“Lawyers are always whining about their workload, but I’ve always worked 80-hour work weeks, and it never did me any harm,” says a balding, graying attorney to a visibly younger man in a comic on CartoonStock.com.
“But you’re only 25,” notes his youthful companion.
This gag likely coaxes a knowing chuckle from the lawyers who read it. While stress affects all people and professions, stress in the legal profession is especially well-documented, says Kristen Jennings Black, Ph.D., an assistant professor at UTC.
“You have to work hard to get there, stay there and move up the ladder,” Black says.
Black, an industrial organizational psychologist who specializes in occupational health psychology, has co-written a survey that seeks to gather data on the impact of stress in the legal profession.
Located at cbastressstudy.questionpro.com, the survey asks members of the Chattanooga Bar Association to share their views on stress, their perceptions of its impact on their health and the characteristics of their work and work environment.
The CBA plans to use the findings from the survey to develop a CLE for its members. The seminar will concentrate on stress management, enhancing personal resources and understanding how to protect one’s health and the health of one’s peers.
While the CBA plans to share the overall results of the survey, it will not release the individual responses, so none of the participants will be identified, the organization says.
Black says the survey should take 15 to 20 minutes to complete and will be available until Feb. 20.
Source: Some information from the Chattanooga Bar Association