Highlights Newsletter Archive
ABA CoLAP
Summer 1997
Table of Contents
Message from the Chair
by Michael J. Crowley
Jerome J. Shestack, President-elect of the ABA, has just completed his appointments to CoLAP for the 1997-98 Association Year. Mr. Shestack assumed his position as president of the ABA following the ABA Annual Meeting this August in San Francisco. His appointments to CoLAP are for one year and will begin at the conclusion of the meeting as well.
The appointment process for this year has been more extensive than usual. Mr. Shestack was committed to the principal that fresh blood would be injected into all of the ABA's committees and Commissions by his appointments. Jerry worked very hard on his appointments and favored us and our staff with personal phone calls to seek our input and explain his aims. For us the result has meant a relatively large turnover on CoLAP and the loss of some of our most active members. While this may seem tumultuous, we have been treated as well as (or better than) other ABA entities and, more importantly, we are a group whose commitment and dedication will insure the participation of our volunteers whether they are formally on the commission or not.
Somewhat surprisingly, given my long service on CoLAP, I was re-appointed for a final year as chair. However, we have lost the valuable services of John Rogers Carroll, Briggs Cheney, Bob Cummins, Sally Krauss and Marty Roof as CoLAP members. As is usual with our group, we will continue to impose on these folks for their experience and expertise for years to come. Also returning to CoLAP will be Ed Blewer, John Brownrigg, Mike Distelhorst and Bonnie Waters.
Edwin L. Blewer, Jr. is returning for his third year as a member of CoLAP. Last year he chaired the Commission's Disciplinary Survey Committee and was vice-chair for the Commission's Speakers' Bureau Committee. Ed played a major role in the development of the Louisiana State Bar Association Committee Alcohol & Drug Abuse and has chaired it for many years. He also was actively involved in the creation of Louisiana's Lawyer Assistance Program and the recruiting and hiring of its first director. He has struggled with the funding, staffing and expansion of a program which is today very successful. He is a great asset to the Commission.
John C. Brownrigg will return for his second full year as a member of CoLAP after filling a vacancy following the resignation of John Corderman for a half year term. He is a past president of the Nebraska State Bar Association and the chair of NSBA's Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. John was instrumental in the creation of a new department of the NSBA, which became the Nebraska Lawyers Assistance Program. He participated in the evaluation of the existing committee and the proposed lawyer assistance program by the CoLAP. John has also been involved in the expansion of the NSBA's educational programming to its members concerning chemical dependency. He worked with the committee to revise its application for admission to provide more information germane to applicants' drug and alcohol histories in order to assist those whose applications raise questions about possible chemical dependency. Many of you may have met John at our National Workshops for Lawyer Assistance Programs.
Michael Distelhorst is returning for his second year as a member of CoLAP. He is a Professor of Law at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he is also Co-Director of the Ethics Institute at the Law and Graduate Center and the Center for the Advancement and Study of Ethics at the main university. He was a member of the Association of American Law Schools' Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and participated in the development of the Committee's survey on addictions and abuse in the law schools. Mike has been active in the Ohio State Bar's Lawyer Assistance Program and spoken on several occasions on addictions in the law schools at the Commission's National Workshop for Lawyer Assistance Programs. He provides a new perspective to CoLAP as our first academic member. Mike will assume responsibility as Program Chair for the 1998 National Workshop for Lawyer Assistance Programs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Bonnie Waters is returning for her third year as a member. She currently chairs the Commission's 1997 National Workshop Committee and LAP Director Training Committee, and is vice-chair of the Commission's Annual Survey Committee and Model Recovery Monitoring Committee. Bonnie is one of our non-lawyer members. As a Commission, we benefit from members who are nonlawyers and have special expertise in the areas of recovery programs, and clinical and other mental health concerns. Bonnie serves the commission well as a representative of the lawyer assistance program directors. She has been involved in resolving the funding problems that face many LAPs, and has been very successful in securing ongoing funding for the Massachusetts Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program. She has attended all the Commission's National Workshops and participated in many of its business meetings even before she became a member.
New to CoLAP for this year are Michael J. Cohen, Lea Landmann, David R. Pfalzgraf, and Judge Ronald D. Thom.
Michael J. Cohen, currently the Executive Director of Florida Lawyers Assistance, Inc., is a Certified Employee Assistance Professional. He received his law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston in 1980 and has worked in the field of assisting impaired lawyers since 1986. He has dealt with and aided hundreds of lawyers, law students and judges with their drug, alcohol or psychological conditions. He currently serves as the Web Master for CoLAP and served on the planning committees for CoLAP's 9th and 10th National Workshops on Lawyer Assistance Programs. Michael will work with the Southeast Region, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee.
Lea Landmann is the Director of Wisconsin Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc. (LCL). WisLAP, which is funded through the State Bar of Wisconsin, provides service to lawyers suffering from mental health problems and addictions including alcohol and drugs. Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers focuses on the addictions problems. Lea is a non-lawyer and has been the LCL director in Wisconsin since its creation in 1980. She has attended most of our National Workshops and has been a speaker for us in the past. Most recently, Lea completed the Gambling Counselor Training Seminar at the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery with several other LAP directors. Before assuming the position as LCL Director, Lea worked as a journalist and an employee assistance program specialist. She provided the initial training to the volunteers before LCL was formally organized and a lawyer assistance program formed. Lea will work with the Midwest Region, which includes Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota.
David Pfalzgraf, President (1996-97) of the Bar Association of Erie County, has been appointed as a new member of CoLAP. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Erie County Bar Association and is past Chair of that association's Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee, Committee for the Disabled. Dave was a founder of the Erie County Bar Association's Elder Law Committee. He is active in various community organizations and has served as Chairperson of the Margaret A. Stutzman Alcoholism and Treatment Center Community advisory Board and Secretary and Vice President to the Board of Directors of the Greater Buffalo Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. He is a past member of the Alcoholism/Substance Abuse Sub-committee of the Erie County Mental Hygiene Community Services Board. Dave is past Chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Lawyer Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, a committee on which he has served since 1982. He is a frequent lecturer on matters regarding elder law, lawyer impairment and professionalism. David will work with the Atlantic Region, which includes New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Ronald D. Thom is also a first-time appointment to CoLAP. He has contributed long-time support to the Oregon Attorney Assistance Program and assists lawyers suffering from addictions. In his position as Judge, he has been able to assist many alcoholics and addicts in finding treatment for their disease. Ron brings expertise to CoLAP on the special problems facing Native American lawyers suffering from alcoholism and addictions. He also provides representation from the judiciary to CoLAP. Ron will work with the Pacific Region, which includes Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California.
Returning to CoLAP after taking time off to serve as the Attorney General for the Republic of Palau, is our good friend, John P. Corderman. Before his first appointment to the Commission in 1994, Jack served as liaison to the Commission from the ABA Board of Governors for three years. His combined talents in understanding ABA procedures and the judiciary, as well as knowledge of recovery from addictions is beneficial to the Commission's work. Jack can also provide insight as a former sole practitioner. He will serve the West Region, which includes New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.
Effective June 1, 1997, the ABA Law Student Division appointed Kimberly A. Theobold as liaison to CoLAP, who will replace Sophia Atcherson, whom many of you met in San Antonio. Ms. Theobold is a Music Therapist, working part time at Wheatland Mental Health Center while attending Oklahoma City University School of Law. She is just finishing her first year of law school. Kim will be joining us at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco and has indicated an interest in actively participating with CoLAP.
Three other appointments have been made by outside groups affiliated with the American Bar Association: the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), the Canadian Bar Association Legal Profession Assistance Conference (LPAC), and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL). Laura Chastain will become our liaison from NOBC, Adrian Hill will again serve from LPAC, and APRL has reappointed Diane Karpman from Los Angeles.
Special thanks to those members and liaisons who are moving on, but will continue to support CoLAP: John Rogers Carroll, Briggs Cheney, Robert P. Cummins, Judge Sarah L. Krauss, Martha A. Roof, Board of Governors Liaison Donald C. Schiller, NOBC Liason Christine Anderson, and Law Student Division Liaison Sophia J. Atcherson. We are very grateful for your endless energy and enthusiastic support.
Around the LAP's
Note from Donna Spilis: Many thanks to the LAP's that send information for inclusion in this section of Highlights, and also to the ABA Division for Bar Services, whose staff regularly send clips related to the work of LAPs from state and local bar association journals and newsletters.
England: In Issue 7 (April 1997) of the Newsletter of the Lawyers Support Group, Barry Pritchard the new Co-ordinator for SolCare wrote, "SolCare Ltd was formed in February this year with the specific aim of helping solicitors with health problems such as alcohol and/or drug abuse, stress or depression to find help and thus restore them to a full, and fulfilling role in their chosen profession. The company is limited by guarantee and is in the process of being registered as a charity. I was under no illusions when I applied for the position, but as each day passes I grow increasingly aware of the enormity of my task. I draw comfort from Browning's words: 'Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?' When I joined this 12-step program, I was told that worthwhile tasks are seldom easy!" I don't believe Barry Pritchard or Jonathan Goodliffe will be able to join us this September in Washington, D.C. for the National Workshop. Since Barry is one of our newest lawyer assistance program directors, you may want to contact him with words of encouragement and information about your program. You can reach him at SolCare, P.O. Box 6, Porthmadog D.O., Gwynedd LL49 9Ze (Helpline: 01766-512222) or by E-mail at BarSol@aol.com.
Florida: The Hon. Steven Shea, Circuit Court Judge in Monroe County, Florida, has been invited by the ABA and U.S. Dept. of Justice to participate in a two day seminar in Lithuania addressing the judges and prosecutors in that country. Judge Shea has been asked to make a presentation on drug courts and participate in a panel discussion. The coordinator, Dennis Fitzgerald, Esq., has informed Judge Shea that this will be the first time an American judge will make a presentation in a former communist country. Judge Shea says he is looking forward to the trip from September 20 - 28, 1997 and has asked CoLAP or any of the LAP's to provide him with any information (brochures, etc.) which they think might be useful to present to the legal community in Lithuania.
Illinois: Illinois State Bar Association President Ralph Gabric and Chicago Bar Association President Donald Hubert appointed a Special ISBA/CBA Committee on LAP to investigate the subject of permanent funding for LAP. Its recommendations are: a) That the ISBA and CBA continue current levels of financial and in-kind support to LAP; b) That the ISBA and CBA commit to conduct at least one CLE program for LAP each year; c) That the ISBA and CBA recommend that LAP continue its current services and investigate expansion of services to meet the needs of the Bar; and d) That by joint resolution the ISBA and CBA recommend to the Illinois Supreme Court that LAP be funded through an increase in attorney registration fees. Both the ISBA Board of Governors and the CBA Board of Managers have adopted the joint resolution recommending that, since LAP serves all members of the Bar, it is appropriate that the activities of LAP be funded by an increase in attorney registration fees of $5.00 and that the Illinois Supreme Court be approached with this request and recommendation.
The position of Executive Director for the Illinois LAP, held by Leon Schrauben, has recently been expanded to a full-time position from part-time. Leon originally was scheduled to devote 25 hours per week to the program and is now a 40-hour per week employee.
Indiana: The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to provide about $160,000 in funding for the Indiana Lawyers Assistance Program through an increase in membership dues for lawyers and judges. The LAP director, Dudley Miller, expressed his gratitude to the late Jim Cushman for his work with the Supreme Court and Indiana bar leaders in getting this recommendation approved.
Michigan: The Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program is seeking Alanon members to form an Alanon Recovery Network. Alanon network members would support and assist other family members by taking them to Alanon meetings, serving as temporary sponsors or other similar activities. This request was circulated through "Turning Point" Newsletter of the Michigan Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program.
Oregon: Excerpt from a report by Diane Rynerson, director of the Oregon Women Lawyers: The Oregon Attorney Assistance Program has had a long history of working cooperatively with Oregon Women Lawyers, primarily in the area of parenting issues. One of the senior staff members of the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund keeps track of possible matches for nanny sharing. Noontime brown bags on various parenting topics have been cosponsored. Recently, some of the staff (Don Muccigrosso, Michael Sweeney, and Mike Long) of the Oregon Attorney Assistance Program were concerned that there might be unmet counseling needs of women lawyers. The result is a small women lawyers support group, lead by a professional counselor, cosponsored by the Oregon Attorney Assistance Program and Oregon Women Lawyers. The Oregon Attorney Assistance Program identified the need, identified the counselor and is underwriting a large portion of the cost of the counseling. Oregon Women Lawyers met with the counselor to discuss the nature of the need and logistical concerns, and expended the funds to send direct mail about the counselor to its members.
Washington: Barbara Harper will become the first director of the newly expanded Lawyers Assistance Department of the Washington State Bar Association. In this position, Barbara will supervise the activities of the following entities: Mandatory Fee Arbitration, Mediation, Law Office Management, Ethics Hotline, as well as the Lawyers Assistance Program.
