A three-year longitudinal study of nearly 800 NZ lawyers and law students confirmed what the profession has long suspected: the conditions of legal practice in Aotearoa are producing measurably worse mental health outcomes than the conditions in other countries. The drivers are structural. The response needs to be too.
The evidence
1 in 4
NZ lawyers and law students scored in the severe-to-extreme range on the combined DASS for depression, anxiety and stress.
Jarden et al., Life Squared Trust and University of Melbourne, 2024
1.85x
NZ lawyers' DASS stress score compared to US lawyers (9.18 vs 4.97). Higher than international counterparts on every measure.
Jarden et al., 2024
64%
of NZ lawyers said burnout had affected their mental health (up from 55% in 2020).
Perceptive / College of Law NZ wellbeing study, 2022
What it looks like
In Aotearoa the picture is now well-documented: junior lawyers reporting fifteen-hour days, criminal and family practitioners carrying caseloads soaked in vicarious trauma, senior associates burning out before they reach partnership, and partners describing distress they can't raise inside the firm without consequence.
The Jarden study found NZ lawyers in negative work environments scored an average DASS of 28, twice the score of those in positive work environments, and the NZ Law Society's 2023 Workplace Environment Survey found lawyers less likely than in 2018 to feel their stress was appropriately managed. For managing partners, HR directors and General Counsel, the signal is now visible in attrition and in the rising cost of replacing people the profession has spent years training. Wellbeing programmes, EAP and mindfulness sessions can't resolve this. The drivers are structural, and they sit in the work design.
The drivers
The dominant operating model of large and mid-tier firms rewards volume of hours rather than quality of outcomes. Junior lawyers carry the weight, and "always on" availability has become normalised. Massey's national data shows working 55 or more hours a week increases burnout risk by more than four times.
Vicarious trauma is now a defining feature of practice in these areas. The Jarden 2024 research and NZLS 2023 survey both highlight criminal and family practitioners as the most affected groups. Few firms have proper clinical support pathways for the cumulative psychological load this work carries.
Jarden's data is unambiguous: lawyers in "negative" work environments scored a combined DASS of 28, compared to 14 in positive environments. Culture and self-determination are the largest moderators of wellbeing outcomes. The structural problem is not the work, it is how the work is organised.
How we help
3 Big Things works with law firms, in-house legal teams and Crown legal entities across Aotearoa. We hold a contract with the Judiciary and we understand the operating realities of legal practice: billable-hour pressure, partnership economics, trauma exposure in the practice of criminal and family law, the ethical dimensions of duty to client and to court, and the cultural particularities of the profession.
Identify the structural drivers in your firm Psychosocial hazard assessment aligned to ISO 45003 and WorkSafe NZ guidance. Designed for the conditions of a legal workforce, with appropriate confidentiality protections for a workforce trained to be cautious about disclosure.
Equip partners and people leaders for the conversations they need to have Coaching for partners, practice group leads and HR directors on recognising the early signs of burnout in lawyers, having the right conversations, and shifting culture without losing commercial discipline.
Provide registered-psychologist support for lawyers under pressure Confidential clinical support delivered by psychologists who understand the legal profession, its culture, and the distinct stressors of practice areas like criminal, family, immigration and Crown work.
We understand the commercial reality of running a law firm in Aotearoa: utilisation pressure, lock-step partnership models, lateral recruitment, and the difficulty of balancing wellbeing investment against the bottom line. We design our work around them.
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