Introduction
Occupational stress can be considered as the harmful responses that one may have towards his or her work environment, which may include both physical and emotional responses (Giblin, 2013). Increased exposure to occupational stress is much more likely to contribute to burnout in which one experiences a significant challenge in trying to achieve a set-out goal or objective. In the criminal justice system, lawyers act as a vital aspect of the system, as they help in the presentation of information and evidence within courts of law. However, it is equally important to note that lawyers are expected to frequently engage in interaction with their clients, as well as, conduct analyses of legal issues with the focus being towards ensuring that a case meets the set out legal precedence. Thus, this acts as a clear indication of the fact that lawyers find themselves in a position where they are much more likely to experience occupational stress, which may contribute to burnout.
Literature Review
Traditionally, the position of a lawyer has been viewed as an individual with an understanding of the legal system and understands the importance of having to protect the law while defending their clients. In the process of having to defend their clients, lawyers are expected to analyze a wide array of legal issues or frameworks touching on the cases that they are involved in as part of their representation. The outcome of this is that it creates a high possibility of mental fatigue among the lawyers, as it becomes somewhat challenging for them to keep track of what is expected of them from a law perspective within the criminal justice system.
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The outcome of this is that lawyers tend to encounter what would be considered occupational stress, which is stress arising from their work environments, thus, hampering their ability to deliver on set out goals and objectives. In most cases, lawyers may find themselves experiencing burnouts as a result of the occupational stress, which impacts their ability to comprehend what is expected to them as part of the legal structure. According to Tsai, Huang, & Chan (2009), the link between occupational stress and burnout in lawyers is evident in cases where some of the lawyers find it hard when offering legal representation. Occupational stress occurs solely as a result of increasing complexities in some of these cases, which creates the need for them to engage in more work to achieve set out objectives (Patel, Rajderkar, & Naik, 2012). Additionally, this also means that the lawyers often find themselves in a situation where it becomes hard or challenging for them to offer the expected legal expertise as a result of their burnout.
Analysis of the Problem
In evaluating the problem or occupational stress and burnout in lawyers, Tsai & Chan (2010) took note of the fact that the levels of occupational stress are increasing at a rapid rate attributed to the fact that lawyers are expected to handle more than three cases at once. In most cases, lawyers find themselves going through court materials for three or more claims that they are involved in, which contributes to mental fatigue. Tsai and Chan (2011) project the issue of occupational stress among lawyers from the perspective that majority of lawyers tend to spend long hours trying to create their presentations, which not only contributes to physical strain but also creates mental strain, thus, promoting occupational stress.
The demand among lawyers concerning the set-out goals and objectives that they must achieve is significantly high, which has been noted as a critical factor contributing to the issue of occupational stress and burnout among lawyers (Sharma, Verma, Verma, & Malhotra, 2010). While undertaking their respective duties, lawyers find themselves burdened with the idea of having to ensure that they work towards defending their clients effectively. In some cases, this is not possible leading to adverse or unwanted outcomes. Thus, this often contributes to occupational stress, which impacts their abilities to handle other cases effectively. The principal objective of having to represent such cases is to ensure that they not only protect the law but also seek to protect the interests of their clients. Thus, this means that when it becomes hard to protect their clients, the possibility of occupational fatigue increases significantly.
The issue of occupational stress and burnout has created significant concern among scholars in the legal profession, most of who argue that increased exposure to occupational stress tends to have a substantial impact on the performance of individual lawyers (Hakanen, Bakker, & Jokisaari, 2011). When exposed to such issues of stress and burnout, the capacity and capability of the lawyers tend to remain limited significantly considering that it becomes somewhat challenging for them to deliver on what is expected of them. Additionally, this also becomes challenging for them to abide by their legal precedence, which is to protect the law at all times. Thus, this creates the need for having to come up with proactive approaches that would help improve overall capacities in ensuring that indeed lawyers can alleviate occupational stress and burnout as part of their engagement in the criminal justice system.
Potential Solutions to the Problem
The extensive nature of this problem has created the need for having to come up with several essential solutions targeted at dealing with the issue at hand. The following is an analysis of the potential solutions.
Reducing the number of cases that one handles
The first potential solution to the problem has been working towards reducing the number of instances that individual lawyers can handle at any given period, which limits exposure to occupational stress and burnout. The issue has been brought out by the fact that majority of lawyers tend to handle a high number of cases, which not only limits their effectiveness but also increases their possibility of exposure to mental stress and fatigue. Bte Marmaya, Hitam, Zawawi, and Jody (2011) argue that by limiting the number of cases lawyers handle, the outcome is that the lawyers would be in a better position through which to find relevant information allowing them to meet set out goals.
Having a clear understanding of job demands
The essential second solution would reflect more on the idea of ensuring that indeed lawyers can build on their knowledge of job demands, which would help them avoid instances where it becomes challenging for them to deliver. Law is a very demanding profession, as one is not only expected to focus on the interests of his or her client but must also ensure that the arguments presented are anchored within the law (Innstrand, Langballe, Falkum, & Aasland, 2011). Thus, this means that lawyers ought to have a clear understanding of what they are expected to do in a bid to achieving set out goals and objectives, which would reduce their exposure to issues such as burnout.
Recommendations on Solving the Problem
While taking into account that the potential solutions, identified above, may have positive outcomes towards reducing occupational stress and burnout on the part of lawyers, it is essential to focus on several key recommendations on how to deal with the problem. The recommendations include:
Encouraging more students to take up law
The number of lawyers, when compared to the number of persons that want legal representation, is significantly low, which becomes a vital issue of concern in trying to deal with the issue of occupational stress and burnout (Alarcon, 2011). The issue has come about due to the fact that majority of the persons coming into colleges do not have the incentive of having to take up law as part of their higher education studies. However, this can be solved by having more students take up law as part of their higher education studies. The government ought to come up with a strategic program that will seek to ensure that indeed the number of students taking the law as part of their studies increase. The outcome of this will be a higher number of qualified lawyers representing persons within the criminal justice system. Ultimately, this would mean that the number of cases that each lawyer takes up will reduce, thus, ensuring that they can deliver on set out goals and objectives.
Relaxation
The second key recommendation would involve having to encourage lawyers towards relaxation within different periods, which will help in reducing the mental strain that they are experiencing as part of their engagement in the criminal justice system. Lawyers tend to spend significant amounts of time handling cases resulting in instances where the time periods that some of these lawyers relax is somewhat limited. Lack of relaxation is much more likely to contribute to occupational stress and burnout, as persons experience strain within the brain when in the work environment (Giblin, 2013). Thus, this creates the need for having to come up with a comprehensive plan that would see lawyers understand the importance of having to relax as one of the critical outcomes associated with their respective roles and responsibilities. The outcome of this is that lawyers will find themselves in a situation where it becomes easier for them to think or engage in in-depth analyses of their respective cases taking into account the overall objectives.
Conclusion
In summary, occupational stress can be considered as the harmful responses that one may have towards his or her work environment. The position of a lawyer has been viewed as an individual with an understanding of the legal system and understands the importance of having to protect the law. Lawyers tend to encounter what would be considered occupational stress, which is stress arising from their work environments. Lawyers find themselves going through court materials for three or more cases that they are involved in, which contributes to mental fatigue. The demand among lawyers concerning the set-out goals and objectives that they must achieve is significantly high. The capacity and capability of the lawyers tend to remain limited significantly considering that it becomes somewhat challenging for them to deliver on what is expected of them.
References
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Bte Marmaya, N. H., Hitam, M., Zawawi, N., & Jody, J. M. (2011). Organizational commitment and job burnout among employees in Malaysia. In Proc Intl Conf on Bus and Econs Res (Vol. 1, pp. 185-7).
Giblin, M. J. (2013). Section IX Occupational stress and burnout: Is this job-killing me? In Organization and management in the criminal justice system (p.378-394). New York, NY: Sage.
Hakanen, J. J., Bakker, A. B., & Jokisaari, M. (2011). A 35-year follow-up study on burnout among Finnish employees. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology , 16 (3), 345.
Innstrand, S. T., Langballe, E. M., Falkum, E., & Aasland, O. G. (2011). Exploring within-and between-gender differences in burnout: 8 different occupational groups. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health , 84 (7), 813-824.
Patel, K. A., Rajderkar, S. S., & Naik, J. D. (2012). Occupational stress and burnouts as predictors of job satisfaction amongst lawyers in District Sangli. National Journal of Medical Research , 2 (1), 141-144.
Sharma, A., Verma, S., Verma, C., & Malhotra, D. (2010). Stress and burnout as predictors of job satisfaction among lawyers. European journal of social sciences , 14 (3), 348-359.
Tsai, F. J., & Chan, C. C. (2010). Occupational stress and burnout of judges and procurators. International archives of occupational and environmental health , 83 (2), 133-142.
Tsai, F. J., & Chan, C. C. (2011). The impact of the 2008 financial crisis on psychological work stress among financial workers and lawyers. International archives of occupational and environmental health , 84 (4), 445-452.
Tsai, F. J., Huang, W. L., & Chan, C. C. (2009). Occupational stress and burnout of lawyers. Journal of occupational health , 51 (5), 443-450.
