A 47-Year Old Lawyer Dies. Is Big Law To Blame?

Following up on my previous posts (links below):  Vivia Chen, A Lawyer Dies. Is Big Law To Blame?:

Ever since the coroner’s findings came out about the death of Vanessa Ford, a law partner at Pinsent Masons, readers have been urging me to say my piece.

The bare fact of her death is this: Ford, 47, fell onto a railroad track in London on September 23 and died when she was hit by a train. Though the coroner inquest concluded there was “insufficient evidence to suggest that she intended to take her own life,” it emphasized there was “clear evidence” that “Vanessa was experiencing some form of mental health crisis.” The toxicity report found “incredibly high” levels of alcohol in her system.

Her husband also issued a statement that portrayed Ford as an exhausted lawyer and mother who worked 18-hour days on the high-stakes acquisition of Everton Football Club by a private equity firm, while being wracked with guilt about not spending enough time with her two children while working on the deal. (She closed the deal just days before her death.)

There’s a lot to unpack here, and much of this seems to fall in my bailiwick—Big Law, women, and mental health—topics I’ve covered for decades. So why was I so reluctant to weigh in?

First, I felt a deep unease about opining on what led Ford to those train tracks on that fateful day when there’s so much we don’t know. To me, there’s often an exploitative, sensationalistic aspect to writing about this sort of tragedy when the news is fresh and jolting. Second, I didn’t want to join the chorus that’s chanting: Big Law Kills.

It’s easy to blame Big Law. Everyone knows it sucks and that many people burn out and leave the profession (I did). My main concern is oversimplifying what’s undoubtedly a very complicated, personal situation. ...

What’s mystifying to me is how Ford kept things under wraps when she was spiraling out of control. I find it especially heartbreaking that she tried to contact her medical provider about her depression and alcohol dependency just hours before her death but was unable to get an appointment.

There are many vexing, unanswered questions about this tragedy. The only thing that’s clear is that in her final hours she was adrift and alone, and, for whatever reason, she didn’t get the help she desperately needed. For that, there’s plenty of blame for everyone to share.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Wall Street Journal, Law Firms Finally Say It’s OK to See a Therapist (May 22, 2017)
• Harvard Crimson, 25% Of Harvard Law Students Suffer From Depression, 20% Are At Heightened Risk Of Suicide (Apr. 3, 2018)
• Inside Higher Ed, Harvard Study: 20% Of College Students Consider Suicide; 9% Attempt It (Oct. 1, 2018)
• American Lawyer, 'Big Law Killed My Husband': An Open Letter From A Sidley Partner's Widow (Nov. 13, 2018)
• American Lawyer, How One Lawyer Overcame Living With Depression In Big Law (Feb. 17, 2019)
• Law.com, Buffalo Law Student Dies From Suicide, Family Establishes Mental Health Fund For Athletes (July 7, 2019)
• Above the Law, Sidley Still Thinks They Handled Partner’s Suicide Correctly. His Widow Disagrees. (July 24, 2019)
• Bloomberg Law, Legal Education Needs A Wellness Reckoning (Apr. 8, 2021)
• Law.com, Attorneys Of Color Reveal Alarmingly Higher Instances Of Mental Health Struggles (June 15, 2021)
• Janet Thompson Jackson (Washburn), Wellness And Law: Reforming Legal Education To Support Student Wellness (June 22, 2021)
• ABA Journal, 11% Of Law Students Had Suicidal Thoughts In 2021. What Can Law Schools Do? (July 15, 2022)
• New York Times, David Brooks And Michael Gerson On Depression And Faith (Feb. 12, 2023)
• Arkansas Law Review, Mental Health, Law School, And Bar Admissions: Eliminating Stigma And Fostering A Healthier Profession (May 18, 2023)
• Colin Black (Suffolk), The Rise And Fall Of The Mental Health Inquiry For Bar Admission (Aug. 12, 2023)
• Law.com, 'We're Literally Dying': Addressing Lawyer Mental Health Needs To Start In Law School (Apr. 8, 2024)