Phase II of the national study on wellness in the legal profession, with a specific report on Saskatchewan, has been released.
October 15, 2025
The second phase of the national study on wellness in the legal profession has been published, sharing critical insights into the mental, physical, and emotional challenges within the legal profession in Saskatchewan.
The first phase of the study, released in 2022, presented an overview of the mental health and wellness of Canadian legal professionals. This second phase contextualizes those findings and provides detailed feedback to inform recommendations that consider factors in Saskatchewan.
This report addresses the three mental health and wellness themes most frequently reported as priorities for participating legal professionals in Saskatchewan:
- Training & Mentorship
- “studies tend to highlight the protective effects of mentoring for young professionals, particularly with regard to mental health”
- “The second obstacle [to mentorship] is work overload in the legal profession. Whatever the practice area, many legal professionals are overworked.”
- Work-Life Balance
- “Work-life conflict is a fairly widespread phenomenon… 40.9% of legal professionals working in Saskatchewan experience such conflict.”
- Work-Life conflict is an issue even before starting a family
- Working Conditions & Cognitive Demands
- The constraints that emerged as the most significant among legal professionals in SK are qualitative overload 69.7%, billable hour pressure 59.1%, emotional demands 51.6%.
- “Although some proportions of some constraints seem lower, they may still be significantly associated with mental health.” Workplace incivility 9.5%, Workplace violence 5.8%
- “Approximately eight out of ten professionals (79.1%) consider their work to be mentally very demanding, with a frequency ranging from often to always”
"Mental health and wellness are critical issues for legal professionals in Saskatchewan. The challenges of mentorship gaps, work-life conflict, and overwhelming cognitive demands affect many of us. By addressing these areas, we can foster a healthier, more sustainable profession where mentorship, balance, and mental well-being are prioritized."
- CBA Saskatchewan President Mark Dolan
For many years, the CBA has recognized the unique needs of our profession and worked to find solutions that allow our members to lead healthy, balanced lives. Since 1989, the CBA’s Well-Being initiative has been offering support, providing advice, and developing training to support Canada’s legal professionals to lead healthy, balanced lives.
“Having the data in hand is an essential step in ensuring everyone has the resources they need to tackle their health challenges. The targeted recommendations will help guide our ongoing efforts in the years ahead on this critical issue.”
- CBA President Lynne Vicars
The Towards a Healthy and Sustainable Practice of Law in Canada project is a partnership between the Université de Sherbrooke, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. It is the first comprehensive national study of its kind of the legal profession in Canada and represents five years of research.