president’s page
The Impaired Attorney
Part I: Attorneys In Trouble
In spite of his experiences in the rushing Colorado stream,
his 35-40 foot fall in Arches National Park, and his encounter
with the rhinoceros in a Nepalese jungle,1 our son has survived
and become an attorney—just like his father and his sister
before him. He is devoting his career to advocating on behalf
of a People who have a history of much unspeakable treatment at the hands of the federal and local government. He is
a member of the subset of our profession who call themselves
Indian lawyers.2
There are many subsets of our profession, some made up
of attorneys who need help. One such is attorneys, judges, and
law students who suffer from debilitating diseases (including
addiction) or injuries. In 1995, to address these needs, the
Nebraska State Bar Association created the Nebraska Lawyers
Assistance Program (NLAP). It assists these current and upcoming Nebraska legal professionals get through these times.
In the neighborhood of 90% of the complaints made to the Counsel for Discipline
and attorney malpractice claims are the
direct or indirect result of the kind of
mental and physical impairments that
NLAP seeks to address—seeks to
head off before they become the
gravamen of disciplinary action or
litigation, before the public hears
about them from the press.
THE NEBRASKA LAWYER
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G. Michael Fenner
NLAP is run by the NSBA’s Rick Allan. He is assisted by
the NSBA’s Committee on the Nebraska Lawyers Assistance
Program (the largest of all NSBA committees). The Committee
includes lawyers and judges who, along with Rick himself, have
personal experience with these problems.
Part II: Addiction
Quietly and confidentially,
NLAP goes about helping those
suffering from addictions.
NLAP gets involved when
the attorney contacts Rick or
NSBA Executive Director Liz
Neeley, who forwards the contact to
Rick. Or when someone from the attorney’s family or
office contacts Rick or Liz looking for help for their partner (in
law or in life)—perhaps even help in the form of an intervention.
Consider this: The attorney had an outstanding academic career,
a job with an excellent law firm, and a drinking problem. The attorney had received multiple DWI’s, left the employ of the law firm,
and had a disciplinary problem pending for failure to have followed
through on critical legal work. Friends and family contacted NLAP.
When the attorney got in a drinking-involved automobile accident,
Rick got in his car and that night drove some distance to the attorney’s family home. He met with the attorney and the attorney’s parents. He got the attorney help. Today that attorney has many years
of sobriety, is married, with a beautiful family, is a valued in-house
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president’s page
counsel of a large corporation, and serves as an NLAP volunteer.
This—NLAP—is a service that helped the attorney and his family,
then existing and future. Draw your own conclusions. Here is mine:
NLAP (particularly Rick) saved a life.3
Part III: Non-Addiction Diseases and
Injuries
Without enough bar-wide
publicity or praise, Rick and his
volunteers also help those with
other debilitating diseases or
injuries. One of the big ways
NLAP helps is by finding lawyers
who can take over parts or all of
the injured lawyer’s practice until
the lawyer is back on his or her feet,
back in his or her seat, and able to
resume his or her practice.
Consider the young attorney working two jobs
who was driving home after the second, exhausted. The car went off
the road. The attorney was badly injured. NLAP got others to take
the attorney’s cases temporarily, until the attorney was able to come
back to work. Not a deadline missed, not a client dissatisfied.
Since over 50% of NSBA members are Baby Boomers or
older, NLAP increasingly sees issues relating to aging.
Consider this example of an aging lawyer who was not able
to get back on his feet: A caller told NLAP that a family member,
a solo practitioner (with a wonderful reputation and a good list of
clients) had had a stroke. The family desperately needed guidance
and assistance. The attorney was electronically savvy, but had
no real calendar or filing system. It was all kept in the attorney’s
head and, now, irretrievable. Rick Allan and several NSBA staff
members, including the NSBA IT specialist, went to the attorney’s
office and printed files from the attorney’s computer.4 With the
family’s help (the attorney could provide none), Rick put all of the
material into appropriate folders and, like so many of us, spread the
folders around his office floor. He determined which files were open
and found an attorney who was willing to contact all of the clients
and advise them that he would assist them or, if they would prefer,
see that they got the files. This is a service that helped the attorney
who had suffered the stroke, that attorney’s family, and all of that
attorney’s clients.
Part IV: Care for the Whole Person
NLAP is a comprehensive program available to not only
lawyers, judges, and law students, but also their families and
staffs. We know that family and staff issues can affect lawyers
and judges in ways that impair their ability to function effectively.
Rick Allan and NLAP bring to my mind what the Jesuits
talk of as “cura personalis”—care for the whole person. Caring
THE NEBRASKA LAWYER
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for the whole person
is an important part
of the mission of my
University and an
important part of our mission at the NSBA. And, for the bar
association, NLAP is an important part of that mission. The
cura-personalis attitude has a lot to do with why I am proud
to be on the faculty of Creighton University and proud to be
a dues-paying member of the Nebraska State Bar Association.
Cura Personalis
Part V: The Support of the Nebraska
Supreme Court
The Nebraska Supreme Court considers the work of Rick
and the Committee to be so important that, by order of the
Court, the Nebraska Code of Professional Responsibility states
that relationship between the Committee, including Rick, and
the attorney, judge, or law student receiving assistance shall be
the same as an attorney and a client relationship. In addition,
after its December 6, 2013 Order changing the nature of the
NSBA, the Court agreed to share the cost of NLAP. NLAP is
supported by NSBA dues money and Supreme Court mandatory-assessment money.
Part VI: The Problem of Picking Up the
Phone
NLAP helps so many: individual lawyers, judges, and law
students, and their families and staff, and, less directly, the
clients of the disabled lawyer. Because of the sensitive nature
of addiction and psychological problems, and because of the
inability of many to admit to themselves that
they have a problem, lawyers who may be in
need of help are often very reluctant to seek
it. If you want to discuss NLAP regarding
yourself, a loved one, or a business associate,
please call (888) 584-NLAP. As attorneys, we
all understand confidentiality. It is so sacred
to the law that we have created the attorneyclient privilege. NLAP’s pledge is confidentiality, and it has behind it the aforementioned Supreme Court Order amending
the Nebraska Code of Professional
Responsibility to apply the protection of the attorney-client privilege to
communications with NLAP. This confidentiality pledge is essential to NLAP’s
continued success. No one need worry that a call to NLAP is
going to be whispered, let alone become the stuff of headlines.
Part VII: Take Pride in NLAP
We can all take pride in this program, while, at the same
time, hoping that we or those we love never need its services. I
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urge you to pay NSBA dues not just because of what it does for
you: access to Casemaker, listservs, free ethics CLE, Legislative
Updates, and more. I urge you to pay NSBA dues because of
what your dues payment helps do for others—and, in the case
of NLAP, for your brothers and sisters at the bar.
Endnotes
1
Each incident is reported in a previous President’s Page.
In the order stated above, see Moving Through Dangerous
and Difficult Waters (March/April 2014) http://www.nebar.
com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=383; The 35-40
Foot Fall (May/June 2014) http://nebar.com/displaycommon.
cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=372; Gratitude: Jane, Liz, You All, and
a Rhinoceros (November/December 2013) http://nebar.com/
displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=334
2
I am proud to say that Creighton graduate John Peebles, soon
joined by a second Creighton graduate Conly Schulte, started
Ben’s law firm. Approximately half of their lawyers are Native
Americans.
Ben’s sister is equally well employed. She is Vice President and
General Counsel of Patagonia, helping save the environment
while making a terrific product and living the good life in southern California.
3
Names have been omitted from these examples and some identifying facts altered.
4
He ended up with 1,600 or so pages. To put this in perspective
for all of us who, in high school or college, struggled (yes, I regret
that for me the word is “struggled”) with War and Peace, this
is almost as many pages as the first edition of Tolstoy’s masterpiece.
Part VIII: Thank Rick
And, if you see Rick Allan, I urge you
to say, “Thanks for the work you do.
You, my good man, save lives.” And
buy him a cup of coffee.
G. Michael Fenner, President
Phone: (402) 280-3090
E-Mail: [email protected]
NLAP can help!
Please call the NLAP toll-free hotline.
(888) 584-6527. That’s (888) 584-NLAP.
Available 24 hours, seven days a week.
Who counsels the counsel?
If you feel there is nowhere to go
with your problems, Nebraska
Lawyers Assistance Program
(NLAP) can help. We understand
the competition, constant stress
and high expectations you face
as a lawyer. Dealing with these
demands and other issues can be
overwhelming. NLAP offers free,
confidential support because
sometimes the most difficult trials
lie outside of the court.
Nebraska Lawyers
Assistance Program
Helping you win life’s trials.
24 hours • 7days (888) 584-NLAP (6527)
THE NEBRASKA LAWYER
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