Being isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact lawyers' mental health, increasing rates of depression.

On the extreme end, depression can lead to more lawyer suicides, said Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program director Chris Ritter.

But it's a coincidence that program just received funding to launch a new suicide-prevention project. Ritter explained that the Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program applied for a $54,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation well before the pandemic hit Texas.

"We are very grateful to be able to focus at a time like this on this issue," Ritter said. "Lawyers have historically been near the top of the list in suicide rates for professionals. In one study, suicide was the third leading cause of death for attorneys, behind heart disease and cancer."

The U.S. Air Force saw a 21% reduction in service members' suicide rate after it launched a suicide-prevention program, said Ritter.

"We are hoping we can have a major impact on the suicide rate," he said. "No matter what the extent we save lives, it's going to be well worth it."

Although $54,000 is on the high end for a grant from the Texas Bar Foundation, the foundation felt it was important to fully fund the suicide prevention program, said Florentino A. Ramirez, chairman of the foundation's board of trustees.

"This program really resonated with us," said Ramirez, president and attorney in Ramirez & Associates in Dallas. "This particular program seemed to focus on educating lawyers across the state on suicide prevention and depression that, I think, we all lack and we need."

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National scope

Suicide is a troubling problem in the legal profession.

Research shows attorneys are near the top of the list of professionals when it comes to suicide rates. Depression is high in the profession. Among 13,000 surveyed attorneys, 46% reported suffering from depression, said a 2016 research study by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs.

In recent years, some people in the legal profession across the nation have worked to launch a conversation about suicide among attorneys.

After Sidley Austin partner Gabe MacConaill of Los Angeles died by suicide in 2018, his widow, Joanna Litt, wrote an open letter that explained her belief that Big Law killed her husband. The American Lawyer named her its 2019 Attorney of the Year for sparking an important conversation about attorney suicide.

Also in 2019, Georgia attorney Eric Lang went public about his own suicide attempt from 2012. He went through treatment and got on medication to manage his mental health diagnosis. Today, Lang speaks to bar groups and others about his experience.

The family of Matthew Benedict, a New York law student who died by suicide in 2019, created a fund to seek donations to raise awareness of mental health issues. Benedict suffered from depression and anxiety for five years after suffering a concussion from playing college football.

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'Stop minding your own business'

Education is a key component of the Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program's new suicide-prevention project, which is called, "Stop Minding Your Own Business: What Every Lawyer and Law Student Must Know about Depression and Suicide."

By educating lawyers and law students about the symptoms of depression and suicidality, and by showing them how to prevent and address those conditions, the assistance program hopes to reduce the number of attorney suicides and increase the well-being of Texas lawyers. The new project will create educational materials in the form of a video and a written tool kit.

Once the risk of COVID-19 transmission has lessened, the program will also include in-person educational sessions, Ritter said.

Ritter urged any attorney who has had thoughts about suicide to know that such thoughts aren't unusual for people under chronic stress.

"The No. 1 thing to do is to tell someone and get connected to a mental health professional because it's very treatable," he said.

The law partners of an attorney who is at risk of suicide also need to take action. Ritter said it's time to stop minding your own business, and instead talk to the colleague who is suicidal.

"Ask the person three questions: Are you okay? Have you thought of suicide? Do you have a plan?" he said. "Contact the suicide prevention hotline, or TLAP, to talk about the circumstances. We can help a colleague to plan how to talk to an attorney about this."

Lone Star State attorneys who need help can call the Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program at 800-343-8527.

Anyone experiencing a suicidal crisis can seek 24/7 help at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

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