Protection of Lawyers' occupational health and mental health: Institutional gaps in the Draft Law on Lawyers (amendment) 2026 (Part 2)

Following Part 1, after clarifying the rationale and professional pressures that are being placed on lawyers in Vietnam, Part 2 of the article continues to approach the issue from a policy and institutional perspective. On the basis of referring to international experience, the article analyzes the gaps in the Draft Law on Lawyers (amended) in 2026 and proposes recommendations to build a safe, healthy and sustainable legal practice environment.

For many years, Vietnam's law on lawyers has been built on the basis of three main groups of policies: management of practice activities, improvement of lawyer quality and assurance of professional ethics. 

4. International experience and the trend of institutionalization of lawyers' professional health

4.1. Warnings from international studies

International studies have provided strong empirical evidence of the mental health of lawyers. A 2016 study by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation[1], conducted on nearly 13,000 lawyers in the United States, found that about 28% of lawyers showed signs of depression, 19% showed signs of anxiety, and more than 20% were at risk of alcohol abuse to a level that required professional intervention. Notably,  The group of young lawyers with less than 10 years of practice, a group that is at the most important stage of career building, is the group with the highest rate of mental health problems.

In 2021, the International Bar Association (IBA) surveyed more than 3,000 lawyers globally and identified mental health as one of the biggest challenges to the sustainable development of the legal profession[2]. LawCare's Life in the Law Survey report in the UK also shows that about 69% of survey respondents have experienced mental health-related problems during their practice[3]. These figures show that the occupational health of lawyers is not an isolated phenomenon but a systemic challenge that requires a corresponding systemic policy response.

4.2. From the United States to Singapore: Institutionalizing occupational health as a policy to develop the legal profession

It is worth noting that countries have responded to this situation not only with individual assistance programs, but also with systematic occupational policies:

In the United States, Lawyer Assistance Programs (LAPs) are developed and operated as a program of the State Bar Association, to assist lawyers in dealing with professional pressures, preventing professional ethics risks, and protecting the quality of legal services. In 2017, the ABA released The Path to Lawyer Well-Being Report with practical recommendations for the entire legal profession ecosystem, from training institutions to practice organizations and professional governing bodies[4].

In the UK, LawCare, the occupational health organisation of the legal community, not only provides personal support but also focuses on changing the professional culture, building a healthy practice environment and encouraging lawyers to actively seek support when needed.

Canada integrates occupational health into its legal human resource development strategy, with mandatory training programs in occupational stress management and burnout prevention.

Singapore, in the process of building its status as an international legal service hub, has considered the protection of lawyers' professional health as part of its strategy to develop senior legal human resources not for humanitarian reasons alone, but for reasons of national competitiveness.

What these countries have in common is that they do not consider occupational health as a personal issue but as a constituent part of the legal profession development policy. This is a valuable lesson for Vietnam in the process of amending the Law on Lawyers this time.

5. Institutional gaps in the Draft Law on Lawyers (amended) in 2026

5.1. From "managing lawyers" to "sustainable development of the legal profession"

For many years, Vietnam's law on lawyers has been built on the basis of three main groups of policies: management of practice activities, improvement of lawyer quality and assurance of professional ethics. These are the necessary contents.

However, this approach is still more about career management than sustainable career development. The current international trend is shifting from a lawyer management mindset to a sustainable development mindset of the legal profession, a concept that not only includes increasing the number or improving professional qualifications, but more importantly, creating an environment that helps lawyers maintain and promote the quality of practice throughout their careers. From that perspective, occupational health protection is not an ancillary policy but a condition to ensure the sustainability of the legal profession.

5.2. Four institutional gaps that need to be filled

Although the Draft Law on Lawyers pays a lot of attention to lawyers' standards, professional ethics and practice quality, there are still four notable institutional gaps:

The first gap: The  draft does not recognize occupational health as a content of the policy on the development of the legal profession. There is no provision that defines a healthy practice environment as a policy objective that needs to be paid attention to by the State and professional organizations.

The second gap: The  draft does not have a mechanism for research, statistics and evaluation of lawyers' occupational health. There is no focal point responsible for collecting data and disclosing information on the current situation of professional pressure in the Vietnamese lawyer community.

Third gap: The  draft does not have a mechanism to support and prevent occupational risks. There is no provision assigning responsibility to the Vietnam Bar Federation or the Bar Association to develop programs to support lawyers to cope with professional pressure, occupational burnout or mental crises in the process of practicing their profession.

Fourth gap: The  draft has not integrated the content of occupational pressure management into the compulsory training and retraining program. While the Draft focuses on professional content and professional ethics in training programs, pressure management skills and occupational burnout prevention are still not considered necessary content for law practitioners.

For many years, discussions about amending the Law on Lawyers have often focused on how better lawyers need to be, how professional they are, and in what areas they have to take more responsibility. 

6. Proposals to improve the Law on Lawyers

To fill the above institutional gaps, the article proposes a system of recommendations according to three policy layers, from the principle layer to the professional institution level and the practice environment:

6.1. The first layer: Completing policies to supplement the principles of sustainable development

Adding to the principles section of the Law on Lawyers a new principle with the content: "The State encourages and creates conditions for the development of a safe, healthy and sustainable law practice environment; ensure conditions for lawyers to maintain their practice capacity in the long term." This principle does not require the State to directly intervene in the practice of law, but only determines the policy orientation and creates a legal basis for more specific regulations at the next levels.

6.2. Second level: Completing professional institutions to assign responsibilities to socio-professional organizations

To assign the Vietnam Federation of Bar Associations the following tasks within the scope of the Law:

• Conduct periodic surveys (at least every three years) on occupational pressure, mental health and occupational risks of Vietnamese lawyers;
• Publish thematic reports on lawyers' occupational health and propose improvement measures;
• Develop and maintain career support programs (attorneys assisting attorneys) for practitioners experiencing occupational crises or mental health difficulties;
• To promulgate recommendations and guidelines on a healthy practice environment for law-practicing organizations.

6.3. Third level: Improving the practice environment to encourage the responsibility of the practicing organization

To supplement regulations to encourage (not mandatory at the initial stage of development), law-practicing organizations should:

• Develop internal policies on burnout prevention;
• Implement reasonable workload management, ensure minimum rest time for lawyers and employees;
• Develop a mechanism to support occupational health and mental health for member lawyers and staff.

6.4. Proposing new laws

On the basis of the above recommendations, the article proposes to add to the Law on Lawyers (amended) a new law with the following contents:

"Article X. Development of a safe, healthy and sustainable law practice environment

1. The State, the Vietnam Bar Federation, bar associations and law-practicing organizations shall have to encourage and support the building of a safe, healthy and sustainable law-practicing environment; create conditions for lawyers to maintain and promote their practice capacity in the long term.

2. The Vietnam Federation of Bar Associations shall have to periodically study and survey the occupational pressure and mental health of lawyers; to publish thematic reports and implement programs to support lawyers in preventing occupational risks.

3. Bar associations and law-practicing organizations are encouraged to take measures to prevent occupational burnout and support the mental health of their lawyers, members and employees.

4. The content of annual compulsory training for lawyers may include topics on management of occupational pressure, prevention of occupational burnout and development of a healthy practice environment."

7. Conclusion

For many years, discussions about amending the Law on Lawyers have often focused on how better lawyers need to be, how professional they are, and in what areas they have to take more responsibility. These are all legitimate and necessary requirements of a modern State under the rule of law.

However, a sustainable legal profession is not only built with increasingly high standards for practitioners. It must also be built with mechanisms that enable practitioners to maintain and meet those standards throughout their careers. Without these mechanisms, raising the standard of practice will only increase the pressure without improving the substantive quality.

International experience shows that many countries have spent a decade advocating and researching before coming to the realization that the professional health of lawyers is not a personal issue but a matter of policy and that investing in the professional health of lawyers is an investment in the quality of the judiciary.

The process of amending the Law on Lawyers in 2026 is an important opportunity for Vietnam to start a similar transformation not by copying foreign models, but by building principles, mechanisms and institutions that are suitable for the characteristics and conditions of the Vietnamese legal profession.

After all, the quality of a justice is not only measured by the rules of law or judicial institutions, but also by its ability to protect the people who are directly involved in the administration of justice every day.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Phuc

HM&P Law Firm

Submitted for the Scientific Conference in the Journal of Democracy & Law: https://danchuphapluat.vn/stores/customer_file/huyennt/062026/29/5.Tom-tat-cac-bai-viet-Hoi-thao-Luat-Luat-su-2026.pdf