Personal Management
COVID-19 UPDATE: Lawyers seeking supports to address personal management in the context of COVID-19 should consult the Law Society’s Frequently Asked Practice Management Questions regarding COVID-19.
The Guideline is not intended to replace a lawyer's professional judgment or to establish a one-size-fits-all approach to the practice of law. Subject to Guideline provisions that incorporate legal, By-Law or Rules of Professional Conduct ("Rules") requirements, a decision not to follow the Guideline will not, in and of itself, indicate that a lawyer has failed to provide quality service. Conversely, use of the Guideline may not ensure that a lawyer has delivered quality service. Whether a lawyer has provided quality service will depend upon the circumstances of each case.
i CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness in the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017).
ii Law Society of Upper Canada, Mental Health Strategy Task Force Final Report to Convocation (Toronto: LSUC, 28 April 2016) at 9.
iii Taken from D. Kozich, “Stress: What Is It?”, in J. Tamminen, ed., Living With the Law, Strategies to Avoid Burnout and Create Balance (Chicago: American Bar Association, 1997) 1 at 2; and M.E.P. Seligman, “Why are Lawyers so Unhappy?” from Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment (New York: Atria, 2004).
iv List taken in part from S. Gilmore, “Balance or Burnout: Which Way are You Headed?”, in J. Simmons, ed., Life, Law and the Pursuit of Balance (U.S.A.: Maricopa County Bar Association, 1997) 16; and CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness for the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017).
v CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness in the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017).
vi Ibid.
vii World Health Organization, Mental health: strengthening our response (March 2018).
viii CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness in the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017).
ix CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness in the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017) and J. Cho, 5 ways mindfulness helps lawyers (August 20, 2014).
x Thomas Telfer G.W. “The Wellness Doctrine for Law Students & Young Lawyers, by Jerome Doraisamy” (2017) 54(2) OHLJ 645.
xi Law Society of Upper Canada, Mental Health Strategy Task Force Final Report to Convocation (Toronto: LSUC, 28 April 2016) at 9, and Laura Rothstein, “Law Students and Lawyers with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Problems: Protecting the Public and the Individual” (2008) 69 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 531 at 533.
xii CBA Wellness, “Mental Health and Wellness in the Legal Profession” (CPD: MDcme.ca, 2017), and M. Seto, “Killing Ourselves: Depression as an Institutional Workplace and Professionalism Problem” (2012) 2:2 UWOJ Leg. Stud. 5.
Last updated: February 23, 2022