The Inter­na­tion­al Bar Asso­ci­a­tion (IBA) released its first Glob­al Sur­vey on Men­tal Well­be­ing in the Legal Profession

Man­ag­ing Part­ner, Mary Digiglio was part of the IBA Pres­i­den­tial Task Force on Men­tal Well­be­ing in the Legal Pro­fes­sion, which was charged with report­ing on the state of Men­tal Well­be­ing in the Legal Profession.

Work­ing with the IBA Legal Pol­i­cy & Research Unit team led by Sara Carnegie and George Art­ley, inter­na­tion­al sur­veys were con­duct­ed. A team of experts from every con­ti­nent was assem­bled. This report is the result of those efforts.

With key find­ings, and the rec­om­men­da­tions of exist­ing reports and stud­ies into lawyer well­be­ing from around the world, the IBA Pres­i­den­tial Task Force on Men­tal Well­be­ing in the Legal Pro­fes­sion has cre­at­ed ten (10) men­tal well­be­ing prin­ci­ples on which future efforts by the legal pro­fes­sion to tack­le these issues should be based and guided.

What became clear was the com­plex­i­ty of the issues involved and the men­tal well­be­ing cri­sis the pro­fes­sion is fac­ing. The scope and scale of inter­est in this sub­ject at an inter­na­tion­al lev­el has expand­ed enor­mous­ly since the 2019 IBA AGM – as has the need for a glob­al response.

This report pro­vides a new set of well­be­ing prin­ci­ples – state­ments of uni­ver­sal appli­ca­tion — and also illus­trates unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties to focus on men­tal well­be­ing in the post-Covid era and the groundswell inter­est in this sub­ject worldwide.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.