The Burnout Issue

Plus: Ala. lawyers disciplined over AI hallucinations

Raise The Bar

30 Jul 2025 • 7 min read

Pexels/Nataliya Vaitkevich

Burnout is having a moment… and it's not good. This week, we’re diving into what happens when attorneys glorify the grind and end up grinding to a halt. We’ve got a candid Q&A with an attorney who has faced down burnout and serious health challenges, plus a podcast that pulls no punches on what it really takes to rebuild after hitting the wall. You’ll also find a quick burnout quiz (because realizing you have a problem is the first step).

Spoiler alert: Convos with ChatGPT are not privileged. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman blows peoples’ minds by revealing that the stuff they tell a bot could be used against them in court.

Florida ~~man~~ rat. Tallahassee police handcuffed and arrested a Chuck E. Cheese employee for credit card fraud.

The comments on this one are *chef’s kiss.* Do you call the judge you found on Grindr "your honor"?

Is this RICO? Gang of monkeys terrorizing temple visitors.

Dolly Parton never sang about this legal tourism hot spot. Now a popular recreation area, the controversial Tellico Dam was the subject of the first SCOTUS case interpreting the Endangered Species Act, thanks to the humble snail darter.

From burnout to breakthrough

Trying to succinctly describe what attorney Jennifer Marino Thibodaux does for a living is not easy. A former partner at Gibbons P.C., in Newark, NJ, she now develops content and AI products for Thomson Reuters Practical Law and runs JMT Speaks. She is also a best-selling author, just wrapped up a term as the co-executive editor of the Women Lawyers Journal for the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), and advocates for herself and others who have been diagnosed with lymphedema. It’s a lot. But thanks to her experience overcoming burnout, Thibodaux knows how to handle it.

You are very open about the fact that you left your position as a law firm partner to embrace an alternative legal career because you were burning out. How did you know it was time to make such a drastic change?
I left private practice in 2017, shortly after the birth of my only child. I couldn’t knock this lingering feeling of disconnect between my happiness and achieving my dream of becoming partner.

I was increasingly exhausted due to overwork and stress, began to doubt my professional efficacy and became the most negative version of myself. Becoming a mom gave me the push I needed to make a change.

At the time, I would have vehemently denied being burnt out. I equated burnout with “not hacking it” and didn’t understand what it meant. It wasn’t until years later that I learned my feelings were spot-on for burnout, as defined by the World Health Organization. It was a eureka moment.

What reactions do you get from other lawyers when you speak about burnout?
When I started sharing my story about my journey to and from private practice, it spread like wildfire. People called me courageous, which blew my mind. I knew that if I could help normalize the struggles lawyers face, I had to keep putting myself out there.

Is that why you’ve also opened up about your health issues?
On June 6, 2023, I was diagnosed with lymphedema in my left foot and leg. It has been a difficult journey, but I’m finally at a place of peace, acceptance and gratitude.

I now realize that there is no substitute for self-care. At various points in my life, I regularly worked around the clock without regard to my physical or mental health. I allowed work to become my hobby and, worse yet, synonymous with my self-worth.

It took me a year to speak publicly about all of this. When I finally did, the outpouring was overwhelming: support, love, trust and grace. So, I keep doing it.

What would you say to a lawyer who’s quietly questioning their career but feels stuck?
When I was in that position, I completed a core values exercise. It gave me clarity on what was important to me—and how I had unfortunately overvalued success above all else in my quest to make partner. Being honest with myself about this required a long, ugly look in the mirror, but it resulted in a beautiful change. And I’ve discovered that when you do what lights you up, you will never burn out.

Are you burned out?

The qualities that make people good attorneys—intellectual rigor, empathy and strong work ethic—also make people in this profession highly susceptible to burnout. But when is it burnout vs. just a bad week at the office? This quick and discrete online quiz from Dr. Kathleen Smith can help you figure out if you're just going through a rough patch or if there’s something deeper going on that needs attention.

Why this matters: Unchecked burnout doesn’t just affect your well-being, it can erode the quality of your work, strain your relationships and cloud your judgment. So, taking a few minutes to analyze your well-being might be the smartest move you make this week. But keep in mind, this online quiz is a tool for reflection, not diagnosis. (HealthCentral)

Sanctions with teeth

Gone are the days when lawyers who cite a hallucinated case get a slap on the wrist. U.S. District Court Judge Anna Manasco recently issued an order disqualifying and removing three attorneys after it was revealed that they included fake cases in their filings.

She’s also requiring them to share a copy of the order with all of their clients, opposing lawyers and judges in other pending state or federal cases in which they are involved, and every other lawyer at their firm. And the court itself is forwarding the order to the Alabama State Bar, which handles attorney discipline in that state.

Why this matters: Judges are getting fed up with attorneys failing to check the work of their AI associates. Manasco says fabricating legal authority “demands substantially greater accountability than the reprimands and modest fines that have become common as courts confront this form of AI misuse.” (WHNT News 19)

But see: A federal judge in NJ withdrew an opinion after lawyers in the case flagged apparently hallucinated quotations. (Bloomberg Law)

Regular or extra crispy

Burnout is shockingly common in the legal profession. Knowing how to spot it and how to recover from it is critical. Each episode of this podcast is an interview with someone—including a lawyer or two—who have experienced burnout and bounced back from it. Hosts Cait Donovan and Sarah Vosen don’t let their guests skip over the ugly parts, and they don’t pretend you can wave a magic wand and make burnout go away.

Why this matters: Even if you’re not in the thick of burnout now, FRIED is worth a listen. These stories offer a heads-up on the signs, the traps and the tools you’ll want in your back pocket. (FRIED. The Burnout Podcast)

Reimagining referrals

Referrals remain a key source of business for most attorneys, so expanding the number of people sending them seems like a no-brainer. But would you ever consider hiring an influencer to act as a referral source? ENX2 Marketing’s Nicole Farber thinks you should. In this article, she explains why and how she’s helping law firms tap into the influencer marketing trend.

Why this matters: When you do influencer marketing, you’re not just buying exposure, you’re buying credibility. When someone’s favorite creator says, “I trust this attorney” or “I learned a lot from this legal guide,” it carries more weight than an online review or a banner ad ever could. And that’s something law firms, especially those in competitive markets, can’t afford to overlook. (ENX2 Marketing)

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Raise the Bar is written and curated by Emily Kelchen and edited by Bianca Prieto.