THE ADVOCATE 875
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
LAP NOTES
By Michael Khan*
MAKING THE CASE FOR WELL-BEING
One early morning as I was driving to my job at the New Jersey Attorney
General’s Office, I found myself pounding the steering wheel. At home, I
had already hit the snooze button countless times, so the “pounding the
wheel” portion of my morning was the final “wake-up call” that I needed to
do something different. For many of you, your signs of stress and unhappiness
are not as dramatic but no less impactful. You realize at some level that
you need to change something about your work and how you approach selfcare.
Some of you listen but many more ignore the message.
Fortunately, the legal community, often resistant to change, is beginning
to seriously acknowledge the importance of wellness. An increasing number
of jurisdictions in the United States and Canada have a wellness/mental
health/substance abuse CLE requirement or at least allow well-being programs
to satisfy CLE hours. Not only is this important on the human level,
it is also a good idea for more practical reasons. Christopher Newbold, executive
vice president of the Attorneys Liability Protection Society (a provider
of lawyers’ professional liability insurance in the United States), says, “If
lawyers are not taking care of themselves, they generally are more likely to
commit malpractice, and our experience in claims handling supports that”
(Christine Simmons, “Law Firms Face Malpractice Risk Over Substance
Abuse, Poor Mental Health”, New York Journal (28 November 2018)). Looking
at systemic changes is outside the purview of this article, but law firms
must get on board as well. Newbold says that “we’re creating cultures in
law firms that are misaligned with the values of taking care of one another.”
* Michael Kahn, J.D., M.Ed., is a lawyer-counsellor at LAPBC. Before joining LAPBC, he practised law for six years with the
New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and was later assistant director for career services at Tulene University Law School.