Obiter Dicta Issue 10 - February 1, 2016 | Page 2

EDITORIAL 2  Obiter Dicta Let’s Talk About Lifting the Cloak of Secrecy - heather pringle This past Wednesday marked the sixth annual Bell Let’s Talk Day, a public awareness cam paign designed to break the silence around mental illness across Canada. This leads me to speak of several recent student submissions to the Obiter. We received power ful and deeply personal s tories abou t mental illness whose authors requested that their names not be published. As a result, a number of complications revealed themselves from a nexus be t we en responsible journalistic standards and an individual’s right to privac y. From the Associated Press to the New York Times, journalistic standards have traditionally condemned the use of anonymous bylines citing the readers’ right to transparenc y of information and the authors ought responsibility to be accountable for the words published. Our editorial board was compelled to seriously consider whether exceptions to this long-standing policy ought be permitted under special circumstances that include mental health issues. In taking a broad perspec tive, the issue here is much larger than whether or not publishing ar ticles under anonymous bylines is an acceptable prac tice. For me, this question points to a much larger problem that pervades the attitudes constituting our profession. There is somewhat of a cognitive dissonance in law school where mental health issues such as addic tion, obsessive -compulsive disorder, and perfec tionism are viewed to be strengths while others are deemed to be signs of weakness. We are surrounded by a culture where alcoholism, drug abuse, and questionable — or an entire lack of— ethics are more readily embraced than anxiety, depression, or more serious mental health issues. Despite the likelihood tha t an overwhelming majority of students have experienced these afflic tions at some point during their legal studies, a cloak of secrecy continues to impede the possibility of engaging in an hones t discourse about the per vasiveness of this prob lem. This shroud leaves many students with the impression that to speak openly about suffering from a mental health issue is akin to ending your legal career before it even begins. This fear of being viewed as damaged goods to the partners on Bay street leaves students choosing to suffer in silence, fearing the consequences that their words might bring them. And many of those that choose to speak out only do so under the protec tion of anonymity. a. Osgoode Hall Law School, 0014g York University 4700 Keele Street Toronto, on  m3j 1p3 e. [email protected] w. obiter-dicta.ca t. @obiterdictaoz “The jury consists of twelve persons chose to decide who has the best lawyer.”  - Robert Frost ê Image credit: The International Federation on Ageing ifa-fiv.org While it’s true that this a profession that is known to be arduous and demanding on its members, I don’t believe that gives a justification for perpetuating the “tough-as-nails” stereotype of what a lawyer is expec ted to be. The mere fac t that some students might experience panic attacks as a result of the overwhelming stress that law school brings doesn’t make them weak—it makes them human. For those students struggling with the challenges associated with mental illness, the battle alone can leave them feeling like vic tims. Furthering the stigma