Legal professions are some of the most stressful positions a person can hold. The legal systems in the United States and Canada are rigorous, carefully scrutinizing any given case with an attention to detail that most other professions come nowhere near. Legal professionals have to be this detail oriented in order to be successful in their line of work. But between the obsessive attention to detail, the high stakes, the expectations, the consequences and the time consumption of a legal career, many legal professionals find themselves stressed beyond what they can handle and slowly self destructing.

The legal professional’s attention to detail is its own source of stress. One small, missed detail can cost an attorney their case, or a judge their reputation. All of the legal system depends on the legal professionals knowing the details of the law inside and out, which is why a legal education is so grueling and a bar exam so difficult to pass. This hyper-perfectionism expected of legal professionals can be very taxing over time.

Another cause of a legal professional’s stress is simply how high the stakes are. Legal professionals determine the fates of many people who are processed through the legal system. When a case is brought against a person, the verdict that the court system arrives at can affect a person’s quality of life for years to come, and even their own mortality. Legal professionals go about their work everyday aware of how high the expectations are on them and how dire the consequences are if they fail.

Another fact about a legal professional’s stress is that their careers take up more time than other careers do. Compiling all the information for a case is a very heavy task, and an attorney may devote all their spare time to a case for weeks or months. This may consume time that they should be spending decompressing, being with family or taking care of their health, which increases their stress to an unmanageable level.