ABA CoLAP
Commission Activities

(Original article written by Judge Robert L. Childers, page 4, Spring 2003 Highlights Newsletter)

At the August 2002 Commission meeting, Chairman John Clark appointed Co-Chairs of a new Law School Outreach Committee. The impetus for the Committee was a report published by a Special Committee of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) on Substance Abuse in the Law Schools. The Special Committee Report contained recommendations for law schools to address these issues as they affected law students and faculty. The CoLAP Commission felt that more should be done to reach lawyers at the earliest possible stage, i.e., in law school.

An outstanding group of law school deans, professors, Commissioners, and Action Committee members was assembled to address the issues and to come up with an action plan.

The Law School Outreach Committee established two goals:

1. To develop the best strategy possible to encourage law schools to have ongoing programs in place to educate law students and faculty about stress related issues (depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, gambling addictions, etc.) and a procedure for identifying and assisting law students and faculty who may be affected by these issues, and;
2. To develop the best strategy possible for encouraging law schools to develop a close working relationship with local Lawyers Assistance Programs.

The Committee had its first meeting February 20-21, 2003 in San Diego. The focus of the first day was to brainstorm as to why the recommendations in the 1993 AALS Special Committee Report have not been implemented or adopted by law schools. The second day of the meeting was devoted to brainstorming solutions and assigning tasks to members of the subcommittee. The Committee was divided into three working groups:

1. Student Insights/Involvement: One group focused on the needs of students: educating students and faculty regarding the issues, improving communication/access to resources for students, and broadening and empowering a network of communicators, including student leaders and faculty.
2. Models: The second group focused on the creation of a model packet or “toolkit” of information for the law schools dealing with education, prevention, policies, faculty consciousness, available resources and local LAP partnerships.
3. Bar Admission: The third group focused on working with the Conference of Chief Justices, Law Examiners and/or Licensing Agencies and others to address the problems created by requiring treat-ment information on bar applications. Some students are concerned about the confidentiality of treatment records and are hesitant to seek necessary treatment for fear of having to disclose treatment information, or the fact of treatment, on the bar application. They are concerned that seeking treatment would prevent them from being licensed to practice law.

The Committee members are excited and energized about the prospects of helping the law schools to help affected law students and faculty.

Products produced by the Law School Outreach Committee include:

For Students in Recovery: A Listserv has been developed by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) to provide a confidential email vehicle for law students who want to get, or stay, clean and sober while in law school. This is a chance for students to connect with and ask questions of their law student peers throughout the US and share their experience, strength and hope. To be added, interested law students should contact CoLAP's Director, Donna Spilis, directly at spilisd@staff.abanet.org. Students should be prepared to talk a bit about their history and about their need and desire to communicate with other law students facing the similiar challenges. Ms. Spilis will make the final determination to add the student to the Listserv and will provide each student with the rules and regulations regarding use of the "Students in Recovery Listserv." When a student graduates and is admitted to the bar, he/she will be removed from the Listserv.

Annotated Bibliography

Sample stickers with confidential, toll-free helpline number 866-LAW-LAPS (where caller will be referred to a confidential number for the lawyer assistance program in his/her area.)

Sample copy for ads or posters showing confidential, tool-free helline number 866-LAW-LAPS (where caller will be referred to a confidential number for the lawyer assistance program in his/her area.)

Article "Depression and Anxiety in Law Students: Are We Part of the Problem and Can We Be Part of the Solution?," 8 J. Leg. Writing Inst. 229 (2002).

Article "Under the Influence," Cynthia L. Cooper, Student Lawyer, December 2003.

Program Evaluations

The Commission is available to conduct a review of lawyer assistance programs (LAP's) already in operation. A team consisting of a LAP volunteer and director is assembled by the commission chair. This team reviews the job responsibilities of the staff, the financial operation, services provided, volunteer involvement, and cooperative measures between he LAP and bar association. Currently, the Commission does not charge a fee for this service other than reimbursement of the expenses for the two reviewers. Following the evaluation, the Commission provides a written report with recommendations for expanding and/or improving the reviewed program. Programs in Montana, Washington, Mississippi, Nebraska, Illinois, Delaware, Georgia, Missouri, Florida, Kentucky, Alabama, Arizona, New York, Maine, Connecticut, and British Columbia have all participated in this review process.

CoLAP Awards for Service

The Executive Director Award

The Executive Director Award was granted to bar association executive directors who greatly assisted their lawyer assistance programs. The award publicly recognized the efforts that the recipient had extended in order to increase awareness of the disease of chemical dependency and mental illness in the legal community and to aid in the protection of the public through early identification of lawyers suffering from these diseases. In the award's first year, 1996, nineteen certificates were presented to directors from the US and Canada:

• Bruce Hamilton, Arizona
• Katherine Mazzaferri, District of Columbia
• Katherine S. Bifaro, Erie County
• Carl V. Nielsen, Iowa
• Loretta L. Topey, Louisiana
• Paul V. Carlin, Maryland
• D. Larkin Chenault, Michigan
• Larry Houchins, Mississippi
• Keith A. Birkes, Missouri
• William J. Carroll, New York
• L. Thomas Lunsford II, North Carolina
• Denny L. Ramey, Ohio
• Theodore L. Stellwag, Pennsylvania
• Helen Desmond McDonald, Rhode Island
• Robert S. Wells, South Carolina
• Gilbert R. Campbell, Jr., Virginia
• Charles Breckenridge Arrington, Jr., Virginia
• Dennis P. Harwick, Washington
• Linda Manning, Canada

The State Court Judge Appreciation Award

In 1994, the Commission announced that for the first time, it would honor enlightened judges who recognize alcoholism for what it is; a treatable disease and not a moral weakness. The awardees were nominated by their state bar associations, and criteria for the awards included financial support of lawyer assistance programs, promotion of mandatory continuing legal education with required or accepted chemical dependency education, support for confidentiality and immunity for the lawyer assistance program participants, and consideration of alternative sentencing when lawyer addiction was a factor.

1999 Recipients

• Justice Paul H. Anderson, Minnesota

• The Hon. J. William Beard, California

• Chief Justice Robert J. Benham, Georgia

• The Hon. Peter I. Breen, Nevada

• Former Justice James L. Dennis, Louisiana (now U.S. Circuit Court Judge)

• Former Justice Alan B. Handler, New Jersey

• Chief Justice Major B. Harding, Florida

• Justice Janice M. Holder, Tennessee

• The Hon. Paul F. Hudson, Vermont

• The Hon. William F. Lang, New Mexico

• Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell, Jr., North Carolina

• Chief Justice (13th District Court of Appeals) Robert J. Seerden, Texas

• U.S. District Court Judge Lyonel T. Senter, No. District of Mississippi

• The Hon. Dick R. Schlegel, Iowa

• Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, Indiana

• Chief Justice Herbert P. Wilkins, Massachusetts

1994 Recipients

• The late Justice James Adkins, Florida
• Associate Justice Joseph W. Bellacosa, New York
• Chief Justice Wallace P. Carson, Jr., Oregon
• Justice James L. Dennis, Louisiana
• Chief Justice James G. Exum, Jr., North Carolina
• Justice John Flaherty, Pennsylvania
• Chief Justice Paul J. Liacos, Massachussets
• Justice Andrew G. T. Moore, II, Delaware
• Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, Ohio
• Chief Justice Robert C. Murphy, Maryland
• Former Chief Justice Edwin J. Peterson, Oregon
• Chief Justice Bob Rose, Nevada
• Judge Dick Schlegel, Iowa
• Justice Craig Wright, Ohio