The Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, Inc. (JLAP) has published its Annual Report for fiscal year 2015-2016. You can review the entire report here: JLAP Annual Report 2015-2016

The most exciting achievement in the last year is that the majority of JLAP cases in 2015-16 involved persons reaching out to JLAP voluntarily and confidentially. In many cases they obtained completely discrete help from JLAP before there was any harm to their career, the profession, or the public. This reflects JLAP’s recent campaigns to raise awareness about JLAP’s totally confidential help.

As to program improvements, the new JLAP now offers a wide array of mental health assistance and is now a comprehensive professionals’ program that offers help with all types of mental health issues, not just alcohol and drug issues.

Achievements include:

1) Restructuring JLAP’s governance;

2) Amending La. R.S. 37:221 to include judges programing and also expand JLAP’s clinical scope to include all mental health issues;

3) Recruiting and developing a full-time Professional Clinical Staff;

4) The development of Professional Intervention Services;

5) A new JLAP Diversion Track available to judges involved in disciplinary matters;

6) The creation of a comprehensive JLAP website;

7) A new JLAP Exhibit and Mediation Training classes at the LSBA’s Summer School;

8) New law school outreach services including wellness presentations and “JLAP Office Hours” wherein a JLAP Clinician periodically travels to law schools and offers free, confidential mental health services onsite to law students thereby greatly increasing their access to mental health support;

9) Expansion of CLE presentation topics to provide education on mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and perfectionism, and compassion fatigue;

10) New protocol for assisting those who contact JLAP confidentially about a mental health issues;

11) In-house library of available professionals’-level publications that address various mental health issues that lawyers and judges predominantly face, with these materials provided based upon the individual’s needs;

12) Improvement of JLAP’s formal monitoring services resulting in a no-relapse and fitness-to-practice efficacy rate of 90% or better.

With many challenges complete, JLAP is now offering comprehensive services that will help save more lives and careers than ever before.

And this mission has never been more important to the health of the legal profession. As discussed in the JLAP Annual Report, a recent study (included as an attachment to the Annual Report) reveals stunning levels of substance use disorders and other mental health issues such as depression in the legal profession. JLAP’s services are now more important than ever, and as the Annual Report demonstrates, JLAP is now meeting the demand to provide effective and reliable clinical support to the profession on all levels.

Louisiana JLAP’s Executive Director, Buddy Stockwell, participated in a panel presentation on Ethics at the ABA’s National Conference of the 10^th Annual Labor and Employment Law Section. Hundreds of lawyers from across the country attended this conference that provided programing spanning four days.

JLAP’s Executive Director, Buddy Stockwell, participated in the “Diligence verses Perfection” presentation:

Practice and Professionalism (8:00 am – 9:15 am)

Diligence vs. Perfection:  Maintaining High Ethical Standards While Avoiding Burnout (E)

Cosponsored by ABA Center for Professional Responsibility

Sheraton III

The ethical obligation of diligence requires lawyers to pursue matters “despite opposition, obstruction or personal inconvenience” to the lawyer. Many lawyers strive for more than mere diligence – they shoot for perfection. As many of us know all too well, the quest for perfection can lead to severe anxiety and depression. Some lawyers turn to harmful behaviors such as substance abuse, while others suffer mental illnesses or suffer in silence. Many simply drop out of the profession. This panel will explore practical strategies for lawyers to fulfill their professional obligations while preserving their mental health and deriving satisfaction from the practice of law.

The presentation focused on what it takes to maintain healthy boundaries between work and play and how to choose healthy coping strategies for managing stress. Moreover, the panel provided insight as to why mental health issues in the profession have now become more prevalent, why it is becoming ever more important for the profession to reduces stigmas and address these issues head-on, and how bar admissions and the public expect our profession to ensure that our members are managing the stress and pressure of practicing so as to maintain their own mental health and thus remaining fully fit to practice and not burning out.

PANELISTS (L-R):

J.E. “Buddy” Stockwell, Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, Inc., Mandeville, LA

William D. Frumkin, Frumkin & HunterLLP, White Plains, NY

Melvin S. Schwarzwald, SchwarzwaldMcNair & Fusco LLP, Cleveland, OH

Barbara J. D’Aquila, Norton Rose Fulbright, Minneapolis, MN

The program was well-attended and well-received. Several members of the audience courageously participated in the discussions and thus the group enjoyed being able to openly discuss some of the everyday mental health issues that come with practicing law, such as stress, anxiety and frustrations that come with being an imperfect human being working in a profession that is intensely perfectionistic by nature.

Real solutions were also explored such as better mental health and self-care habits, setting boundaries, managing client expectations, and exploring new solutions for anxiety reduction such as meditation. The audience was also invited to visit www.louisianajlap.com for self-tests and additional information on managing anxiety and burnout. JLAP also provided handouts on developing resiliency and improving one’s ability to manage the stress of practicing law.

Direct feedback after the presentation included:

“This presentation made the whole conference for me. It was the most important presentation in my view.”

“As young lawyers, this presentation was extremely valuable. We need all the support we can get when it comes to learning how to deal with the stress of becoming a lawyer, and we learned things here that we had not yet heard from anyone. Thank you!”    

Louisiana JLAP was very grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a prestigious national conference and greatly appreciates the efforts of the ABA in producing such a fabulous seminar.

You get to be 40 and you figure you’ve outrun your past.

A father who used booze to drown stresses endured in the Pacific during World War II, who was tough on his five kids and died at age 56, when you were just 19.

A mother who spent far too many days on the couch in front of the TV, eating to comfort her own sorrows.

Grow up in such circumstances and you learn to push through adversity, maybe go to college, get a good job, start a family.

Read more here.

Soberlink has received 510(k) premarket clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for medical use by healthcare providers to remotely measure alcohol in human breath, for the purpose of aiding in the detection and monitoring of alcohol consumption. Read more.

JUNE 5, 2015
La. R.S. 37:221 has been amended as follows, effective August 1, 2015:
ACT 59 (HB 197) 2015 Regular Session Shadoin

(L-R) Mark Suprenant, Rob Shadoin, Hon. Benjamin Jones, 4th JDC (Retired), Buddy Stockwell, and Mark Cunningham. Appearance at 2015 Legislative Session in support of the amendment of La. R.S. 37:221.

Prior law provided for the Lawyer’s Assistance Program to encourage the successful treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction among the judiciary, members of the La. State Bar Association, law students, and prospective law students. New law changes the name of the Lawyer’s Assistance Program, Inc., to the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, Inc. and expands the directive of the program to include counseling and intervention services for judges, lawyers, law students, and other members of the legal profession who may suffer from mental health issues. Existing law provides that any information, report, or record that the Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse of the La State Bar Association, Lawyer’s Assistance Program, Inc., or any member, or employee, or agent of either generates or gathers is confidential and privileged, and that no member of the Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, or agent, or employee of Lawyer’s Assistance Program, Inc., may disclose that information, report or record without written approval of the subject judge, lawyer, law student, or prospective lawyer. Existing law provides immunity from liability for any licensed lawyer, and his supporting staff, resulting from any act made in good faith while engaged in efforts to assist judges, lawyers, law students, or prospective lawyers in connection with substance abuse counseling or intervention pursuant to the programs of the La. State Bar Association. New law extends the application of these privileges and immunities to the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, Inc. to also include mental health issues.

Effective August 1, 2015.

(Amends R.S. 37:221(A), (B)(1) and (2), and (C)(1) and (2))