Promoting Law Student and Lawyer Well-Being in Australia and Beyond

University can be a psychologically distressing place for students. Empirical studies in Australia and the USA highlight that a large number of law students suffer from psychological distress, when compared to students from other disciplines and members of the general population. This book explores the significant role that legal education can play in the promotion of mental health and well-being in law students, and consequently in the profession. The volume considers the ways in which the problems of psychological distress amongst law students are connected to the way law and legal culture are taught, and articulates curricula and extra-curricula strategies for promoting wellbeing for law students. With contributions from legal academics, legal practitioners and psychologists, the authors discuss the possible causes of psychological distress in the legal community, and potential interventions that may increase psychological well-being. This important book will be of interest to legal academics, law students, members of the legal profession, post-graduate researchers as well as non-law researchers interested in this area.

"Overall, this is an insightful and important edited collection that provides a marker on the long, uneven, challenging but crucial path towards acknowledging and improving well-being in law. Despite its Australian focus, the commonalities with other jurisdictions are clear, giving it global appeal and significance."Dr Emma Jones, Lecturer in Law, The Open University, UK , ‘This authoritative volume demonstrates that legal educators in Australia are far ahead of their American peers in addressing perennial problems in legal education. It also provides lots of good concrete advice on how to promote a more student-centered learning environment within a law school - in Australia or anywhere else.’Kennon M. Sheldon, University of Missouri, USA‘Drawing on an increasingly rich body of multi-disciplinary scholarship, this work delivers a critical quantum leap in thinking and theorising around the dual imperatives of promoting future practitioners’ mental health and proactively addressing the potential for psychological distress. Arguing that we can no longer leave professional mental well-being to chance, this book asks and answers hard questions about our duty in the Academy to do no further harm. The contribution is timely, astute and strongly commended.’Sally Kift, James Cook University, Australia

Rachael Field is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She holds an ALTC Fellowship (2010) for Stimulating Strategic Change in Legal Education to Address High Levels of Psychological Distress in Law Students, focussing on the potential of non-adversarial legal practice to better engage, motivate and support student learning and wellbeing in law. James Duffy is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He researches in the areas of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Non-Adversarial Justice and the Law/Psychology nexus. His teaching excellence has been recognised at the institutional and national level. Dr Colin James is a solicitor and a senior lecturer with the Australian National University. His areas of practice include family law and domestic violence. He teaches in clinical legal education and professional legal training programs and serves on the management committees of law societies and community legal centres. His research areas include emotional intelligence, coaching psychology, professional development, academic integrity, legal history and domestic violence.