When federal Social Security Judge Timothy Maher, 51, ended his life Aug. 24 after taking hostages and having a 10-hour standoff with police, he left the legal community in shock.

“My heart breaks,” said Michael J. Higer of Berger Singerman in Miami and immediate past president of the Florida Bar. ”My heart breaks for the judge, for his family, for those police officers who had to come to the scene and risk their lives, and for everybody who was in contact with him. All those situations and encounters that led up to the ultimate incident are incredibly heartbreaking and sad.”

Related: Federal Judge Kills Himself in Standoff With Police

Until Aug. 14, when Maher was arrested for allegedly threatening his ex-girlfriend with a rifle a week before his death, he appeared to be quietly and diligently doing his job at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in downtown Miami.

Users in the public comments section of that agency's website described the judge as “compassionate,” “impartial” and “fair.”

“Judge Maher is an intelligent and compassionate public servant,” said one comment from 2013. “He clearly takes his responsibilities as a judge seriously. He is fair to the plaintiff and to the taxpayer in reaching his decisions. We need more judges like him.”

Judge Timothy Maher. Photo: courtesy of Miami-Dade courts.

Related story: The Last Days of Judge Timothy Maher: What Led a Federal Jurist to End His Own Life?

'No Cast to Mend a Broken Bone'

The way Higer sees it, Maher was likely “extremely stressed” in the years leading up to the incident.

“I'm sure that as people look under the veneer of what happened, ultimately, they'll see a very troubled person and they'll see a pattern that led to this day. There will be multiple warning signs, I'm sure, that this didn't happen out of nowhere,” Higer said.

Suicide, according to Higer, doesn't boil down to one act on a single day.

“That guy did not wake up and say, 'Today's the day.' This was something that was building for this guy for many years,” Higer said. “Just think what a dark place he must have been in. Because for all accounts, up until very recently he was a very high-functioning, well-liked, well-balanced judge.”

Higer recalled a debate he had with an Uber driver recently over whether a homeless person they'd seen on the street was capable of turning his life around and getting a job.

“You don't know what other things might be debilitating for that person, and I think, unfortunately, that's the same thing for this judge and for other folks who oftentimes suffer in a way that's hard to see,” he said. “Because there's no cast to mend a broken bone that applies here.”

'No one is immune'

Michelle Suskauer, Florida Bar President. Courtesy photo.

Florida Bar President Michelle Suskauer, who has prioritized wellness during her term, said “no one is immune” to stress and mental issues in the legal profession.

“To be involved in an incredibly adversarial and stressful professional and not be touched by it is impossible,” Suskauer said.

As a criminal defense lawyer at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein in West Palm Beach, Suskauer deals with a host of client crises at ungodly hours of the day.

“I sleep next to my phone. That does not lead to a relaxing existence,” she said. “With technology, we are tethered to our practices 24/7. But (my clients) are in a very difficult situation, often the worst of their lives, and they're looking to you to deal with that crisis immediately.”

Suskauer's husband, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott I. Suskauer, serves in the family division.

“Talk about a sense of stress and crisis,” the bar president said. “We're expected to solve these issues, putting our own lives aside to focus on how we solve these immediate problems for our client. So we often internalize all of the stress that we're seeing in others and focusing on our jobs.”

For these reasons, Suskauer has continued to build upon efforts by her predecessor, Higer, as bar president to break down the stigma attached to mental illness.

The Florida Bar established a Mental Health and Wellness Committee in 2017, aimed at educating lawyers on mental illness and recommending help and best practices.

'The Specter'

Matthew Dietz, founding member and litigation director for the Disability Independence Group Inc. Courtesy photo.

Matthew Dietz, litigation director of Disability Independence Group Inc. in Miami, thinks a policy overhaul is in order for stressed legal professionals.

“The difficulty that judges and all lawyers have is how to handle and how to disclose mental health issues,” Dietz said. “The issue with state judges, for example, is if you do have an issue that may affect your competence to be a judge, the (Judicial Qualifications Commission) really has the ability to do an invasive investigation of the judge's ability. And that seems to make people hesitate over whether or not they are going to disclose something, or whether they are going to seek help.”

The stigma is such that, according to Dietz, that “if you do get mental health treatment, you're an incompetent judge or you're an incompetent lawyer.”

Related: He Got Help for Mental Illness. Now He Says Florida Bar Examiners Are Using That Against Him

“Can a judge cut it when they have hundreds of cases on his or her docket? Dietz said. “What is the stress in dealing with absolutely annoying and obnoxious attorneys like we are on a daily basis? How do you do that?”

It's not yet clear whether Maher sought any form of help in the weeks or months leading up the standoff, but the idea of facing scrutiny from the JQC could likely have dissuaded him from doing so, according to Dietz.

“The specter of having somebody who is not your treating psychiatrist or psychologist to invesitigate whether or not you're fit or competent to be a judge stops a lot of people, whether they're lawyers, law students or judges, from getting the help that they need,” he said.

Professionals under stress are urged to share the burden by calling the Florida Bar Mental Health and Wellness hotline: 800-282-8981.