Depression: An Occupational Hazard of the Legal Profession

A pre-recorded streaming VIDEO replay of the April 2024 webcast, Depression: An Occupational Hazard of the Legal Profession.

This program, led by Laurie J. Besden, Esq., Executive Director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania, Inc., addresses the alarming prevalence rates of substance use and mental health disorders in legal professionals. People in the legal profession are dying because it is too painful to ask for help. This must stop.

This course dispels the stigma associated with mental health, which is a roadblock to legal professionals reaching out for help. It provides a comprehensive overview of risk factors and symptoms of depression, compelling reasons detailing why attorneys with depression should seek help, and intervention strategies for attorneys with colleagues in need of support. Finally, the presentation outlines the confidential, free, safe, and supportive resources that are available through lawyers’ assistance programs throughout the United States.

• Recognize that lawyers and others who suffer from mental health disorders often do not seek treatment because of the stigma, real or perceived, attached to treatment.
• Identify the prevalence of substance use and/or mental health disorders in the legal profession.
• Appreciate that substance use and mental health disorders are chronic, progressive, and fatal if untreated, though the prognosis for recovery is excellent if help is sought (depression has a treatment success rate of 80%).
• Utilize the confidential, free, safe, and supportive resources that are available through the lawyer’s assistance programs throughout the United States.

Faculty

Laurie J. Besden, Esq.

Laurie Besden is the Executive Director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania, Inc. (LCL PA).  She served as its Deputy Executive Director, overseeing its Helpline operations, serving as primary contact for intervention requests, expanding its law school outreach, and increasing LCL PA’s presence within the organized bench and bar, from 2011-2015.  After becoming LCL PA’s Executive Director in 2015, Laurie continued to serve in most of these capacities and assumed responsibility for the organization’s administrative and financial operations, as well as its judges’ assistance program (Judges Concerned for Judges).

Laurie is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania (1999) and New Jersey (1999).  She practiced law from 1999 through 2001 and 2009-2011 in several capacities including:

• Attorney-at-law (general and criminal practice), East Norriton, PA
• Law Clerk (Pennsylvania Superior Court), Philadelphia, PA
• Law Clerk (Philadelphia Municipal Court), Philadelphia, PA

She received her B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD (1995) and her J. D. from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University (1999).