In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Naomi Neilson is joined by solicitor Eric Zhang in an open discussion about mental health among young lawyers. In this episode, he shares the experiences that led to his breaking point, including the stress of catching up to his peers and being made to feel inadequate in his first role.

Eric also shares what the profession should be doing better: “We all know that depression and anxiety is an occupational hazard, yet I think there needs to be more done to ensure that everyone’s taking care of their personal health. I think one of the biggest things is that there is an overwhelming culture of working.”

We also talk about maintaining a job outside of the legal profession to financially support the tough (and often underpaid) path into becoming a lawyer and finding a passion for working in social change, as he has done with the Refugee Law Project.

Eric – who will be working alongside a legal team assembled by New Liberals leader Victor Kline to launch private action against Christian Porter – also shares why he got involved with politics and why other young lawyers should consider it.

Finding a path out of breaking point and into better mental health