Judges who need assistance because of alcoholism, substance abuse, addiction or mental health issues may reach other judges, who are in recovery or who have gone through treatment, by calling a helpline sponsored by the American Bar Association. Judges who have volunteered to be a personal resource to other judges throughout the US and Canada are uniquely positioned to share their experiences, strengths and hope. Both judges in need of help and those interested in serving as a peer-to-peer volunteer should call 800-219-6474 during business hours Central time. All information is confidential and protected by statute.

The National Judges’ Assistance Helpline is a service of the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs Judicial Assistance Initiative and administered by the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program.

https://reservations.ihotelier.com/crs/g_reservation.cfm?groupID=424797&hotelID=6579

We hope to have the agenda, CLE information, and more details under the Events tab on this site by the end of March or beginning of April. See you there!

The only thing I regret (and this is true every year) is that I don’t get enough time one-on-one with FLA participants. Often, this is the time of year I get to put a face to a voice I’ve talked to on the phone or emailed many times, and I really do wish I could sit down with each of you and get to know you better. Problem is….there’s just too much going on at any one time, and often a quick hello and hug is all I’m able to squeeze in. There’s not a whole lot I can do about it, but I do want you to know it does bother me.

So this week, we’ll all be wandering around the office in the “post conference crash” mode. It takes a great deal of effort of all the FLA staff to put the conference together, and there is a sort of shell-shock each year after it’s all over. I probably won’t have much of a chance to sit back and enjoy the memory….the Tuesday after the workshop, I’m off to the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago to address the National Association of Bar Executives, then home Wednesday, and over to Naples (what is it with me and west coast these days) on Thursday to speak to the 5th Circuit PD’s conference. After that, it’s time to start thinking of packing up my son’s stuff and getting him over to Sarasota (see…west coast again) to start his first year at New College, then Dawn and I get to pack up for ourselves and head to Maine, where we get to prepare for her daughter’s wedding on the beach in September. I thought summer was supposed to be quiet time!

More to come…………..

If you haven’t registered for the Naples workshop, there’s still a few days left to do it, or you can show up and register at the door. Full details are available on this site, and it looks like it’s going to be a great program. Details on the CoLAP conference are available at www.abanet.org/legalservices/colap. Hope to see you one place or the other!

What can we do about it (other than hope the downturn comes to an end relatively quickly)? Well, lawyer assistance programs around the country are developing support systems to help legal professionals both emotionally and practically. A number of states, such as Oregon and Washington, have produced multi-day workshops to help lawyers work through difficult financial transitions and learn how to weather the storm. FLA and the Florida Bar Center for Professionalism are developing a similar workshop which will hopefully be presented in November 2009. The ABA has taken a very proactive position on helping members of the profession by preparing and making available a number of practice aides, teleconferences, and materials – links to those ABA resources can be found on this site under the Links tab.

Please feel free to comment on this subject with your own experiences, good or bad. Certainly, suggestions on how to deal with the emotional and economic impact of the current recession will be appreciated, and represent the best of “lawyers helping lawyers”.