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The New Jersey Supreme Court approved a series of recommendations to help support the mental health of attorneys, judges and other members of the legal community.

Published May 8, the framework came from a special committee formed by the court in May 2023. The group was tasked with critically examining specific risks and resources available for dealing with heightened rates of mental health challenges, substance abuse and self-harm.

Chaired by Justice Lee Solomon, the broad-based group aims to identify strategies to address unmet mental health needs, including ones by stakeholders in historically marginalized and underrepresented communities.

The membership includes attorneys in public and private practice, judges and court administrators. Support also comes from the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Public Defender and legal associations, such as the New Jersey State Bar Association, according to the court.

Its establishment stems from a recommendation made in a New Jersey State Bar Association paper on improving attorney well-being.

The March 2023 study showed that attorneys in the Garden State suffer burnout, depression, suicidal thoughts, substance use disorders and anxiety at significantly higher rates than the general working population. Research by bar associations in California, Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia has reached similar conclusions over the past few years.

An opportunity

“The New Jersey Supreme Court has long confronted the well-being challenges faced by practicing attorneys, as often revealed in attorney disciplinary matters,” the judiciary said in a notice announcing the new recommendations. “For decades, the Court has championed support for attorneys in crisis, as well as strategies to assist practitioners in seeking help to avoid crisis situations, as evidenced by its establishment of the New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program (NJ LAP) more than 30 years ago, outreach and education by the Office of Attorney Ethics and the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, and CLE [continuing legal education] programs designed to help attorneys achieve and maintain professional wellness.”

The New Jersey Supreme Court has long confronted the well-being challenges faced by practicing attorneys, as often revealed in attorney disciplinary matters.
– Special committee on mental health

“The issuance of the NJ SBA Task Force report provided an opportunity for the Court to redouble and expand its efforts with additional perspectives from stakeholders throughout the legal community,” the judiciary explained.

According to the judiciary, the committee was asked to explore issues that are “all too commonly presented in proceedings before the court and reinforced by the findings of the NJ SBA Task Force.”

“To the extent that these concerns were broadly acknowledged as incontrovertible, the request to the committee was to move beyond merely describing the problems that confront attorneys and other law professionals, including law students, and instead to also offer proposed strategies to address those problems, both through independent court and judiciary initiatives and through critical collaboration with stakeholders throughout the legal community,” the judiciary said.

Initial recommendations

Following the first year, the court authorized continuation of five efforts developed by the committee:

• Recommendation 1: Assignment judges and other senior judicial leaders should continue and expand conversations about well-being in the legal profession. Opening of the Court Year remarks and similar gatherings with local attorneys, as well as in conversations with judges, law clerks and law students should highlight the topic. At least annually, the committee should update and provide to judicial leaders a toolkit for their use in regular wellness discussions.
• Recommendation 2: The judiciary and other stakeholders should continue to develop and provide continuing legal education (CLE) and other outreach and education programs on wellness topics. To optimize participation, such programs should be offered in various formats, including live virtual, hybrid and in-person programs as well as recorded content. Certain programs – in particular those tailored for individuals in crisis – should be made available free of charge.
• Recommendation 3: The committee should continue to solicit direct input from law professionals through regional, statewide and other targeted listening sessions.
• Recommendation 4: The committee should continue to facilitate access to wellness resources for law professionals, including through a dedicated webpage on the judiciary’s public website.
• Recommendation 5: The committee should continue to focus on ways to connect law professionals with mental health and well-being services, including through insurance options for individuals and firms, benefits available to members of legal associations, resources available to all law professionals through the NJ LAP [New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program] and apps and other online resources.

New areas of focus

Building on the committee’s work during the first year, the court authorized four additional priorities for the group.

Those areas are:

• Drafting a proposed mission statement for ongoing well-being in the law that highlights the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders.
• Continuing to explore possible strategies for an attorney to request a brief adjournment of court dates – or possibly an extension of deadlines – to allow them to seek assistance or otherwise attend to emergent wellness needs.
• Developing a proposal to encourage, and potentially require, attorneys to designate a successor to step in and handle that attorney’s clients and other responsibilities on a temporary basis.
• Considering whether the judiciary should issue a public statement as to its commitment to well being for all law professionals.

The ongoing and new areas of focus are only the beginning, according to the judiciary.

In order to ensure development of effective strategies, the court is seeking suggestions for other ways in which the legal community can foster and sustain well-being.

Written comments may be submitted via email to [email protected]. According the court, the names of individuals who provide feedback will not be subject to public disclosure.

Additional information on the committee is available on njcourts.gov. A copy of the notice regarding the recommendations and input is available here.