MORELAND: Addressing suicide in the legal profession

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. In an emergency, dial 911 or speak with a professional on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988. Lawyers and law students also have free, confidential counseling through MOLAP. Learn more at MoBar.org/MOLAP.

Over the last several years, I have had the honor of working with The Missouri Bar through the Lawyers Living Well Special Committee (which has now evolved into the Standing Committee on Well-being in the Profession) on initiatives which seek to provide awareness, education, and stigma reduction as it relates to our profession and issues surrounding mental illness, substance abuse, and overall lawyer well-being. 

One aspect I frequently reflect on in relation to my work with the bar on these initiatives is how deeply personal all of this is to me. For much of my time as an attorney, I have been very vocal about my own mental health struggles, particularly with depression and anxiety. I have publicly shared my experiences with taking medication, seeking therapy and, in 2023, undergoing electroconvulsive therapy for treatment of my depression. My hope has always been that my willingness to be vulnerable will help others feel less alone and more encouraged to seek help. 

People are often uncomfortable with discussing mental health and, more specifically, mental illness. There is an overwhelming amount of stigma attached to this subject, and also alarming disregard for it, particularly in this profession. But sometimes sitting with and examining our discomfort brings understanding and a shift in perspective, perhaps even growth. 

And so, in the spirit of dismantling this wall of stigma and avoidance in pursuit of awareness and true buy-in from all members of our profession, I write this letter to — from a place of great care — make everyone a little uncomfortable. I want to discuss suicide. 

In the March-April 2025 issue of the Journal of The Missouri Bar, President Shelly Dreyer cited a statistic from the American Bar Association National Task Force for Lawyer Well-Being stating that 11% of lawyers have considered death by suicide.¹ It is important to note that suicidal ideation, defined by the Cleveland Clinic as “think[ing] about, consider[ing], or feel[ing] preoccupied with the idea of death and suicide” can be “active” or “passive,” with active ideation entailing a plan of action to harm oneself and passive ideation lacking a plan to self-harm, but still including thoughts of such.² 

There are many factors, all of which depend on the individual, that may cause a person to suffer from suicidal ideation, attempt suicide, or, in the worst-case scenario, complete an attempt. But as President Dreyer noted in her article, lawyers suffer from struggles with their mental health and substance abuse at rates which far exceed those of the general population. The Cleveland Clinic confirms that underlying mental health conditions and substance use disorders can cause suicidal ideation and additionally cites risk factors such as stress and interpersonal relationships. 

It is no secret that our profession often entails high-pressure, stressful situations, and interpersonal relationships that are inherently oppositional due to the nature of our work. However, what does it say about our profession that so many lawyers suffer mentally (many in silence) and that 11% of us have considered ending our lives (plan in place or not)? What is it about the practice of law that drives so many attorneys to feel there is no path through, only out? 

If you were to ask some members of this profession, their answer would be that lawyers who suffer from mental illness simply are not built for this profession. They are too mentally weak or lazy or thin-skinned to handle the pressures of the job. They need to toughen up, work harder, and leave their feelings out of it. And if they ultimately cannot handle said pressures? Well, that is on them. 

If you ask me (and many others), people who express these kinds of sentiments in response to the very real, critical, and widespread struggles of their peers are part of the problem. This type of messaging only furthers stigma, pushes people into silent suffering, and creates work environments ripe for toxic, abusive behavior which ultimately is dismissed and excused as simply being part of the job. 

As someone who has previously in my career been subjected to such behavior and suffered greatly for it mentally — including grappling with suicidal ideation — let me make this clear: There is no profession or work environment on this planet that should foster the belief that suffering is to be expected and complaining about it makes one weak. 

While it is true that we cannot effectively serve our clients if we are not mentally well, the most important part in all of this has nothing to do with how successful we are at our jobs. The most crucial part is that we cannot afford to lose one more member of our profession because they feel they do not deserve to be alive. 

And the ugly parts of our profession — the toxic work environments, abusive behavior, expectation that we operate as robots for the sake of the job — not only should not exist, but should never be a contributing factor to whether one of our peers contemplates, attempts, or completes an act of self-harm. 

We must sit with the uncomfortable knowledge that aspects of our profession are harming us, and we must stop viewing this issue as one’s personal problem and start seeing it for what it is: an indictment of the negative ways in which we operate as a profession. We must continue to dismantle the system of stigma and silence by which we operate and shine light on the importance of not just the well-being of the lawyer, but of the person. 

Simply put, we must learn to better care for and about one another. We cannot lose one more person.

Tara Moreland 
Kansas City

Endnotes 

1 If you are in an emergency situation, call 911 or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. 

2 Suicidal Ideation (Suicidal Thoughts), CLEVELAND CLINIC, July 23, 2024, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/suicidal-ideation.