Supreme Court creates ad hoc committee for well-being in law

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court has created an ad hoc committee to focus on implementing recommendations from a national task force on lawyer well-being.

The nine-member Ad Hoc Committee for Well-Being in Law was created by Supreme Court Administrative Order 2025-CM-030 signed today by Chief Justice Marla Luckert. 

“Promoting well-being in the legal profession contributes to positive outcomes and public confidence in the law and the courts,” Luckert said. “It increases job satisfaction and productivity, reduces turnover, and builds a stronger system of justice for all Kansans.”

The ad hoc committee will continue work started by the Kansas Task Force for Lawyer Well-Being. The task force was formed after the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being released in 2017 its report, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.

The report highlighted surveys that found lawyers and law students were at increased risk for mental health and substance use disorders and many struggled with depression, anxiety, and stress. It then recommended strategies the legal community could use to improve lawyer well-being.

In Kansas, lawyers interested in advancing the national task force recommendations put together a task force with members representing the groups identified in the national report. One of those lawyers was then executive director of the Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program, which has a mission that overlaps the national task force recommendations.

The Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program is a source of confidential help for lawyers with alcohol, drug abuse, or mental health issues. 

What is well-being in law?

The report defines well-being in law as a continuous process of improving the health of legal community members in all areas of life: emotional, occupational, intellectual, social, physical, and spiritual.

The report gives general and specific strategies for the process. They include encouraging members to seek help, offering educational programs on well-being, building relationships with well-being experts, and fostering respect throughout the profession.

About the committee

The Ad Hoc Committee for Well-Being in Law will make recommendations to the court on implementing strategies from the national report. The committee will also address other related well-being issues affecting lawyers, law students, and legal professionals.

Meryl Carver-Allmond, general counsel to the chief justice, will serve as committee chair. The committee may form subcommittees that can include noncommittee members. The committee will be supported by the Office of Judicial Administration.

Also on the committee are:

• Chief Judge Bruce Gatterman, 24th Judicial District

• Kate Duncan Butler, deputy administrator, Office of the Disciplinary Administrator

• Danielle Hall, chief of professionalism and outreach, Office of Judicial Administration

• Bach Hang, assistant district attorney, Reno County District Attorney’s Office

• Emily Hartz, executive director, Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program

• Becky Howlett, director of attorney well-being, The Legal Burnout Solution

• Jeffrey Mason, attorney, Mason Law Office LLC, Goodland

• Leah Terranova, associate dean for academic and student affairs, University of Kansas School of Law