Edited collection furthering wellness across the legal profession
A new publication co-edited by Judith Marychurch and Kate Fischer Doherty of Melbourne Law School, together with Jacqueline Weinburg from Monash Law, makes an important contribution to the developing understanding of – and strategies to address – wellness across all facets of the legal profession.
The 2024 Wellness for Law Forum at Melbourne Law School marked 15 years since the release of the landmark report Courting the Blues: Attitudes towards depression in Australian law students and lawyers was published in 2009, and five years since the last in person Forum was held. The mental health and wellbeing challenges faced by legal practitioners and law students are no longer the hidden secret they were when Courting the Blues was released.
Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Anne Ferguson (speaking as serving Chief Justice at the time of the event) providing the keynote address at the 2024 Wellness For Law forum.
Since then, significant developments and events have continued to reshape the landscape of legal practice and legal education. Not least among these is the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent return to what has been termed the ‘new normal’. As the Honourable Anne Ferguson, Chief Justice of the Victorian Supreme Court commented in her opening address to the Forum ‘now more than ever, seismic change and uncertainty are part of everyday life. And in that context prioritising wellness is essential’.
The new book Wellness for Law: Reflecting on the past, Shaping the Future, features a rich and diverse selection of work originally presented at the 2024 Wellness for Law Forum. Appropriate to an event that centred wellbeing, the Forum, co-hosted by Melbourne Law School and Monash Law, was marked by collaboration and collegiality. Associate Professor Judith Marychurch is the Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning and Kate Fischer Doherty is Director of Clinics at Melbourne Law School. Jacqueline Weinburg is Director of Clinical Units and Academic Director of Monash Law Clinics. Drawing on their combined expertise and experience the editors have brought together international and Australian perspectives that showcase both the progress achieved to date as well as some of the challenges that remain in embedding wellbeing across the profession.
The edited collection is divided into sections that respond to the organisers’ invitation to reflect on progress to date in wellness for law as well as look forward towards 2030 and beyond. The Forum featured more than 40 concurrent paper presentations and speakers from all facets of the profession, from across Australian and internationally from Canada and the United Kingdom. A contribution from each of the three invited international keynote speakers is included in each of the substantive sections of the book.
Part 1 of Wellness for Law contains an introduction and overview of the collection as well as of some of the other panel presentations at the Forum. The sections, focussing on Wellness for Law: Reflections and Directions; Wellness in Legal Education; and Foundations for a Sustainable Practice of Law reflect the diversity of papers presented at the Forum encompassing a range of legal practice areas and different career stages, and legal education, including clinical legal education.
Part 2 Wellness for Law: Reflections and Directions squarely addresses these structural and systemic ‘big picture’ issues, providing an overview of progress to date and future developments. The importance of focussing on evidence-led and collaborative approaches informed by experience, rather than individual solutions is highlighted.
Focussing on legal education we are invited to consider both the obstacles and opportunities as ‘wellness’ is increasingly mainstreamed. An Australian regulatory perspective on the changing and dynamic landscape of legal education is provided in a discussion of the 2023 report Reimagining the Professional Regulation of Legal Education by Professor Sally Kift and Kana Nakano for the Council of Australian Law Deans.
Part 3 Wellness in Legal Education contains a rich and inspiring range of papers that reflect the ongoing work taking place to understand and support the wellbeing of law students both during their studies and as they enter the profession. Chapters address methodologies for teaching and assessment, including the critical role played by inculcating a climate of trust and community as well as the importance of understanding the needs and perspectives of diverse student cohorts. The link between legal education, wellbeing and ethical and professional behaviour by lawyers is also explored.
Part 4 Foundations for a Sustainable Practice of Law considers perspectives from different areas of practice and across the span of the legal professional lifecycle. The importance of mentorship and connection – as for law students – is shown to be critical for wellbeing, particularly at points of transition. The issues of lawyers’ psychiatric health, and the role and importance of trauma-informed practice are timely and important contributions. This section ends with a call and an encouragement of law firm leadership for change in this space.
The editors hope that the collection will be a lasting record of some of the important work being undertaken to understand and promote wellness across the spectrum of the legal profession in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and that it will inspire further research and new interventions that will together shape the future of wellness in law to 2030.