Darryl Speaker In the News

The rates of addiction and mental-health issues for lawyers are typically 2.5 to 3.5 times the national average.

A 2016 study by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Hazelden Foundation found that 21 per cent of lawyers have a drinking problem; 28 per cent struggle with depression and 19 per cent with anxiety. The ABA has issued a 73-page report on how to improve lawyers’ well-being.

While each case is different, there is certain advice I give to everyone if a lawyer you know is suffering from an addiction. Here is a non-exhaustive list of seven things you can do to help an addict:

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When lawyers face disciplinary action at the Law Society Tribunal, they often assume it’s the end of their career, says Toronto-area personal injury lawyer Darryl Singer.

Such was the case recently with a 45-year old lawyer who called on Singer after learning he was facing disciplinary action at the tribunal, he tells AdvocateDaily.com.

“The daily stress wore him down,” says Singer, principal of Singer Barristers Professional Corporation. “He had financial pressures and developed deep depression, which he tried to cure by self-medicating with alcohol, and that led to mistakes in his practice. He thought his career was over.”

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A recent study by the American Bar Association and the Hazelden Foundation found that lawyers in the U.S. (and all studies done here indicate the numbers correlate with our U.S. counterparts) that approximately one-third of lawyers had a drinking problem, close to 30 per cent struggle with depression, and nearly 20 per cent with anxiety.

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For years, the legal profession turned a blind eye to the reality that racialized lawyers experience challenges that are different than those of non-racialized licensees — but the prevalence of these unique hurdles has finally become an accepted fact, Toronto-area personal injury lawyer Darryl Singer writes in The Lawyer’s Daily.

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Racialized lawyers are more likely to come from moderate or meagre socioeconomic circumstances; are more likely to struggle with the excessively high cost of law school tuition; and are more likely to start their careers in debt. In addition, according to the report, racialized lawyers, may find it more difficult to secure articling positions.

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“As lawyers, we would never allow a court to do to our clients what the law society is doing to its own members. It just defies logic. That test is simply too easy,” says Darryl Singer, a lawyer who defends practitioners in discipline proceedings.

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When the editors of The Lawyer’s Daily gave me the opportunity to write this column I was excited. Monthly I would have the opportunity to continue speaking about wellness issues, something that in our profession is often overlooked. Despite the fact that such issues are not talked about openly within our profession I have found that every article and every talk about my own struggles with addiction and depression, and my success in overcoming the obstacles, have hit a chord.

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If you have been thinking that paying your insurance premiums on time and for decades will get you a payout for the stated value of the insurance policy should you ever need it, I have bad news. What Canadians are really buying when they buy insurance is the right to sue their insurer. Why? Because an insurer’s default position for any claim is: “Denied.”

That’s your first “Aha!” moment.

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The financial and emotional pressures facing law students and recent graduates can be crushing and could lead to problems later in their careers — which is why it is vital for them to have a safe space for difficult conversations about stress and wellness, Toronto-area personal injury lawyer Darryl Singer writes in The Lawyer’s Daily.

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