It's Time to Promote Our Health

• Author: Bob Carlson
• Pages: 8-8

8 || ABA JOURNAL DECEMBER 2018

PHOTO BY TOM SALYER PHOTOGRAPHY

President’s Message || By Bob Carlson

Follow President Carlson on Twitter @ABAPresident or email abapresident@americanbar.org.

It’s Time to Promote Our Health

ABA mobilizes on multiple fronts to address well-being in the legal profession

The holiday season is upon

us, and o ce pa rties and fam-

ily gatherings fi ll our calendars.

For most, these are times of gr eat

joy and good cheer. However, for

those su ering f rom substance

abuse or mental health issues,

the holidays can become a time of

dread and depression.

A 2016 study conducted by

the American Ba r Association

Commission on Lawyer

Assistance P rograms (CoLAP)

and the Hazelden Betty Ford

Foundation found th at 21 per-

cent of licensed attorneys qu alify

as problem drinkers. That ’s 1 i n

5 and compares to just 1 in 8 of

highly educated workers in other

professions.

The study also revealed t hat

28 percent of lawyers ex perience

depression and 19 percent have

anxiety s ymptoms. The problems

are more prevalent among young attorneys i n their fi rst

10 years of practice. Evidence shows law yers also suf-

fer from increased levels of suic ide, work addiction and

sleep deprivation.

At your next fi rm pa rty or bar association gathering,

look around the room. Odds are that i f some people

you see are not su ering f rom these issues, they know

someone who is.

This issue should be importa nt to all of us in the pro-

fession. To be an ethical, competent lawyer, you fi rst

need to be a healthy lawyer.

America’s lawyers need to know t hat the ABA is

working hard to improve lawyer well ness. Through

CoLAP, we are working to ensure that e very lawyer,

judge and law student has access t o support when deal-

ing with substance abus e and mental health issues.

Since the 2016 study, the ABA has taken steps t o

draw attention to lawyers f acing distress and to help

fi rms ac t.

In 2017, the ABA’s National Task Force on Law yer

Well-Being issued a report called “ The Path to Lawyer

Well-Being: Practical Recommendat ions for Po sitive

Change.” This report concentrate d on the roles we all

can play in addressing t his problem. It stressed edu-

cation and emphasized that wel l-being is an integral

part of a lawyer’s duty of competenc e. The report pro-

vides recommendations, w ith state action plans, for

legal profession stakeholders, including reg ulators, the

judiciary, law schools, profes-

sional liability ca rriers and bar

associations.

The report highlights the need

to eliminate the st igma of seeking

help. Creating a safe, confi dentia l

path to getting as sistance is criti-

cal to solving the problem.

My predecessor, Hilarie Bass,

formed a Presidential Working

Group to Advance Well-Being

in the Legal Profes sion in

September 2017. The group

assists legal employers—which

often want to help but are unsu re

where to start—develop and sup-

port healt hy work environments.

The “Well-Being Toolkit for

Lawyers and Leg al Employers,”

released in August , o ers tools

for legal employers that want to

join the lawyer well-being move-

ment by launching organiza-

tional initiatives. A lso available

is the “Well-Being Toolkit Nutshell: 80 Tips for Lawyer

Thriving,” summar izing 80 of the toolkit’s key items.

To raise awareness, the ABA launched a ca mpaign in

September targeti ng substance-use disorders and men-

tal health issues a mong lawyers. After just one month,

25 of the nation’s largest law fi rms have a lready signed

a pledge to support the initiative a nd adopt its frame-

work for improved well-being.

At the ABA 2018 Midyear Meeting in Vancouver, the

House of Delegates passed Resolution 105, which made

it ABA policy to support the goa l of reducing mental

health and substance u se disorders. The resolution also

called for all entitie s dealing with lawyers to consider

putting into action the rec ommendations contained in

the “Path to Lawyer Well-Being” report.

To aid our future lawyers, the AB A Law Student

Division sponsored Law School Mental Hea lth Day

in October, which included podcast s, webinars and a

YouTube Live event. They a lso encouraged law schools

to hold programs that break t he stigma associated with

depression and anxiet y.

The legal profession is at a crossroads. O ur members,

our colleagues, our fr iends are su ering. It is our duty

as lawyers and huma n beings to help. So please, enjoy

the holidays, but keep in mind others who may need

help. Get involved, talk to your fi rm and colleagues,

start a well-being prog ram and join the ABA in helping

lawyers through thes e problems. Q