The culture of New Zealand’s law profession may need an overhaul if it wants to stop burn out.

The Aotearoa Legal Workers Union has found 74 percent of lawyers feel their work is causing their mental health to suffer, with 83 percent believing it's doing the same to their colleagues.  

It identifies a range of causes from unmanageable workloads, subject matter of the work, poor or no supervision and feeling undervalued. 

President Tess Upperton told Kate Hawkesby what people get paid is also a big contributor.   

“People at the younger end who are earning not much above minimum wage and then when you take into account the sheer volume of hours they are working unpaid they are dropping below minimum wage sometimes.” 

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