Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Julie-Anne Kincade: Law Association Vice President on NZ lawyers and law students are the unhappiest professionals globally

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Julie-Anne Kincade: Law Association Vice President on NZ lawyers and law students are the unhappiest professionals globally · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New research this morning has revealed New Zealand lawyers and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: law students are the unhappiest professionals globally. A survey with
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  Speaker 1: nearly eight hundred lawyers and law students was conducted over
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  Speaker 1: three years and found compared to international lawyers and other professions,
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  Speaker 1: ours had worse mental health outcomes, with higher distress and
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  Speaker 1: lower overall well being. Julianne Kincaid Case is the Law
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  Speaker 1: Association vice president. She's with me this morning. Juliane, good morning,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, why so depressed?
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  Speaker 2: Its study was really very surprising to me, and it
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  Speaker 2: is terrible to see it. I have had some preliminary thoughts.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously we haven't had that long. Was it just yet?
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  Speaker 2: I do wonder about the sample sizes. So although it's
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  Speaker 2: over eight hundreds over three years, and there are over
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  Speaker 2: ten thousand lawyers in New Zealands, so it is a
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  Speaker 2: relatively small sample size. But clearly we all will need
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  Speaker 2: to read this and think carefully about the findings.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, plus, you guys have paid a lot
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  Speaker 1: of money, aren't you. What's their mind about?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's a controversial topic all sorts of different lawyers.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a criminal lawyer and we work on legal aid rights,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of lawyers do pro bono. Look, at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the day, being a lawyer is a
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  Speaker 2: very high stress job. We have a lot of pressure.
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  Speaker 2: We take our cases very seriously, and people are in
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  Speaker 2: very difficult situations. Most people don't need a lawyer if
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  Speaker 2: their lives are going swimmingly. You need lawyers at times
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  Speaker 2: of high stress in your own life, whether that's a
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  Speaker 2: family situation, child trusty issues, criminal matters, or contractual and
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  Speaker 2: employment dicies. Most people need lawyers when they are in
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  Speaker 2: a pickle, and so we deal with very difficult and
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  Speaker 2: stressful situations. I think we also need to look at
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  Speaker 2: our workplaces as well though, about the pressure that we
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  Speaker 2: might put on people within our workplace. Most of the
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  Speaker 2: organizations in New Zealand do run support services for lawyers,
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  Speaker 2: and I would like to stress that for all lawyers
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  Speaker 2: if they are feeling stressed and feeling things are becoming overwhelming,
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  Speaker 2: there are lots of different organizations in ways that we
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  Speaker 2: can help them through friends programs and other support services
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  Speaker 2: that are available.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you do they do generally The ones I
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  Speaker 1: know work very very long hours and so that you
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  Speaker 1: know that can't be great for a work life balance.
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  Speaker 1: But I suppose you kind of know you're getting into
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  Speaker 1: that too, an't you wards law, that's part of the job.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's vacational. So when I was studying, I
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  Speaker 2: was always told as a vocation, it's a lifestyle rather
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  Speaker 2: than you know, it's a way of life rather than
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  Speaker 2: just being a job. And it's the same for most professions,
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  Speaker 2: and doctors are are different. We do have to make
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  Speaker 2: sacrifices for family. Neither of my children want to be lawyers.
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  Speaker 2: They say we have to work far too hard. They
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  Speaker 2: see how hard I work. But hopefully there are other
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  Speaker 2: people out there who can see the calling that there
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  Speaker 2: is under great rewards there also can be and doing
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  Speaker 2: work that we do.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning, Julianne Kincaid,
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  Speaker 1: the Case Law Association Vice presoning for more from news Talks,
• 3:14
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• 3:17
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• 3:20
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