Harris Beach Murtha’s Dan Strecker authored an article published in this month’s Nassau Lawyer, the journal of the Nassau County Bar Association. The article discusses the content and application of the New York State Bar Association’s Model Policy for Law Firms and Legal Departments Addressing Impairment among legal professionals, including from burnout, depression, anxiety and substance misuse. Dan’s co-authors are Elizabeth Eckhardt, LCSW, PhD, director of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Lawyer Assistance Program (“LAP”), and Christina Dumitrescu, Esq., MHC-LP, LAP team clinician. Dan is chair of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Lawyer Assistance Committee, and a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Lawyer Assistance Committee.
The article highlights studies and statistics that show legal professionals are uniquely vulnerable to such impairment issues. Impairment can lead to ethical problems and costs to firms and clients. ABA opinions and Model Rules, including Rules 5.1 and 8.3, state that law firms and other legal organizations have an obligation to adopt policies that mitigate against the risk of such issues.
The Model Policy is a template organizational strategy that law firms and legal departments can adopt in part to meet these ethical obligations, and also to support struggling lawyers. “It equips the workplace with a way forward while recognizing that the workplace understands that mitigating circumstances like mental health issues and substance misuse are treatable, and that education, prevention, and rehabilitation are preferable over discipline such as termination or censure, when possible.”
The article discusses how state and local bar association lawyer assistance programs also support such efforts by “provid[ing] confidential peer and professional counseling services to all members of the legal profession who are affected by substance misuse and other mental health issues.” In New York, LAP services are governed by strict confidentiality and legal privilege comparable to the attorney-client privilege.
“It is a critical program that shifts away from punishment and towards recovery and rehabilitation,” Dan and his co-authors write. “As an alternative to formal disciplinary sanction, the Program treats the underlying, unaddressed substance use or mental health issue contributing to the misconduct and provides lawyers with the opportunity to access the help they need.”
Learn more about the Model Policy and Lawyer Assistance Program in the full journal article.
