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) […]

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 […]

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.