How to Stay Out of Trouble With the Bar

Why would someone call a state’s lawyer assistance program?

Because lawyers are human, humans have problems, and lawyers have clients. And lawyers with problems can create problems for their clients, and get into a lot of trouble with their state bar. That’s why lawyer assistance programs (LAPs) exist: to prevent or mitigate damage to lawyers’ lives, careers, and clients.

In the section that accompanies this introduction, LawyerAvenue has assembled a roster of all the LAP’s in the country along with descriptions and Web links to dozens of residential treatment centers, many of which come with national reputations and/or recommendations by one or more lawyer assistance programs.

Why should you call your LAP: because you recognize that you – or someone you know – needs to be healthy in order to help others. Because lawyers who focus solely on their clients’ needs without regard to their own get burned out. They become sick, neurotic, and inefficient; have relationship problems; and often face disciplinary actions after clients complain to the bar. Stress and burnout are occupational hazards for all lawyers, but solos are particularly susceptible.

Rebecca Nerison, a psychologist working exclusively with the Washington State Bar Association’s Lawyers Assistance Program, writes that lawyers should call the LAP in their state to get healthy and to stay out of trouble.

Nerison says that the LAP representative who takes your call will be an expert familiar with lawyers’ lives and with the available resources to help deal with practice-related problems. And that fees are usually lower than those for out-of-network providers because the programs often are supported by grants from state bars, courts, or foundations.

– In the section that accompanies this article, we have assembled a roster of all the LAP’s in the country along with descriptions and Web links to dozens of residential treatment centers, many of which come with national reputations and/or recommendations by one or more lawyer assistance programs.