LAS VEGAS – Last year’s Construction Super Conference at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas included a well-attended panel discussion called Breaking the Silence: Mental Health in the Construction and Legal Industries. Moderated by Steven M. Charney, chair, Peckar & Abramson, River Edge, N.J., the session featured panelists who shared deeply personal stories of depression and even suicide attempts.
Has the level of awareness increased when it comes to the importance of mental health among construction attorneys? How much has changed? Third Thursday asked several attorneys to express their thoughts on the matter. Answers suggest that progress has been made, but there is still much work to be done.
“As someone who has long supported mental health initiatives within the legal profession, I was proud to speak about my firm’s commitment and the success of Becker’s Mental Health and Wellness program, which was designed to open conversations, reduce stigma, and encourage people to seek help early and often.
“What struck me most was the number of people who came up to me after the panel to thank us for speaking openly and honestly about mental health. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and it was clear that these conversations resonated with those who attended. Mental health remains a difficult topic for many to discuss openly, especially in high-stress, high-performance professions like law and construction where mental health struggles often go unspoken. That’s exactly why it’s so important that we keep talking. Programs like this are essential. They give people permission to speak, to connect, and to realize they’re not alone.” — Jamie B. Dokovna, shareholder, Becker & Poliakoff, West Palm Beach, Florida
“The level of awareness of the importance of mental health among attorneys within the field of construction law is a mixed bag but trending in the right direction. More and more attorneys who I speak with are expressing their increasing sensitivity to these issues and the need to address them in the workplace. There’s still a long way to go since there are still some who don’t understand or recognize the importance of it or how big an issue it may really be, but at least I’m seeing progress.
“As an example, our firm recently formed a mental health committee and is implementing a mental health initiative to educate and address mental health in the workplace and I’m aware of a couple of other firms that recently did this as well. This trend will hopefully help destigmatize mental health issues and promote people getting the help or support they need.
“Since I’ve been in practice, which is for more than 30 years, I’ve seen opinions about mental health evolve and change dramatically. When I first started practicing, I don’t recall this ever being discussed or addressed in any meaningful way. Whatever mental health issues people were having were being handled privately or not at all. I think that was due in large measure to the stigma that many people felt were attached to such things. As a result, many people suffered in private and didn’t get the help they may have needed.” — Gary M. Stein, co-managing partner, Peckar & Abramson, P.C., Miami
“Many attorneys—whether litigators, transactional lawyers, in-house counsel, arbitrators, mediators, or judicial officers—share a common trait: a deep commitment to justice and fairness. As corny as that may sound, it’s a conviction we bring to every aspect of our work. A byproduct of that passion is that it becomes easy to lose sight of our own well-being, often to the detriment of our personal lives.
“I’ve practiced for more than 30 years, exclusively in the construction and real estate industries, and I’m encouraged to see that in 2025, I believe awareness of mental health among attorneys in our field is higher than ever. More lawyers, especially attorneys just entering the profession, are prioritizing work/life balance and self-care in a way we didn’t talk about years ago.
“That said, we still have a long way to go. We need to look out for one another—not just when someone is visibly struggling, but also when the signs are subtle or entirely hidden. Especially for those among us who are stoic, who equate working harder with solving all problems, the risks can be harder to detect and even harder to admit.
“The evolving conversation around mental health is a welcome shift, but it’s only a starting point. Whether you’re just beginning your legal career or approaching its final chapters, we all owe it to ourselves—and each other—to stay engaged in that conversation. Sometimes pausing your advocacy for just a moment to ask someone how they’re doing can make all the difference.” — Todd Bressler, partner, BBG Construction Law, Los Angeles, California
“At Kiewit, mental health has been a specific focus and initiative over the past several years. We have regular all-company information/training sessions discussing the topic. We make available “Under the Hat-Building Healthy Minds” which is part of our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) focuses on making mental health a priority and provides specific access to resources in each of the countries in which we operate. Importantly, we also provide training on knowing the signs of mental health challenges to assist employees who may be struggling.
“While I believe challenges still exist in identifying and appropriately treating mental health issues, there has been a noticeable shift in attitude. We are more open to the idea that mental health issues are treatable as other health issues are. There is less blame, and more understanding. We do not focus enough on educating ourselves to identify the signs of mental health issues, especially among our youth.
“While I know if my child has a cold or a skinned knee, and what to do about it, most of us are unable to identify if our child suffers from depression or other form of mental illness and we have no idea what appropriate treatment is. Improving our ability to identify potential mental health issues and knowing what to do about them is the next step in improving how we deal with the issue.” — David A. Hecker, group general counsel, Strategic Resolutions, KIEWIT CORPORATION, Omaha, Nebraska
“It seems that awareness of mental health issues is better understood by the public as a whole, but unfortunately it’s still not adequately addressed in the legal industry. There is still a pervasive environment that requires people to ignore or push back their feelings. We try to address issues as they arise here, but it is hard to do because people feel uncomfortable expressing themselves and being vulnerable in a profession that exploits vulnerability.
“However, to be good practitioners, we have to be good to ourselves, or we cannot hold and handle our clients’ problems effectively. Thus, as leaders of our groups, we need to be on the lookout for signs that colleagues are having issues and then address those with empathy and an eye towards solving the whole problem as opposed to just the symptoms. It is not an easy ask but we can do better.” — Marion Hack, member | Cozen O’Connor, Los Angeles, California
“During my time practicing law, I have seen more emphasis on mental health. During one of the more recent State Bar of Texas Construction Law Conferences, they even had a session where three construction attorneys presented on their own challenges with the practice of law and alcoholism. The audience was very supportive in response to their stories. Hopefully people who needed to receive the message received it. I also think with a move to working from home and people working flexible hours (which seems to have grown exponentially because of covid-19) there has also been a general trend to accommodate people more in their personal lives, which hopefully lessens some of the stressors involved in the job.” — Brian Gaudet, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Houston, Texas
“While mental health is a recurring topic that all people seem to agree is important, there is remarkably little substantive discussion at industry events or amongst peers. Rather, it seems that most people either suffer in silence or share their thoughts privately with a professional, not making it readily known that they are suffering. In some cases, people drop out of the professional altogether—disappearing from public view—only for friends and colleagues to find out later that they have gone through something traumatic on a personal level.
“For women in the industry, it is often divorce, coupled with child custody battles. Even in this day and age, the burden on the woman in such circumstances is often greater. I have personally seen this derail the careers of women, while some men (not all) seem to bounce right back. That could be purely superficial, but is simply an observation.
“COVID also took a unique toll on construction lawyers—and the industry more broadly—because construction was deemed ‘essential’ and did not slow down during the shutdowns. In fact, many construction lawyers would say that they were never busier than during the COVID shutdown period. That, coupled with the forced isolation of COVID, was mentally detrimental to many, and it is not clear that they have fully recovered from its effects.
“On the positive side, the stigma of mental health issues seems to have decreased with greater acceptance overall, particularly if the impacted individual seemed fairly well-adjusted prior to being impacted by mental health issues. People also seem to be more willing to reach out for professional help when suffering from such issues. That may be partially a function of workplace programs offering free (or reduced cost) mental health sessions that are more readily available and accessible than they were in the past.”
— Wendy Venoit, member, Cozen O’Connor, Boston
“I’d like to think that each one of us would view mental health as an important issue from the standpoint of pure morality and humanity. If not, think about it from a business standpoint and a liability standpoint. When four times as many people are dying by suicide as are killed in construction accidents; when we see mental health issues increasing as dramatically as they are within the legal community—lawyers know that there is a case you can make out of that.
“At what point does that transfer into reasonable foreseeability? At what point does that become an issue of liability? On top of that, if you’re stepping in and dealing with this, you’re going to end up with better productivity and better longevity of your employees. Even if you’re not going to look at it from the standpoint of morality and humanity, let your pocketbook do the talking, because we are at that tipping point. It is inevitable that we are going to see cases brought where there was a failure to take reasonable action.” — Steven M. Charney, chair, Peckar & Abramson, River Edge, N.J.
