The Problem

The problems related to the practice of law are the result of the limitations inherent in nonprofit legal organizations. Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” That wisdom led this Library to be designed to overcome the limitations that the current paradigms of
nonprofit legal organizations cannot escape. At present, the legal community simply can’t achieve what this Library does. Lawyer Wellness Library fills in the gaps that lead to lawyer
malaise and benefits the entire legal profession and every stakeholder affected by lawyer
wellness. For an insightful glimpse into the problem and one approach for solving it, here is one professor’s view. Self-Knowledge for
Lawyers: What It Is and Why It Matters (aals.org)

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A Wellness Library for the Legal Community

Lawyer Wellness Library addresses the behaviors that lead to impaired competency which is the bottom-line reason stakeholders are joining the cause. The Library’s financing model generates ample funds to meet the Library’s mission that benefits all stakeholders. The Library creates a
digital collection of curated information helping lawyers improve
emotional and mental health according to their own personal situations. By not charging lawyers for membership to the Lawyer Wellness Library, including their private and secure dashboard, we provide ample goodwill to the stakeholders who are making this Library possible, using
proprietary cutting-edge technology to accomplish our common goals. Don’t take our word for it. Read what an addiction counselor for
California’s Other Bar (an addiction recovery program for lawyers that is independent of the California State Bar) says about the need for this
Library: An Idea Whose Time Has Come – Judging the Law

Providing What's Missing

Lawyer Wellness Library is exactly what is needed to supplement and complement what current legal organizations are desperate to achieve. Disparate stakeholders must work together in order for the benefits to flow freely and abundantly to all, which is at the heart of mutualism. The following analysis will explain how the Library will overcome the limitations of the status quo.

Happenstance

The current paradigm of bar associations involves paid membership. As a result, only lawyers who are members of that specific organization receive any information; moreover, not all members have the time or interest to read what comes from their organizations. Additionally, the key benefits of association membership are networking, CLEs, and Listservs; further, what an association chooses to provide for their members is based on the leadership, which changes annually, and the focus, breadth, and quality of the content shifts, as well. Whether lawyers receive what they need for their unique well-being is entirely a matter of happenstance. The Library believes that the well-being of lawyers should not be based on happenstance. All lawyers (and all law students) should have the same access to wellness information as everyone else.

The Absence of Psychological Safety

All workplaces offer psychological safety to their employees, someone who will hear complaints of an emotional nature without judgment. The legal workplace has no such safety. Under every state’s Rules of Professional Conduct, the client’s interests are paramount and no firm of lawyers can give one of their ranks an accommodation to ease emotional distress or anxiety if the client’s interests will suffer. Hence, there’s no way for legal employers to provide traditional psychological safety. It stands to reason lawyers are loath to reveal their anxiety, worries, or concerns to other attorneys in the firm.

Stigma forces attorneys to conceal their fears, anxiety, and worries. The ABA’s Toolkit for Legal Employers addresses the need for Psychological Safety in a Healthy Workplace but does not offer a way to achieve it. The Lawyer Wellness Library gives lawyers a safe and private place, independent of their employment, to locate their own personally customized way to relieve stressful working conditions. Employers in the legal profession say yes to the Library because ultimately it is not their job to fill this void even if they could, which they can’t.

Need for Mentoring

New lawyers are woefully unprepared to practice law. The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) confirms in a recent study, that newly licensed lawyers lack many of the minimum skills of competency. Here’s a short blog that summarizes the disturbing results of the study: IAALS Study Reveals the Building Blocks of Minimum Competence, Recommends Changes to Bar Exam and Lawyer Licensing | IAALS (du.edu), and the full 108-page report is here: building_a_better_bar.pdf (du.edu))

To help fill this void, the Library’s dashboard includes an 8-hour Audio Course full of invaluable lessons on competency, including hundreds of things that new lawyers should think about, whether on their own or working for a firm. The value of this course is at least $799.00 and it is free with every dashboard. A list of the topics of those eight hours is available to view at Content Titles Of the 8-Hour Audio-Course for Beginning Lawyers “How to Deal with Clients and Still Enjoy Practicing Law” – Judging the Law

Providing What Law Schools Can’t

We must conclude from the comprehensive IAALS study that law school graduates are gaining JD degrees and licenses to practice law without all the basic skill-sets required for minimum competency. Lawyer Wellness Library increases the kind and amount of help we give new lawyers who are groping in the dark as they grapple for success. New lawyers are feeling lost and incompetent, and now we know the proven truth: They are. The Library is the place where new lawyers learn they are not alone; videos and articles and podcasts from seasoned lawyers provide the mentoring they missed in law school, and give them the tools that weren’t part of their JD degree.

Bias In the Workplace

Bar associations, including the ABA, routinely and unanimously support the idea of improving diversity and inclusion. Law firm and association websites also tout their commitment to principles of equality in their treatment of lawyers as members of a firm or an organization. However, evidence of equality in the hiring, assignment, and promotion practices of law firms leave a lot to be desired. The legal community is full of associations representing lawyers in marginalized groups, yet the positions they take on behalf of the problems encountered by their members are rarely spread beyond the boundaries of the association. The Library invites associations representing diverse groups of lawyers to share their articles and ideas so that we can dialogue across the divide to promote better understanding among colleagues. The Library is a place where lawyers can find others who feel as they do, and a place where we can find information to help us become better at treating other lawyers based on their legal talents and nothing else.

Liability to Law Firms

The day is coming when there will be a civil right of action against a law firm for failure to do what’s possible to help their lawyers address unhealthy behaviors that cause impairment. California’s State Bar recently issued an ethics opinion noting that all attorneys in a firm owe a duty to the client to take steps if they are aware of mental impairment on the part of a lawyer handling the client’s matter. CAL 2021-206 Colleague Impairment

Many law firms have signed the ABA Pledge, which promises they will abide by seven important things they can do to promote the well-being of their lawyers. Four of the seven points of the Pledge favor supporting this Library (Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 6), which provides a comprehensive source of wellness information that nothing else provides. ABA Well-Being Pledge and Campaign Seven Step Framework (americanbar.org)

Lawyers’ Mutual Insurance Company of California has already contracted with the Library to give it to all of their insureds as a
benefit of coverage. Lawyers’ Mutual Insurance Co. – California Attorney Malpractice Insurance (lawyersmutual.com)

The Digital Solution

The Lawyer Wellness Library uses a proprietary patent-pending content management system to integrate the latest and best information to lawyers and law students to provide solutions to the problem of lawyer unwellness and its associated competency issues that currently plague our legal system.