New Episode in The Path to Law Student Well-Being Podcast Series

“The Path to Law Student Well-Being” is a podcast series sponsored by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The series is a response to the call for action in the 2017 Report, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, which sets out action items for the legal community, including specific steps law schools can take, to shift the culture of the legal profession towards one that is focused on well-being.

The inaugural 2-part episode was released in conjuntion with Law School Mental Health Day on March 28, 2018. Since then, the ABA Law Student Division has moved Mental Health Day to October 10 (TODAY!) In recognition, a new epsiode in the series is now available.

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  The Path to Law Student Well-Being – Ep. 2: Character and Fitness and the Evaluation Process

Episode 2 features a short conversation about character and fitness evaluations in the bar admission process as it pertains to mental health issues and substance use disorders. Guests are Janet Stearns, Dean of Students at the University of Miami School of Law, Robert Albury, Executive Director of the West Virginia Judicial & Lawyer Assistance Program, and host Chase Anderson, Case Manager with Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.

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Access the entire “The Path to Law Student Well-Being” podcast series here.

Don’t forget, today is National Law School Mental Health Day! Share what you are doing to improve the well-being of law students over Twitter with #LawStudentWellness!

Voices of Recovery Podcast Series – Episode 10

The ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP) is producing a podcast series about members of the legal profession who have overcome substance use disorders and mental health issues. The guests featured in this series have all agreed to tell their story in the hope that it will reduce the stigma surrounding these issues and encourage others to get the help they need.

Episode 10 features Lynn Garson, an attorney in private practice and author of the memoir, Southern Vapors (published 2012), and the upcoming Sex and the Single Grandma.

Click here to access all available episodes in the series. 

ABA Launches Lawyer Well-Being Pledge Campaign for Legal Employers

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day (globally) and the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Week in the US. Today also marks the launch of a new Pledge Campaign from the American Bar Association aimed at improving the substance use and mental health landscape of the legal profession.

The Campaign, organized by the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession, calls upon legal employers to recognize that substance use and mental health problems represent a significant challenge for the legal profession, acknowledge that more can and should be done to improve the health and well-being of lawyers, and pledge to support the Campaign and work to adopt and prioritize its seven-point framework for building a better future.

The ABA press release announcing its launch includes a quote from ABA President Bob Carlson in support of the initiative and a list of over a dozen firms that have already pledged their support.

Learn more on the ABA Working Group website.

 

Law School Mental Health Day Moves to Oct. 10

The ABA Law Student Division has officially moved Law School Mental Health Day to October 10.

In recognition of Law School Mental Health Day, the American University Washington College of Law will host a YouTube Live event featuring Laurie Besden, Pennsylvania Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Executive Director, who is in recovery with an incredible story to share.

The session will run live from 2:00-3:00pm Eastern and then be available for replay. The YouTube link is http://auw.cl/tohellandback. A full description:

To Hell and Back: One Lawyer’s Path to Recovery. A YouTube Live Presentation

Laurie had a privileged upbringing.  She graduated college with a 3.97 GPA, and was in the top 15% of her law school class. On paper, Laurie is the definition of success. Laurie is also a drug addict…

Listen as Laurie candidly shares her story of crippling addiction, and ultimately, redemption. Learn how the District Attorney approached the case and her current thoughts about it. Understand what it is like to be approached by a caring individual, with their experience strength and hope, even when you are not ready to accept your state of affairs. It is never too early or late to plant “the seed of hope”.

This session will move you. Please share widely.

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For those of you participating in or planning events on or around October 10, please share with #LawStudentWellness.

ABA CoLAP has resources for law students and law schools available on its website here, including the “Substance Abuse and Mental Health Toolkit for Law Students and Those Who Care About Them,” and the first two-part episode in the “Path to Law Student Well-Being” podcast series.

NEW Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers

The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being’s 2017 report shined a spotlight on evidence that too many lawyers face mental health and substance use disorders or otherwise aren’t thriving. Wanting to support the effort to catalyze positive change, American Bar Association President Hilarie Bass formed a Presidential Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession in September 2017. Its focus is on helping legal employers support healthy work environments, which are critical for lawyer wellness. Research shows that if workplace cultures support well-being, lawyers will be better able to make good choices that allow them to thrive and be their best for clients, colleagues, and work organizations.

Many legal employers are ready to become positive change agents but have been unsure where to start. The new Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers is designed to help. It offers tools and practical guidance for legal employers who want to join the lawyer well-being movement by launching organizational initiatives. The Toolkit, created by Presidential Working Group member Anne Brafford (a lawyer and organizational science researcher) can be viewed as a design prototype. It is meant to be a living document that will continue to develop and improve—an effort in which you are encouraged to participate. You can do so by trying out the Toolkit and offering feedback on what’s helpful, what can be improved, and what other resources are available. The Toolkit is offered as another step on the path to lawyer well-being—to help lawyers be their best as they carry out their critical roles contributing to the vitality of our government, business sector, community safety, and individual lives.

Also available is the Well-Being Toolkit Nutshell: 80 Tips For Lawyer Thriving, summarizing 80 of the Toolkit’s key items to help get you started on a lawyer well-being initiative.

Note for Use: The Toolkit is filled with electronic hyperlinks to websites and online resources that appear in blue underlined type. As a result, it is intended primarily for online viewing. If you decide to print the document in hard copy, select “fit to page” in your print dialogue box to ensure proper printing.

             

 

The Bar Examiner Features Lawyer Well-Being Report and Initiatives

An article in the Summer 2018 issue of The Bar Examiner from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) features the report from the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, “The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.” Published in August 2017, the report recommends ways in which all legal stakeholder can improve the well-being of the legal profession. Author James Coyle, Co-Chair of the Task Force from its inception until his retirement in June 2018, sets out the Task Force recommendations with a focus on those targeted at the bar admissions community, and offers further guidance for bar admission representatives to expand their role in the lawyer well-being movement. Coyle discusses the circumstances that led to the formation of the Task Force, including studies revealing that lawyer well-being is at risk, and provides a comprehensive list of developments – both nationally and at the state level – that have occurred in response to the report. Endeavors at the American Bar Association, Conference of Chief Justices and NCBE are featured, and the endnotes contain a detailed inventory of initiatives occurring at the state level, such as the establishment of lawyer well-being task forces and the development of state action plans.

Read, “The Report of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and the Role of the Bar Admissions Community in the Lawyer Well-Being Movement,” by James C. Coyle in The Bar Examiner here.

Register Now! The Solo/Small Firm Challenge: Conquering Adversity and the Imposter Syndrome

ABA Free CLE Series Webinar | July 16, 2018 | 1PM ET

Learn techniques to overcome negative thought patterns that can create an “imposter syndrome” that limits your ability to serve your clients with due diligence.

• Do you ever feel like all your accomplishments have been due to luck, chance, appearance, connections, or anything else that isn’t your own smarts, drive, and talent?
• Do you ever worry that you’re going to be exposed as a fraud, even when you’re well into your career or area of expertise?
• Do you feel like everyone around you is smarter, works harder, and does a better job than you do?
• Do you find yourself terrified of making mistakes and constantly believing you are likely to make one no matter how expert you get at your career?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ve got a case of “imposter syndrome.”

The term “imposter syndrome” was coined in the late 1970s and is described as a feeling of “phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.” It’s generally accompanied to (and exacerbated by) perfectionism, black-and-white thinking, and intense fear of rejection and failure. These thought patterns create a perfect storm of insecurity, anxiety, and stress. Lawyers, especially those in solo practices or small firms, can become paralyzed by these thoughts. Women and minorities can be even more affected by these negative thought patterns.

In this program, we will discuss what imposter syndrome is, how it can affect your competence and judgment as a lawyer, and strategies for beginning to overcome it. Learn more and register here.

Download the program flyer by clicking on the image below.

New Podcast: Depression and Addiction in the Mind of a Lawyer

The State Bar of Texas Podcast just released a new episode, titled “Depression and Addiction in the Mind of a Lawyer.”

In this episode, co-host Bree Buchanan and guest Brian Cuban candidly share their own experiences with addiction and depression and discuss how to recognize warning signs in others and encourage them to seek assistance. They further address how stigma associated with a refusal to acknowledge addiction as a medically-recognized disease prevents those who need it from seeking life-saving treatment.

They say that the goal is for lawyers, judges and law students to, at the first sign of trouble, feel okay reaching out for help – that they shouldn’t have to hit rock bottom first.

Bree Buchanan is the Director of the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program of the State Bar of Texas, Chair of the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and Co-chair of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. Brian Cuban is a Dallas-based attorney, addiction recovery advocate and author of The Addicted Lawyer.

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Lawyer Assistance Programs provide confidential services and support to judges, lawyers and law students who are facing substance use disorders or mental health issues. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, contact your state or local LAP.

Proposed Resolution 103 – ABA Model Impairment Policy for Legal Employers

Proposed Resolution 103, which adopts an ABA Model Impairment Policy for Legal Employers and urges legal employers to do the same, will go before the ABA House of Delegates at the Annual Meeting in August. The sponsors of proposed Resolution 103 are the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession, an ABA Presidential Initiative led by President Hilarie Bass, and the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP).

The foundation of this policy is the recognition that well-being is essential to an attorney’s duty of competence, and that impairment is antithetical to both the competence and quality service expected by the clients of the legal employer. To support this duty, legal employers must demonstrate a commitment to the well-being of their personnel, to the prevention of impairments, and to assisting their employees in obtaining treatment when needed.

This policy deals only with the impairment of a legal employee, a sub-set of the overall well-being of a legal employee, and is not meant to encompass the panoply of all well-being initiatives that can be implemented in the legal employer setting. Further, this policy would reinforce and bring up to date an existing ABA policy passed by the House of Delegates in 1990, the Model Law Firm/Legal Department Personnel Impairment Policy and Guidelines.

Everyone is encouraged to talk to their state delegates and other ABA entities to garner support for Resolution 103. Contact Tracy Kepler at tracy.kepler@americanbar.org to provide your support or feedback.

The Solo/Small Firm Challenge: Conquering Adversity and the Imposter Syndrome

ABA Free CLE Series Webinar | July 16, 2018 | 1PM ET

Learn techniques to overcome negative thought patterns that can create an “imposter syndrome” that limits your ability to serve your clients with due diligence.

• Do you ever feel like all your accomplishments have been due to luck, chance, appearance, connections, or anything else that isn’t your own smarts, drive, and talent?
• Do you ever worry that you’re going to be exposed as a fraud, even when you’re well into your career or area of expertise?
• Do you feel like everyone around you is smarter, works harder, and does a better job than you do?
• Do you find yourself terrified of making mistakes and constantly believing you are likely to make one no matter how expert you get at your career?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ve got a case of “imposter syndrome.”

The term “imposter syndrome” was coined in the late 1970s and is described as a feeling of “phoniness in people who believe that they are not intelligent, capable or creative despite evidence of high achievement.” It’s generally accompanied to (and exacerbated by) perfectionism, black-and-white thinking, and intense fear of rejection and failure. These thought patterns create a perfect storm of insecurity, anxiety, and stress. Lawyers, especially those in solo practices or small firms, can become paralyzed by these thoughts. Women and minorities can be even more affected by these negative thought patterns.

In this program, we will discuss what imposter syndrome is, how it can affect your competence and judgment as a lawyer, and strategies for beginning to overcome it. Learn more and register here.

Download the program flyer by clicking on the image below.