Well-Being Pledge

Studies since the 1990s have consistently shown that lawyers have higher rates of depression, problematic alcohol use, and anxiety than the general population. These higher rates show themselves in our colleagues as job dissatisfaction, incivility, unethical behavior, malpractice, and suicidal ideation. All of which lead to a negative perception of lawyers by the public.

The Preamble to the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct call on us to “strive to attain the highest level of skill, to improve the law and the legal profession and to exemplify the legal profession’s ideals of public service.” There are active steps each of us can take to live into our calling to be a “well” profession – one that realizes its own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and can make a contribution to our community.

The Mississippi Bar is committed to fostering positive change in the well-being of the Mississippi legal community. You can show your support for this commitment in one of two ways:

If You Are a Legal Employer: As a legal employer, you have the ability to change the paradigm of well-being in our profession. The first step is to adopt the Bar’s Well-Being Pledge for Legal Employers. The nine point framework of the pledge allows to you select the areas of importance most important to you, your lawyers and your staff while affirming your commitment to a civil, ethical and competent profession.

If You Are an Individual Lawyer or Solo Practitioner: As individual lawyers, you have the ability to take charge of your own well-being and support your colleagues in their well-being efforts. Adopting the Bar’s Pledge for Lawyer Well-Being for Individual Lawyers and Solo Practitioners demonstrates your commitment to our core values as a profession to civility, ethical conduct, and providing the highest quality of legal services to our clients. 

 

List of Those Who Signed the Pledge as of May 1, 2025

Steps to Completing The Pledge:

  1. If submitting the Pledge on behalf of an organization, only one Pledge should be submitted for each organization.
  2. Individual attorneys can receive recognition for working through the Pledge in their own names/individual capacity. Solo Practitioners may participate under their organizational name or their individual name.
  3. Select “Yes” for pledge items you or your organization intend to support or work toward this year. There is no minimum number of pledged items required to receive recognition.  Organizations are expected to focus on areas of importance to their lawyers and staff and pledged items may differ from year to year.
  4. Examples of activities and other ways to engage with the framework are included in the pledge document for informational and inspirational purposes. They are not required, only suggestions.
  5. Reporting is done by calendar year. After pledging your support, we will ask that you report your continuing support each calendar year by completing the Attestation Form by March 31st of the year following the calendar year of your pledge.  Reporting is done on the honor system.  Recognition will be provided upon receipt of the Attestation Form.
  6. Pledge documents are confidential and will not be shared outside of program record keeping.

 

Well-Being Pledge for Legal Employers

Pledge for Lawyer Well-Being for Individual Lawyers and Solo Practitioners