Cover Story | Mental Health
NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE 1-800-273-8255
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We need to move beyond the notion that those who die by suicide ‘couldn’t handle’ the stress of law practice.
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MONTANA HELPLINE 1-888-385-9119 1-406-660-1181 Page 16
SUICID
Montanans, lawyers By Virginia Bryan If you do an internet search on lawyers and suicide, you’ll be surprised and saddened by the stories that pop up. A Washington, D.C. lawyer who presented several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court died by suicide after receiving a layoff notice from his firm.1 A Texas plaintiff’s lawyer died by suicide after his symptoms of depression weren’t recognized during a hospital stay.2 In early 2012, a Fargo, North Dakota criminal defense attorney died from suicide at a highway rest stop.3 Just after returning to work following maternity leave, a London lawyer drowned in the River Thames. The coroner ruled it a suicide.4 It’s interesting to me that lawyer suicides are considered so newsworthy. Something about how we work makes others want to read about how we die. If you think that as a Montana lawyer you are immune from suicide, think again. Both our profession and our location put us at high risk. In 2007, Montana had the second highest number of suicides in the nation. Montana has consistently been among the states with the highest rates of suicide for decades.5 Suicide is a leading cause of premature death among lawyers.6 The same study that put lawyers at the top of the list among professionals for depression puts them at the top of the list for suicide.7 Lawyer deaths by suicide are six times higher than in the general population. Suicide is the third leading cause of lawyer death after heart disease and cancer.8 Suicide is increasing nationwide; some say it’s an epidemic among lawyers.9 A Campbell University study revealed that 11% of North Carolina lawyers think about suicide every month.10 Male lawyers have twice the suicide risk of the general population. Risks increase for male lawyers between 48 and 65.11
A haunting death When I was a young lawyer in Billings in the early 1980s, a local lawyer died by suicide. I am still haunted by his death. “Did you hear what happened?” A colleague stepped into my downtown law office on a cold January weekend afternoon. June/July 2012