WALAL article template · leave this block alone
Write the article in the text block below. The navy banner, side cards and Home page card are added automatically on the live page.
- Line 1: By Your Name, Your Role
- Line 2, optional: Published in … (where it first appeared)
- Opening sentence: style Paragraph 1
- Section headings: style Heading 2 (two or more build the “In this article” list)
- Lists: bulleted list for gold arrows · Quote block for a pull quote · Image block for a figure
- Last line: Your Name is a WALAL Peer Counselor · optional Heading 2 “Notes” for sources
Settings: title, excerpt (1–2 sentences), featured image, tags. To see the finished design, click Save, then Exit.
News and Articles
Healthy Counsel From and For Every Community in the District
By Leslie Hagin, President, Washington Lawyers Assisting Lawyers (WALAL)
WALAL is grateful to the M. Margaret McKeown Federal Bar Association for committing a $5,000 grant toward the Washington Lawyers Assisting Lawyers (WALAL) “Healthy Counsel From and For Every Community in the District” Project.
WALAL was proud to partner with M3-FBA and the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington on this summer’s Minority Lawyer Mental Health Awareness discussion, peer training and reception. We have also provided MCLE-accredited peer trainings to individual Washington public defender, tribal, and immigration rights lawyer offices. And this month we will be providing a free online, MCLE-accredited training to state-court public defender offices, sponsored by the Washington Office of Public Defense.
The M3-FBA grant helps WALAL take our affirmative work to counsel from and for every community, further.
What is the “Healthy Counsel From and For Every Community in the District” Project?
This project focuses WALAL’s free, confidential, and independent peer support and well-being outreach on minority lawyers, law students and judges, particularly for the lawyers who serve underrepresented communities - public defenders, immigration, women’s rights, Indigenous rights, legal aid, civil rights, and disability rights lawyers. The grant funds will allow WALAL to expand its outreach and provide peer support trainings, CLE-accredited events to more of these groups and people.
While the authors of the latest ABA (September 2026) survey report on lawyer well-being say they found no significant differences in its well-being survey data among the racial and other minority backgrounds of the lawyers surveyed, methodological problems limit that finding. The ABA survey relied on volunteers (a “convenience sample”) and had a low response rate, as did the 2026 WSBA lawyer wellbeing survey/report.
Yet we know that recent preliminary results from the first-ever Hispanic Lawyers Wellness Study revealed significant levels of burnout, depression, and anxiety among Hispanic legal professionals, compared to non-minority lawyers. We also know, for example, other studies have found roughly 31% of Black lawyers said they have contemplated suicide during their professional career, far and above the 19% of white respondents that said the same.
This project will affirmatively increase and expand WALAL’s uniquely effective efforts to provide CLE-accredited peer support trainings to more types and a greater number of diverse and underrepresented lawyer, law student and judge groups; and to those lawyers representing minority and other especially distressed and underserved persons and communities.
Evidence-based studies are also clear that peer support provides a safe space and builds trust, breaking down stigma and other barriers to seeking help, when nothing else can. The recent ABA report also failed to mention the importance of peer support in lawyer well-being.
The project specifically targets peer support for BIPOC lawyers, law students and judges, disabled lawyers, law students and judges, and others underrepresented in the profession within the 19 counties of the Western District of Washington; as well as those lawyers representing underserved communities within these counties. WALAL expects to reach and support 500 to 1,000 lawyers, law students and judges in the District through this expanded and targeted Project over the course of 12 months.
Please Join Us!
We hope all of you will join us in this affirmative effort, opening doors and helping make connections as mentor-leaders in this initiative to minority lawyers, judges and law students and those serving underrepresented persons. We further hope that especially those from diverse communities will join WALAL’s ranks of volunteer, well-trained peer support counselors with lived-through experiences to share with and support others struggling. And all donations by law firms and other entities, and individuals, are tax-deductible as WALAL is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
