This was originally posted on the Minnesota State Bar Association’s blog.
This month’s ABA Journal cover story “A Death in the Office” chronicles the life and death of Mark Levy, a prominent and talented appellate lawyer who killed himself after the Washington law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton terminated his employment in a cost-cutting move.
The article and readers’ online comments travel a well-worn path with an oft-repeated but largely irrelevant question: who’s to blame? Levy? The firm? The article suggests Levy was invested in his work, had few outside interests, and was of a generation whose self worth is tied up with work status. It suggested that the firm could have done more to ease its cost-cutting move, perhaps offer Levy an office to use while he searched for a new job.
But the article did not adequately examine a serious issue: why have we not made meaningful progress. The profession, you and me, create the pressures, the expectations, and often the environment where depression and mental health 
issues take root, but are then hidden away. Lawyers are often expected to be perfect, if not for our firms then for our clients. And unlike diabetes or cancer or even a serious bout of the flu, depression is seen as a flaw, a weakness, something that can even disqualify you from being an attorney. So, faced with the thought that revealing a perceived weakness will seriously damage a career, it’s no wonder that lawyers take extreme measures to hide it. From this perspective, it’s not surprising that none of Levy’s colleagues apparently knew about his anguish. He was apparently masterful at keeping it secret. But, we have to admit, he was that way because our profession demands it.
Answer this: would the average lawyer – would you — admit to suffering from depression? Would you seek help from a colleague, file for health insurance coverage through your employer, or confide in a partner or colleague? How would you counsel an attorney if he told you about his difficulties with depression? We generally know what to do when a coworker comes to us and discloses that he or she has been diagnosed with cancer. But we’re not comfortable or clear about counseling those among us who suffer from depression. While resources have become easier to find through groups like Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, have our attitudes about depression kept up with these changes?
Lawyers are smart and talented, but they are human and imperfect. The statistics are clear that we suffer disproportionately from depression. Collectively, then, can we look in the mirror and say, each one of us, that we own this issue – the acceptance of depression as a disease that can be treated?
Posted by Nancy Hupp
Leave a Reply