Paralegal Burnout: Structural Workload Creep, Not Self-Care Deficits

Law360 published a piece this week from Erika Sneeringer of Brockstedt Mandalas arguing that paralegal burnout is being systematically misdiagnosed by firm leadership. The argument: firms respond to paralegal distress with self-care encouragement, when the real driver is a quiet and ongoing proliferation of responsibilities — compounded by vicarious exposure to client trauma — that has expanded paralegal scope without a corresponding expansion of support structures. The piece calls for top-down structural solutions, not bottom-up coping advice. For HR directors and practice group leaders, the implication is that wellness benefits designed for associate-track lawyers often do not address the specific burnout profile of paralegals, whose boundary with client-facing emotional content is thinner and whose career ladder is less defined. Firms building wellbeing frameworks that treat all staff as a homogeneous group are likely missing the paralegals most at risk.