When lawyers need help

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Sun Valley, Idaho » The first thing she got addicted to was success.

She was an overachiever who got accepted into half a dozen law schools, landed her first job at a prestigious firm and then was lured away by another. Next came an offer to join a Fortune 500 company.

She had arrived; so had the stress.

At some point the lawyer began having trouble sleeping and started drinking alcohol to combat the insomnia. Her career came crashing down when she received a third DUI citation -- a felony offense that led to suspension of her license.

"People were shocked, shook to their core," she told The Salt Lake Tribune on condition of anonymity. "I was the perfect mom, wife, homemaker, super-duper attorney girl."

That reaction isn't uncommon.

A North Salt Lake City prosecutor's arrest last week on felony drug charges also shocked those who know him, including one city councilman who said he had never considered such a scenario "remotely possible."

But perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise, said Mary T. Robinson, who spoke Thursday on attorney impairment at the 2010 Utah State Bar summer convention.

Robinson, a Chicago attorney and expert in lawyer discipline, said studies have found lawyers are 50 percent more likely than the general population to be dependent on or abuse drugs or alcohol. While overall use of addictive substances is lower in Utah than most states, alcohol dependency rates are equal to that of such states as Illinois, Robinson said -- and are in fact higher for illicit drugs, including prescription pills.

Lawyers also are the professionals most likely to suffer depression, said Robinson, putting the profession No. 1 for suicides over the past decade.

Substance abuse and mental health problems often have a genetic component but stress also can play a part -- something that, given the pressures that come with being an attorney, may help explain those findings. The job is fast-paced, aggressive and adversarial by nature and demands a perfectionists' attention to detail; case successes are often balanced by failures.

The woman attorney who shared her story said for a time she was able to keep her growing problem out of the office.

"I compartmentalized it," she said. "I never drank at work, but if affected me because I would be hungover, tired. I finally got to the point I needed help."

Sanda Flint was once married to an attorney who began using alcohol as a stress reliever but whose addiction cost him his license. She said he was a closet drinker, driven to conceal his addiction because of religious taboo and fear colleagues would see it as a weakness that could be exploited. For a long time, she had no idea.

"It was very uncharacteristic of him," Flint said of her former husband, who was turned in to the Bar after he appeared drunk in court.

Robinson said disciplinary investigators reviewing attorneys should always look for substance abuse or mental health impairment -- which if not a primary reason for a review, often underlie other problematic behavior.

In Illinois, 30 percent of disciplinary cases involve impairment issues. And 40 percent of awards paid from a fund which reimburses victims of disciplined attorneys involve cases in which a lawyer had depression, a chemical dependency or other addictive behaviors.

Illionis requires an attorney facing a disciplinary review to undergo a medical assessment. Those who refuse to accept or decline treatment are suspended from practicing until they can demonstrate fitness, Robinson said.

Utah does not require medical assessments of those undergoing disciplinary review, said John Baldwin, Bar executive director.

In 2009, 38 attorneys were disciplined in Utah, a count that includes resignations and suspensions, according to Steve Owens, Bar past president. Of that number, "maybe" half involved some type of impairment, he said.

The Bar spends about $125,000 annually on professional counseling and peer-mentoring programs, Owens said -- a worthwhile investment because "one sour lawyer can hurt a lot of people."

The counseling service provided by Blomquist Hale Consulting operates alongside Lawyers Helping Lawyers, the peer-mentoring program that matches volunteers with attorneys who are struggling. Both programs are confidential.

"The programs really do offer a lot of support to each other," said Sean M. Morris, Blomquist Hale director, who also works with the peer program.

The Bar was criticized when it instituted the professional counseling partnership four years ago, but it predicted that more attorneys would seek help. Robert Jeffs, the Bar's new president, said that has happened, although statistics were not available.

Utah has not lost a lawyer to suicide since it was set up, said Owens, who advocated for the program after the 2005 suicide of his mentor Jack Morgan. Morgan, who was 41, had bipolar disorder.

Robinson said those who do complete treatment are "heroes" who are often better equipped because of their experience to help others.

Jeffs points to former Utah County Judge Ray Harding Jr., who pleaded guilty to attempted drug possession in 2003, as an example of someone who underwent that kind of transformation after losing his law license. He completed treatment and today has a growing reputation as a first-rate mediator, a job that does not require a law license, Jeffs said.

Recovery is a challenge in itself, said the woman attorney. So was the year she spent without her law license.

She waited tables in restaurants and worked other odd jobs while she completed the Bar's rigorous professional reviews. Tough, too, was getting people to "trust me again." The stigma about substance abuse and mental health issues is hard to overcome, she said.

She has begun sharing her story in hopes of showing others recovery is possible but also as a cautionary tale that may motivate others to get help before they reach bottom, like she did.