Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs
(A service entity of the American Bar Association)

The American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs provides a model for assisting judges, lawyers and law students whose lives have been impaired by addictions and emotional health issues. Alcoholism, addictions, and mental health illnesses are afflictions that affect a great number of professionals including judges, lawyers and law students. The primary goal of the Commission is to advance the legal community's knowledge of health and work/life balance issues facing lawyers and its response to those issues. The ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) continues to develop new services and expand existing programs designed to improve the health and well being of judges, lawyers and law students.

CoLAP’s quarterly newsletter, Highlights, is designed to keep readers up-to-date about the Commission's latest activities. Through this newsletter, information about Lawyer Assistance Programs (LAP's) is relayed and each program is notified of the latest developments available to assist lawyers with chemical dependencies or mental health issues. Also contained in Highlights are updates about the National Conference for Lawyer Assistance Programs, book reviews, messages from the chair, commission announcements, and reports of people in the news.

The Senior Lawyer Assistance Committee was created due to the increasing need to support aging legal professionals. CoLAP conducted a survey of the state and local LAP Directors. Ninety-five per cent indicated their calls were not related to chemical abuse/dependency/ addictions. Ninety-three per cent indicated the types of requests received were concerns of decreasing professional competence due to decreasing mental/cognitive functioning or mental health disorders.

The Judicial Initiative is developing a multi-component plan for improving the health and wellness of our judges, who have a high rate of stress, depression and addictions. This is not uncommon with high achievers. We are concerned with the increasing number of suicides among judges, and are preparing model programs to address early identification, prevention, and coping systems. Future plans include studying the interaction of judicial discipline and assistance to impaired judges.

The CoLAP Education Committee will present as the resource for all ABA entities interested in producing educational programs related to quality of life issues including stress, depression and addictions. CoLAP plans to coordinate efforts with the ABA MCLE Center on new health and wellness issues to provide high quality and compelling educational programs in keeping with CoLAP’s mission.

The Diversity Initiative will focus this year on the original Letter of Agreement between ABA and NBA, which was initiated by the late NBA President Clyde Bailey and ABA Past President Dennis Archer providing access to CoLAP’s Helpline and other services for NBA members.

Law School Assistance has six working groups in various stages of completion of a Model Program promoting student assistance services by students; a speakers bureau of lawyers and law students recovering from mental health, addictions and other health related issues that affect their ability to function at maximum ability at law school; and a mechanism for coordinating the Tool Kits of CoLAP and the ABA Law Student Division. The "Students in Recovery" listserv is celebrating six years of service and ongoing success. It is managed by the CoLAP staff director, who is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor and National Certified Recovery Specialist.

Beginning in 1989 and each year since, the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs has hosted the National Conference for Lawyer Assistance Programs where attendees learn about organizing, sustaining, and expanding lawyer assistance programs. The Conference is held throughout the United States and Canada. The Conference informs participants about confidentiality; reentry into practice; the legal repercussions of addiction, including the Americans with Disabilities Act; the present state of medical and scientific research on addiction; and much more.

Please feel free to the CoLAP staff with any questions you may have.