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Therapy for Lawyers

I practiced law for 25 years. I get it.

I support lawyers who are experiencing symptoms of psychological distress, or looking for growth or change in their lives.

Therapist Juliette Hirt smiling

It's No Wonder

​Lawyering attracts smart, disciplined, high-performing people able to wade into the unexpected and get the job done under pressure.

Sometimes the same wiring that brought us to this career also makes us suffer. We are prone to anxiety and depression.

To practice law is to face unique stressors, conflicts, demands, and expectations in addition to all the other challenges life brings. ​         

When your job requires a lot of time and energy, it can be more difficult to tune in to your own needs around physical and mental illnesses, trauma, relationships, and parenting.  

It's no wonder that the rates of anxiety, depression, burnout,

and drug and alcohol dependence among us are so high.​        

We can do better.  We can be better.

Why choose a
lawyer-turned-therapist?

The truth is that many therapists prefer not to work with lawyers. As lawyers, we are trained to think analytically, to challenge assumptions, and to say what we mean succinctly and at times forcefully. This can be uncomfortable for some therapists, who are trained to work in a very different way and can feel intimidated.
​
As a lawyer-turned therapist, I am happy to work with you just as you are.
​
Context also matters. You will not have to explain the details for me to understand the common situations we face as lawyers. I have lived the unbillable hour, the politics, the work-life imbalance, the pressure to perform, and the distortions that can come from living intensely in the mind (and the computer screen!), to the detriment of the body. 
 
Some therapists who hear about our work want to throw up their hands and ask why we don't just change careers. I understand that notwithstanding the challenges—and sometimes because of them—the practice of law can be enormously rewarding.
​
For some of us, being a lawyer is a powerful part of our identity. For others, it's something we put on when we go to work and take off when we go home. We might love some of it, all of it, or none of it at all.
 
I practiced law for 25 years.
​
I get it. 



Bayles, C. (2024, April 29). The best therapy for lawyers, according to ex-lawyers. Law360. https://www.law360.com/articles/1829234/the-best-therapy-for-lawyers-according-to-ex-lawyers.

(That's American Psychological Association citation format. I don't like it, either!)

Contact me for a free consultation at (415) 498-0590 or juliette.hirt@mindfulcenter.org

Juliette Lida Hirt, JD, AMFT, practiced law for 25 years—in law firms, start-ups, mature corporations, and nonprofits, including in GC roles—before retiring early to become a therapist (Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #151362, exp 11/30/25). She is employed by the Center for Mindful Psychotherapy and supervised by Scott Balderson, (LMFT #34280, exp 9/30/27).  Juliette is a member in good standing of the California Bar Association (#191717, inactive).

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