Spurred by the pandemic, the legal profession is moving to address the mental health of judges and lawyers, as luminaries such as former Supreme Court Justice Clément Gascon and Ontario Chief Justice George Strathy speak deeply about the issue. Mr Gascon had a known episode of mental illness while on the country’s highest court three years ago, disappearing for several hours and turning up in hospital. At the time she publicly revealed that she had suffered from anxiety and depression for more than 20 years and said she had suffered a panic attack. This spring, in a speech at a mental health summit organized by the Law Society of Ontario, with 5,800 people registered online, he described how the legal world has begun to seek his insight, especially as concerns about mental health prevailed during the pandemic. “In 2022 – not last year, not two years ago, this year – I have so far been asked to speak on this issue by the chief justices of the country, by members of the judiciary, by administrative court judges, by members of the law societies in [Ontario] and two more, from private law firms, from a group of civil service lawyers and from a couple of law schools,” he said. The avalanche of invitations, even from groups of judges, is a sign of change in the legal world. As recently as 2014, when Orlando Da Silva, who suffers from depression, became president of the Ontario Bar Association, no one would be caught dead approaching a counseling information board, he says. “It was so taboo, the stigma was so big,” Mr Da Silva said. Studies since then show that rates of mental illness are much higher in the legal profession than in the general population, Chief Justice Strathy said in a paper posted this spring on the websites of the Court of Appeal, the Law Society of Ontario and the Canada. Judicial Council. A study commissioned in 2015 by the Barreau du Quebec found that 43 percent of lawyers surveyed reported psychological distress. A University of Toronto study found a strong correlation between indicators of depression and fame and money associated with career success in law. To combat stigma and encourage the legal community to open up, Mr. Gascon and Judge Strathy are making their messages personal. Chief Justice Strathy has spoken publicly about his mother’s decades-long battle with bipolar disorder and how he blamed her for not overcoming her illness. Mr Gascon highlighted attitudes towards his wife’s multiple sclerosis. “Yes, he walks in a funny way. Sometimes it falls – badly. No one says to her “Can’t you walk straight?” Why are you falling,” said Mr. Gascon. “Why do we have a different reaction because of mental health issues — ‘Well, why don’t you deal with it and deal with it and move on to something else?’ Physical illness, mental illness, they all have their characteristics. To destigmatize, you have to be able to to create an open dialogue”. Citing his own experience – including five years on the Supreme Court, retiring aged 59 – Mr Gascon said perfectionism can lead to mental health problems. Law “is a profession where you find a lot of high achievers, people who tend to be a bit like me: perfectionists. And perfectionists tend to push the envelope for fear of not being good enough, for fear of disappointment, or for fear of failure sometimes.” Chief Justice Strathy challenges what he sees as the pernicious myth of the gladiator-lawyer: fearless, razor sharp, always in control of their emotions, tireless, never sweating under pressure. “We have internalized the myth that only the invincible are successful,” he said in his paper The Litigator and Mental Health. In trying to achieve the impossible, he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail, lawyers are “under stress that becomes unbearable.” The chief justice, who retires at the end of August aged 74, added: “And frankly, the people they work for – as opposed to working with – put them under ridiculous stress. And it’s gotten even worse in the pandemic.” For example, COVID-19 contributed to the loss of boundaries between work and home, and isolation from friends, family and colleagues, and was itself a significant source of stress and anxiety, she said. These stresses combined with pressure to achieve large amounts of billable hours, no time for leisure or family or catching up, and the need to always be available to clients and employers. Change, he said, must come from the top. He has a number of specific suggestions, especially for large law firms: have a senior lawyer do a confidential audit of partners to make sure they have a fair share of work – not too much, not too much; that they consider targets for billable hours and include coaching and other non-billable activities that deserve to be factored into the target; and that they create a mental health committee with the authority and resources to change company culture. Bay Street has changed, says Emily Atkinson, director of legal learning and professional resources at Torys LLP. Several major companies have shared ideas about how to respond to mental health issues, a process that began after last year’s mental health summit, he said. Most companies monitor workload. Tory uses e-mail delay technology to reduce late-night communications. More people are openly discussing personal challenges and mental health issues. “Part of what I think has been a positive from all of this is that we’re having many, many more of these conversations, and they’re coming much more easily,” he said. “I think it made us all operate differently.” Mr. Da Silva is a wellness mentor at five Canadian law schools: University of British Columbia, University of Ottawa, McGill University, Metropolitan University of Toronto and University of Calgary. Five nights a week, he takes calls from students from six to nine. A common theme is impostor syndrome: feeling like a fraud, undeserving. He says he can relate to this because his depression manifests as feelings of worthlessness. Despite the greater openness since 2014, “There is still a prevailing view that to be a lawyer, especially a trial lawyer, you have to be powerful. And nothing says weakness and vulnerability more to professionals and their clients than the inability to deal with your own depression and anxiety.” As a result, many people remain silent, something he knows from experience: In 2008, he tried to kill himself and didn’t tell anyone until 2014. But he works in the public sector now, in the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. “If I had to attract customers, I don’t know how successful I would be.”
