Patrick Krill is an attorney, licensed and board-certified alcohol and drug counselor, author, researcher, and advocate who has spearheaded numerous groundbreaking efforts to improve mental health in the legal profession. Recognized globally as a leading authority in the field, he is the founder of Krill Strategies, a behavioral health consulting firm exclusively for the legal profession. In that role, he serves as a trusted advisor to large law firms and corporate legal departments throughout North America and Europe, working to help them protect and improve the health and well-being of their attorneys and staff.
Patrick is the former director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Legal Professionals Program, a preeminent clinical treatment program for addicted attorneys, judges, and law students. While leading that program, he counseled many hundreds of legal professionals from around the country who sought to better understand and overcome the unique challenges faced on a lawyer’s road to recovery.
Patrick’s highly specialized background and unique breadth of knowledge related to behavioral health and well-being in the legal profession make him a widely sought-after expert and trusted resource for solving one of the legal profession’s most challenging problems. His clients include many of the largest and most prominent and legal employers in the world.
Patrick has authored more than seventy articles related to addiction and mental health, including his advice column for Law.com and The American Lawyer. As a frequent source for print and broadcast media, he has been quoted in dozens of national and regional news outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and countless legal industry trade publications and blogs. Patrick has been a guest on numerous national broadcasts, including multiple appearances on NPR.
Patrick’s groundbreaking work in the area of attorney behavioral health includes: initiating and serving as lead author of the first and only national study on the prevalence of attorney addiction and mental health problems, a joint undertaking of the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine; creating the framework for the ABA Well-Being Pledge, an innovative campaign to improve the health and well-being of lawyers; and collaborating with the California Lawyers Association and D.C. Bar to conduct the first large-scale study of personal and workplace risk factors for mental health problems among practicing attorneys. The first of several forthcoming papers reporting the results of that study were published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS-ONE in May 2021.
After the ABA’s 2016 study of mental health and substance use disorders among lawyers, it became well known that lawyers face particular challenges concerning addiction and wellbeing and that there were often...
After last year’s challenges, could you be suffering from it without knowing it?
Lawyer Patrick Krill learned to be more flexible during the pandemic, with inspiration from "Be Water," an ESPN documentary about martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.
Patrick Krill discusses legal field mental health issues and offers strategies for monitoring and improving personal wellness.
Patrick Krill speaks out about the issues and dangers of illegal prescription stimulants.
Patrick Krill talks about dealing with anxiety and substance abuse within the legal profession. He includes relevant studies and resources for both lawyers and employers that help cultivate wellbeing in the workplace.
Fabiani Duarte interviews Patrick Krill about the prevalence of substance misuse and other mental health concerns among lawyers.
With such a stressful profession, many attorneys face addiction and other mental health issues. If you find yourself struggling–or know another lawyer who is–what resources are out there? Does admitting a problem...
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