By the Juris Education Interview Team
J. Ryann Peyton serves as the Director of the Colorado Attorney Mentoring Program (CAMP) and Legal Entrepreneurs for Justice (LEJ), lawyer professional development programs of the Colorado Supreme Court.
Mental health support is vital in the legal profession because legal professionals are often expected to shoulder high-stakes responsibility, long hours, and constant pressure to perform—all in a culture that traditionally discourages vulnerability. The adversarial nature of legal work, combined with perfectionism and fear of failure, can lead to chronic stress, burnout, and isolation. Without intentional support, many legal professionals begin to equate their worth with their productivity or reputation, which can be deeply damaging to their well-being and the profession as a whole.
Among law students and new lawyers, the most common challenges are anxiety, depression, burnout, and imposter phenomenon. Many experience overwhelming pressure to succeed academically or professionally, while also struggling with financial debt, competition, and uncertainty about their future. In early career stages, lack of mentorship and unclear expectations can intensify self-doubt and contribute to poor work-life balance or unhealthy coping mechanisms. These issues often go unaddressed due to stigma or fear of appearing weak.
Our program offers mentorship, professional identity development, and education on well-being in the legal profession. We help connect students and new lawyers with experienced mentors who can offer guidance, support, and perspective. We also provide tools to build resilience, manage stress, and communicate effectively in challenging environments. Our goal is to normalize conversations about mental health and create a strong foundation for thriving in law—not just surviving it.
One of our core areas of focus is helping students explore and develop their professional identity—not just who they are as legal professionals, but how they can maintain their personal values and ideals as they show up in the legal profession.
This includes helping students reflect on their values, motivations, communication styles, and the kind of lawyer they want to become. In a profession where the traditional apprenticeship model has largely disappeared, many students don’t have the benefit of observing or being guided by experienced role models. As a result, they can feel adrift, pressured to conform to narrow ideas of what success looks like, and unsure of how to align their personal strengths with their professional goals.
By intentionally developing professional identity, students gain clarity, confidence, and a sense of purpose. They are better equipped to make choices that are ethically grounded, emotionally sustainable, and aligned with the kind of professional life they want to lead. Our mentoring programs, workshops, and resources provide the space and support to do that work—helping students build not just legal knowledge, but a resilient, authentic, and thoughtful professional identity.
One of the most pervasive misconceptions is that mental health challenges in the legal profession are solely individual problems—the result of personal weakness, poor time management, or lack of resilience. In reality, many of the mental health struggles lawyers face are deeply systemic, structural, and cultural.
The profession itself is built on features that can erode well-being: the adversarial nature of legal work, the chronic stress of client demands, the pressure to always be available, and a culture that often rewards overwork and emotional detachment. The reliance on the billable hour discourages rest, reflection, and meaningful connection, while fostering a sense of constant scarcity and competition. Many legal professionals—especially those in early career stages or solo practice—work in environments of extreme isolation, with little feedback, community, or support.
When we treat mental health issues as purely personal, we overlook the responsibility of legal institutions, employers, and educators to create healthier systems. Addressing well-being requires more than telling lawyers to be more "resilient"—it "requires rethinking the conditions under which they’re expected to perform and succeed. That means shifting cultural norms, revisiting outdated models of productivity, and building environments that support human flourishing, not just professional output.
Law schools have a critical role to play in supporting student mental health—not just through individual services like counseling, but by challenging and changing the structural conditions that contribute to distress in the first place. Too often, law schools unintentionally replicate the broader legal culture’s most harmful features: hyper-competition, rigid hierarchies, a narrow definition of success, and a relentless focus on performance over well-being.
To truly support student mental health, schools must shift from a reactive model to a proactive, systemic approach. This means re-evaluating academic policies and pedagogies that fuel stress and burnout; integrating well-being and professional identity development into the curriculum; and fostering a culture of inclusion, connection, and compassion. Faculty and administrators should be trained to recognize the pressures students face and to respond with empathy, flexibility, and support.
Importantly, law schools should also model healthier norms around rest, boundaries, and balance—because students absorb not just what is taught, but what is lived and rewarded. Institutions have the power to influence the next generation of lawyers by creating learning environments that affirm the humanity of their students and prepare them to thrive in a profession that desperately needs a cultural shift.
Juris Education is proud to feature insights from leaders like J. Ryann Peyton, to help pre-law students better understand how to care for their mental health throughout the demanding journey to law school.
