Dealing with resistance to change by legal academics

Many law schools have in recent years responded to the mounting evidence of unusually high levels of psychological distress experienced by law students by attempting to introduce measures intended to ameliorate such distress and foster law student wellbeing. The responses by individual legal academics to these wellness initiatives are varied. Some academics embrace them with enthusiasm, some are ambivalent . . . and some appear determined to resist and oppose any efforts to make legal education less stressful and difficult for law students. This chapter examines the nature of academic resistance to wellness initiatives: identifying the various forms of resistance engaged in by academics; describing the various reasons and justifications for the resistance; and offering some possible strategies for addressing the resistance