The article details how the current economic downtown means more stress for lawyers, who as a professional may already be more susceptible to alcohol dependence. Depression, too, is common among attorneys, and generally under-diagnosed.

“It is challenging for lawyers to maintain their personal balance dealing with clients in crisis when stressed by their own professional and personal crisis,” writes Blackford. She warns that lawyers who are overly idealist, perfectionist, or controlling have a harder time dealing with this challenge.

Blackford encourages anyone needing help with alcoholism, depression, or other addictions to get in touch with their local lawyers assistance program or the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) hotline at (1-866-LAW-LAPS).

The article also included is a list of self-assessment tests for stress, addiction, and depression.

Blackford concludes, “The problem of impaired attorneys does not need to reach the point of destruction of health, family, and career. You may suspect that your friend or colleague has a problem. You may even suspect you yourself have a problem. Self-rationalizing and denial make it difficult to be honestly accurate. Be concerned. Be well.”

The CoLAP website is rich with documents – their newsletter, ‘Highlights’, is published quarterly, with older issues available online. CoLAP also offers a number of their other publications that can be downloaded or purchased online.

As an organization that guides the entire LAP community, their website includes a very comprehensive directory of local and state-specific lawyer assistance programs. Programs listed come from across the United States, as well as in Canada and the UK. There is a calendar of events, which we hope to monitor and blog about in the future, and which currently includes the upcoming 22nd National Conference for Lawyer Assistance Programs.

CoLAP also has a Law School Outreach Committee; the goals of the this committee is to encourage law schools to establish ongoing programs to help students dealing with stress, depression or addiction, and to encourage law schools to develop relationships with local LAP programs. CoLAP hopes by establishing the Law School Outreach Committee that they will be able to reach out to lawyers-to-be as early as possible – before they’re even practicing.

The current chair of CoLAP is the Honorable Robert L. Childers.