ABA Toolkit

INTRODUCTION

Stress, depression, anxiety, chemical dependency, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions and impairments among law students are problems that continue to spark a national dialogue among faculty, administrators, and students. While students enter law school suffering from clinical stress and depression at a rate that mirrors the national average, the rate sharply increases during the first year of law school. Through the duration of their legal education, the rates of law students grappling with substance abuse and mental health problems increase dramatically. If unrecognized and untreated, these issues can carry into their professional careers.

Consider the following from the 2014 Survey of Law Student Well-Being:
- 89.6% of respondents have had a drink of alcohol in the last 30 days.
- 21.6% reported binge drinking at least twice in the past two weeks.
- 20.4% have thought seriously about suicide sometime in their life.
- 6.3% have thought seriously about suicide in the last 12 months.