The Author
Jerome Doraisamy is a lawyer from Sydney, New South Wales. He attended St Aloysius' College and then the University of Technology, Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Social Inquiry). Over the course of his legal career he has worked in a range of fields, from commercial practice to academic research to a major federal government inquiry. The Wellness Doctrines is his first book.
This book examines the prevalence, causes and effects of psychological distress, anxiety and depression for law students and young lawyers in Australia in a manner never before seen – thematic discussion inspired by personal stories, first-hand accounts and case studies of over 45 legal professionals and health experts. It is hoped that this book will serve as a “survival guide” of sorts for new law students, incoming and current legal graduates, and other young lawyers.
This is not to say that law school and the first few years of working as a lawyer is an experience that requires survival; rather, it is an experience to be relished and one in which a person can and should thrive. Interviews have been conducted with mental health experts, current students, law graduates and young solicitors, managing partners, academics and the commissioner of a national legal body. These interviewees shared their own experiences, what they witnessed in their friends and colleagues, what they think can be done to improve the culture of law school, so that the legal profession and the people within it can retain a sense of their duty to society: to serve the community in the most just, efficient and productive manner possible. This can only be attained if a lawyer takes a holistic approach to the study and practice of law, and such an approach could be best achieved if one recognises it from an early point in their legal career.
Interviewees did not necessarily have to have had experienced health issues themselves; rather, they were encouraged to provide a broader perspective into how said issues can and do affect their friends and colleagues, and subsequently the legal profession as a whole.