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OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS OF THE LEGAL FIELD: SUICIDE

This week’s blog is going to get deep and a bit personal as we address the topic of suicide.

Back-to-back the world saw two American icons, Anthony Bourdain and Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan, known professionally as Kate Spade and Kate Valentine, succumb to the perils of suicide. This blog is not going to be a reflection of their accomplishments and it will not be light on this subject. You have been forewarned.

Their Family & Friends Are Suffering

Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain were most certainly found in their own feces and urine by people who loved them. Their loved ones who found them will likely never be able to escape that final image of seeing the ugliness that is death and rigor mortis.

Suicide rates typically see a spike after famous suicides, such as Marilyn Monroe and Robin Williams. Conscientious journalism understands that although we may be inclined to reflect on that person’s accomplishments, it is more timely to give a more accurate report of the stark reality of what suicide does and who it affects.

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Suicide Is A Legal Field Issue

Suicide is not a topic on the Paralegal Power Blog because it is a trending issue, given these popular deaths. Suicide is a topic on this blog because it is a legal field issue.

Any attentive entity reporting to the legal community will inevitably address the issue of suicide. A quick search of the Internet will result in numerous articles regarding suicide in the legal field that cover the gamete from law school, to solo firms, to large mergers, and everything in between.

Suicide Knows No Boundaries

Having said that, let’s tackle this issue by first agreeing that it is a real issue that really affects people of all walks of life. Yet most of us in the legal field feel it may be affecting our field at a disproportionate rate.

Dr. John Dolores, CEO of Valley Recovery Center of California, who wrote an article on the subject for Wyoming Lawyer, says there is no definite proof suicide is more prevalent among lawyers due to a lack of research regarding the correlation.

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However, he does say that a person is more likely to commit suicide if they have:

Access to a firearm
Previously attempted suicide
Been diagnosed with severe depression,
Low levels of serotonin
Low levels of 5 HIAA (which is the chemical that is metabolized from serotonin),
No social support

And are:

Between the ages of 25 and 44
Female
Caucasian
Divorced
Narcissistic
A Perfectionist

Pat Dalen Was Truly A Great Advocate

I lost the first attorney I ever worked with and one of my good friends, Pat Dalen, due to suicide. He was Caucasian, a perfectionist and between the ages of 25 and 44.

How was I to know his serotonin levels were not well? I didn’t know until after he passed that he was battling depression. He moved to Omaha from Western Nebraska to make it big as a private attorney with his own firm. Worse case scenario, he was going to take court-appointed juvenile cases until he established a good reputation.

Well, overhead for small firms is really almost impossible for a young attorney to maintain. An attorney has to touch no less than 20 files to cover the yearly cost of malpractice insurance alone in most scenarios.

So the first thing to go when cutting expenses, were his monthly prescriptions. His parents went on to fight for affordable healthcare after his passing because of this.

I had missed a call from his area code in the middle of the night the night he did it. I called the number back the next morning and no answer. I never really knew if it was him or not.

I never really wanted to confirm, because honestly, I knew it was him. I am sure he did reach out to me.

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Since then I have had two friends in the legal field reach out to me when they admitted themselves into the hospital instead of committing suicide. They came to me to talk and just wanted a nonjudgmental shoulder to cry on in this field of so many high expectations.

I struggled with that more than I expected. I felt guilty. I was his social support and I wasn’t there when he needed me.

A few months after his death, I got a call from someone at the Social Security Administration’s office looking for him. She was trying to find him to offer him a job. It was literally maybe six weeks after his death. I was frank with her about his death. She and I both lamented in the fact that if he had just held on a couple of more months, everything would have been ok.

In my office, I have a small picture of the Golden Gate bridge that I ripped out of a calendar posted with a note to myself to “Never give up.” That bridge is a symbol of suicide to me, as so many have chosen to take their lives by jumping from it. And sometimes we all need to be reminded to never give up, well at least I do.

For more on this subject visit the National Suicide Prevention Hotline webpage. The hotline’s number is 1-800-273-8255 or contact your local LAP if you are an attorney.

This post was proofread by Grammarly.

BE AN ANTI-RACIST 1. Constantly self-reflect
2. Acknowledge the racist ideas you have consumed.
3. Know the definitions of racism and anti-racism.
4. Call out systemic racism.
5. Hold those in positions of power to improve our systems and institutions accountable to make equitable changes.