NZLS chief exec Katie Rusbatch was on the panel hosted by Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey
The New Zealand Law Society teamed up with the Life Squared Trust on a discussion about mental health in the country’s legal profession this week.
Law Society Chief Executive Katie Rusbatch was on the panel hosted by Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey, as were Buddle Findlay partner Susan Rowe, Kāhui Legal partner Lynell Tuffery Huria and clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire.
“We see these issues regularly and internationally all jurisdictions are grappling with them”, Rusbatch said of lawyer wellbeing concerns. “The complaints regime is disciplinary focussed, and we would like more tools to be able to respond to wellbeing issues that come to us through the complaints system”.
Rowe talked about her personal battle with clinical depression and urged those with mental health concerns to trust others and open up about their struggles, demystifying discussions of mental health in the workplace.
“It is an invisible illness – it’s not like having a broken leg – so it can be really isolating. You don’t know who around you is experiencing issues. It’s important just ask how someone is”, she said.
Huria focused on the pressure faced by Māori lawyers, especially those representing their iwi, hapu or whanau.
“Young people are also facing other challenges, such as living through the Covid pandemic, that we had not had to face. Events can come out of left field and as a profession we can’t always control these situations”, she said.
Maguire pointed out that lawyers and law students in New Zealand reported increased depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological distress compared to their peers in other professions. She stressed that these issues needed to be tackled systematically.
According to the Law Society-commissioned independent review released in 2023, the profession needed more tools to address lawyer wellbeing. Rusbatch explained that the Law Society was addressing these concerns to the best of its ability despite restrictions from regulatory legislation, including working with universities and holding conferences for new lawyers.
She highlighted the lack of entity regulation in the country – something she said was present in other common law jurisdictions and “provides a framework to move the focus away from individuals to organisational culture”.
The Law Society also identified cognitive decline as an issue.
“We are working on an education programme that we hope will support people to come forward with concerns they may have about colleagues or friends who continue to practise despite experiencing cognitive decline”, Rusbatch said. “It helps to identify the right person to listen and support someone to reassure them that it is fine for them to wind up their practice”.
She added that applicants completing certificates of character applications and annual declarations ought to speak up about mental health challenges they were experiencing.
“We have support that can be put in place including from our branch and section managers and from other lawyers”, Rusbatch said.
