Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 24, 1994 TAG: 9403240050
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
"You feel like everybody is out to get you," said Messing, deputy chief of the Philadelphia public defender's office. "And you live it; you live it 24 hours a day."
Amiram Elwork has heard it before. Lawyers comprise half of his psychology practice in suburban Philadelphia. He has seen the effects of the stress Messing has felt: depression, divorce, suicide, anger, alcoholism, drug addiction and a mental problem he calls "justifiable paranoia."
Rather than treat the problems once they have taken a toll, Elwork has begun addressing them before they occur. He has taught a course at the Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Del., called "Non-Legal Challenges in the Law Practice."
"It's not your imagination that someone is out to get you all the time," he said.
Widener, where Elwork is director of the Law-Psychology Graduate Program, has billed the course as the only one of its kind offered in any law school curriculum.
On the first day of class, he doused his 15 eager students with harsh realities of practicing law.
He told them associates often work 60-hour weeks to fulfill their billing requirements. He told them there will be one lawyer for every 300 people by 2000; if they get a job, it probably won't pay what they expected.
They will work in a politically charged, bottom-line-oriented environment that will not leave time for the intellectual musing they enjoy in law school, he said. Their mistakes will be considered monumental.
He talked about the burnout, the disillusionment, the dissatisfaction, the lack of vacations and society's general dislike of lawyers.
"He laid it on thick," said Laura Wampler, a third-year student. "I thought, `Why didn't we take this class first year when we could have gotten out of this.' "
On the second day of class, Elwork began to show the students how to avoid becoming one of the statistics.
"I was startled at first," said Kathy Banfield, a fourth-year evening student. "But by the end of the class I said, `This won't happen to me. I'm prepared.' "
No one in the class dropped out of law school, as far as Elwork knows. But they re-examined what area of the law they wanted to practice after learning about the strong points of their personalities and the compatibility with various practices.
"It was a little frightening to see how naive the students were," said Ann Britton, a law professor at Widener who monitored the class.
The time and effort it takes to become a lawyer prevents many who are dissatisfied with the profession from leaving it.
"All of this happens gradually," said Philadelphia lawyer Neil Perloff. "By the time you realize it's happening, you've created a career for yourself. You also get a feeling that maybe you can change things. You see you can't, and it impacts on your psyche. Then it becomes too late."
Many lawyers think their only alternative is to quit. Until the profession itself changes, Elwork often helps them find ways that they can continue to practice, but in a less stressful environment.
"Anyone who is concerned about justice," he said, "should be concerned about this issue."
by CNB