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Monday 20 June 2011

Personalities

Consumers have a stereotypical image of lawyers as being aggressive perfectionists. Sadly, those same personality traits might be responsible for a high suicide rate among lawyers, says journalist and law school graduate Debra Cassens Weiss in an American Bar Association Journal article titled "Personal Lives: Lawyer Personalities May Contribute to Increased Suicide Risk." She cites studies that indicate that suicide is the third-leading cause of death in the legal profession behind cancer and cardiac troubles. Cassens Weiss also references studies showing that male lawyers between ages 20 and 64 are twice as likely to die from suicide than men in the same age range in other professions. Other researchers found that female lawyers have high divorce rates, and many attorneys say they suffer from anxiety several times a month

“The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make the law free.”
- Henry David Thoreau




21 comments:

  1. It does seem like a stressful job, I can imagine lawyers having it rough sometimes.

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  2. A tragic side effect of a very stressful job.

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  3. Mo money mo problems. lol.

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  4. well, if you're going to be a laywer i wish that you don't have many problems in your work, so you can live longer.. lol :P

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  5. Interesting, and nice quote.

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  6. Looks difficult being a Lawyer.

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  7. It's hard out here for a- oh wait

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  8. sounds like money is the main purpose

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  9. Well, if everyone you met thought you were a lying snake just looking out to use people to make a buck, that might start weighing on you.

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  10. thats probably why most lawyers are balds or graying

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  11. Oh, I didn't know there was such a high number for lawyer suicides. Interesting facts.

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  12. Henry David Thoreau was one wise fellow

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  13. Didn't realize a lot of lawyers committed suicide. I guess with how high strung and stressful the environment can be, it makes sense.

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  14. I'm thinking of going to law school next year. I bookmarked your site so I can read through all your posts and get a first-hand account of what I can expect.

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  15. Lawyers are one of the careers I have with a very strong pre-conceived opinion on what their personality will be like.

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