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"What is it about the culture and practice of law that can compromise some lawyers’ mental health, which can lead to poor decisions, an inability to admit mistakes or seek help?"

Easy.

It's a high pressure job. From the moment you first think about entering the arena you are in competition - fierce competition - with others. That competition never ceases, and the stress of it will be augmented by the very high expectations placed on you by your employers and your clients from the beginning and throughout your career.

The fact that we have an overzealous, punctilious, unforgiving and (for all practical purposes) unregulated regulator doesn't help either. In fact, it hinders.

We can have all the well-intentioned articles we could possibly want (for one week in the year, at least), but none of them will change these fundamental truths.