The Ethics of Well-being: Psychological Health as the Vanguard for Sociological Change

Abstract

This chapter connects the discourse on lawyer and law student well-being with the critical ethical discourse that argues for systemic change in institutions of legal education and practice. The well-being discourse effectively highlights concerns for the well-being of lawyers and law students, as well as the need for lawyers and law students to look after themselves. Sociological criticism of the well-being literature describes a risk of making lawyers feel solely responsible for their own condition, missing the opportunity to acknowledge institutional duties of care, and to encourage broader and systemic change in the profession. The best chance of institutional change is to encourage it from the bottom up, inspired by fit, informed and courageous lawyers, rather than a top-down process from enlightened management. The challenge for research is to demonstrate the strengths in the well-being focus, especially the importance of meaning, which informs resilience and can be leveraged by individuals to inspire, motivate and organise systemic reform. Significant improvement in organisational structures and functions of the legal profession requires individual lawyers to be fit, psychologically competent, aware, resilient and capable of ethical decisions and organised actions. Show more