Mandate: To educate our colleagues about mental health challenges confronting our profession and to de-stigmatize those issues and concerns. The Committee seeks to improve understanding among our colleagues about what mental health challenges and related issues of substance abuse and impairment look like, how they impact individuals and the legal system at large, and how best to respond – including by making it easier and acceptable for affected individuals to seek help without recrimination or stigmatization. Through publication and circulation of available resources, we seek to enable our colleagues to recognize when help might be needed and to provide meaningful support, making it easier for affected individuals to find the help they need.

To that end, the Committee has collected the information gathered on the College’s Mental Health Resources page to provide resources to Fellows.

Committee Resources

Law Firm Mental Health Best Practices

This White Paper provides recommendations for institutional culture changes to enable firms to address the mental health and substance abuse challenges of their lawyers.

Statement of Position on Mental Health Questions for Bar Admission

The College supports the requirement that applicants to the bar should demonstrate good moral character before admission. But the College opposes bar examiners’ questions that require disclosure about mental health diagnosis or treatment untethered to conduct or behavior that the bar examiner would otherwise find worthy of concern.