Lawyers Grapple with Substance Abuse More than Other Professionals: Study

Joan Williams has seen up close how many attorneys struggle with depression, alcohol abuse and anxiety.

Williams, director of the Center for Worklife Law at the UC Hastings College of Law, said that there are many components contributing to the problems.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm of lots of factors leading to a high level of problems among lawyers,” she said.

The issue is timely because the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs recently released a study that found that 28 percent of licensed, employed attorneys struggle with depression, 20.6 percent qualify as problem drinkers and another 19 percent suffer from ...