulfillment in ways far more meaningful than the bank account or balance sheet.