Dr Carly Schrever began her professional life as a lawyer, drawn, as many are, by a belief in justice, fairness, and that law is a force for good. She did well and worked in respected environments. But somewhere along the way Carly realised she was more interested in the human questions behind the legal arguments.
That curiosity became the turning point. Rather than pushing it aside, Carly followed it, stepping off the conventional legal path and retraining as a psychologist. It was a long road, but a purposeful one. Moving from law into psychology allowed her to examine the legal system from the inside out, combining lived experience with empirical research and clinical insight. That rare combination would later underpin some of the most important work done in Australia on judicial stress and wellbeing.
As Carly explains in this episode of Outlaws, judges are deeply committed to their work. They report strong job satisfaction, pride, and a sense of service. And yet, the data consistently shows high levels of burnout and secondary trauma, particularly among judicial officers working in the lower courts, where workload pressures and human distress are relentless.
One of the most striking findings from Carly’s research is that stress doesn’t stem primarily from confronting case content, as many assume. Instead, it often arises from what she describes as stressors of injustice; being forced to work too fast within rigid systems and delivering outcomes that feel incomplete or misaligned with the ideals of justice that drew people to law in the first place.
This matters beyond the bench. Lawyer wellbeing cannot be separated from the systems in which lawyers operate. Focusing solely on individual resilience misses the deeper truth which is that stress in law is largely structural, cultural, and cumulative.
Carly’s journey from lawyer to psychologist gives her a uniquely humane perspective on these issues. She doesn’t argue for abandoning the system, but for understanding it more honestly and for supporting the people who keep showing up, even when the work is heavy.
Staying human in law isn’t a personal failing. It’s a collective responsibility.
