Burnout in the News: The Tragic Case of an Overworked Lawyer

Vanessa Ford was a 47 year-old partner at a “big law” firm in the UK when she died last September in an alcohol-fueled event that appears to have been suicide. Prior to the event, she had called a therapist to discuss depression and alcohol use, and she had left a note expressing hopelessness.

According to some of the recent news accounts (like this one and this one), Vanessa was working 18-hours a day on a high-profile deal in the months prior to her death. She was the only woman on the team for that particular deal. Her husband stated that her work was “all-consuming;” she was taking work calls on holidays, and missing out on time with her family.

I can’t speculate about the particulars of what happened to Vanessa prior to her tragic death — I’ve never met her and I don’t have any insider information about her personal struggles. I don’t know the true nature of her suffering, or even whether my assumption — that overwork, stress, and burnout were a big part of the equation — is correct. But I can tell you that, to me, this sad example points to a problem going on in law and many other professions around the world.

Culture of Overwork

Law firms are just one example of a setting where overwork is often the norm and expectation. (Side note: I know there are law firms out there that have a more reasonable workload, and I know that many firms are attempting to address this issue. I also know that this can happen in other professional fields too!) Often, there is an expectation that people will put in long, grueling hours on a regular basis. There is a sense of urgency around client demands. People are expected to forego days off, sleep, holidays, and downtime, in order to get the work done.

In my experience, people rarely want to be doing this. Instead, they feel that they can’t stop working. They are subject to the expectation that they will meet work demands, no matter the cost. They feel they “have to” be responsive to clients, to meet billable hours, to say yes to projects, to achieve partner status, and so on. And if/when they do take a break, the stress and pressure lingers. It’s not as if the work vanishes into thin air while they enjoy a day off. It’s waiting there the next morning, along with the new work that came up while they were gone.

It’s also not the case that some powerful person is sitting there thinking, “Oh, good idea, I’ll overwork everyone past their breaking point!” It’s usually much more subtle and implicit than that. There’s a cultural mindset that you/your team/your organization can never turn down work, even if you don’t have the resources to meet the demand. There’s a sense that everyone does this, it’s just how it works, and we have to too if we want to keep up. We, as a group, buy into the narrative that says we must urgently respond to client requests, always. That we must do whatever it takes to get the job done.

The cost of overwork

These long periods of overwork can take a toll on us. Chronic stress can lead to burnout. Severe, long-lasting burnout is associated with depression, substance abuse, sleep problems, and so on. And in extreme cases, burnout can be a risk factor for suicide. Unfortunately, there have been too many cases in the news like Vanessa. Cases of bright, hard-working people, doing well in fields like law and medicine, whose lives end too soon because of the pressure. We simply aren’t meant to work around the clock in this way.

We need to stop this pattern. It’s not worth the cost. Yes, we need to help individuals like Vanessa who are suffering. But we also need to look at workplace and cultural factors that are complicit in situations like this. We, as a collective, need to change the cultural narrative, and change our expectations around work productivity.

My heart goes out to Vanessa and her family, friends, and colleagues. I hope that talking about her tragic death will serve as a reminder to us all of the importance of addressing the culture of overwork.

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