- Quickdraw McLaw
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Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! Happy holidays everyone! We hope you all have something fun planned with family and friends for these last weeks of 2019.
If any of you are not feeling so jolly or struggling right now, please don’t hesitate to ask for help. If any of you are not struggling right now, consider reaching out to those people in your life who might be. A quick message or phone call goes a long way.
Confidential help from a fellow lawyer is a phone call awayToll Free: 866-828-0022Any lawyer in need of confidential assistance with alcohol, drug, gambling problems, depression and stress: help is a phone call away. The LCL hotline will put you in touch with a peer who understands the issues of lawyers today. When you call, all you have to leave is your first name and telephone number, and someone with experience and who understands will call you back. You will be listened to with understanding and support by someone who will give you resources you may not know exist out there. One new benefit of this program is three free therapist sessions for support during stressful events. More details at the link above.
Call 1-800-273-8255
Available 24 hours everyday
As far as Lawyers Concerned For Lawyers, I'm sure they have done some great work and that their hearts are in the right place.
However, when seeking help with a serious addiction, it may be better to seek outside help than help directly from those in our own profession.It's just too much of a small, closely knit group, when compared to the community at large.
Even if they are strictly committed to confidentiality(and I'm sure they are)
there would still seem to be a fairly large risk of random breaches of such secrecy, without such occurrences necessarily being anyone's fault.
By rule, communications with LCL are not just confidential, they are expressly inadmissible in discipline proceedings. As well-paid problem solvers, having our own is antithetical to being attorneys. However, seeking help is a sign of courage, not weakness. For those struggling, your problems are not unique; you are not alone. There is help. There is hope.
LCL is an anonymous, confidential program that helps a ton of lawyers. Nobody should hesitate to go to any of the meetings or to call anyone on the call list.
If you are concerned you'll see someone you know in the profession at the meetings, just remember – THEY ARE THERE TOO!!!!
What 2:28 and 9:34 don't seem to realize, is that even if their observations are valid, that does not necessarily make 1:51's observations invalid.
The fact it's a great organization that has helped many, does not undercut the concerns of 1:51 about addressing career-threatening problems of this magnitude among a closely knitted group of one's peers.
This always creates some degree of inherent risk and "seepage" of info., even in cases where no clear confidentiality breach was intended or can be proven.
And BTW, although I only spent a few minutes on the issue, so allowing that my research may well be faulty and incomplete, I was not able to locate any case law, statute or rule to the effect that involvement with LCL is strictly inadmissible in State Bar discipline proceedings. Is it in fact a ruled specifically governing State Bar discipline proceedings?
Nevada Supreme Court Rules
Rule 106.5. Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program: privilege and limitation.
1. Definition. The Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program is a voluntary program created by the board of governors to assist lawyers who are suffering from a psychological disorder or impairment, or a drug, alcohol, gambling, or other addictive or compulsive disorder.
2. Privilege. Individuals who make a good faith report to the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program, the board of governors and its members, bar counsel, and staff, and the coordinator, agents, or employees of the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program, shall be absolutely immune from civil liability for any activities related to the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program, including, but not limited to, making referrals to a counselor, therapist, medical, psychological or behavior health care provider. No action may be predicated upon the filing of a good faith report with the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program or any action taken in connection with such a filing by the coordinator, agents, or employees of the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program.
3. Limited use policy. All information obtained by the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program, including the initial report and any subsequent information provided to the program thereafter, shall be confidential and shall not be admissible in any state bar disciplinary, admission, administrative or other state bar proceeding. This rule is not meant to preclude the state bar from using evidence or information which is independently discovered from a source separate from the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program.
[Added; effective April 8, 2002; amended effective December 10, 2009.]
The version of the rule cited above is a bit out of date. The rule was amended by ADKT No. 540 effective April 22, 2019. See Order Amending SCR 106.5. The substance is still the same, but the rule now includes Nevada Lawyers Assistance Program within its scope.
Read the above-rule closely (even as amended in 2019). If I report or self-report to "the board of governors and its members, bar counsel and staff" I shall be absolutely immune from civil liability. Sure no action shall be predicated on the report; however nothing stops OBC once they have this information from putting the attorney on their radar (and it does) and Bar Counsel and staff from closely monitoring that attorney (and they do). So no, OBC cannot use that report as the basis for discipline but can certainly look for any other pretextual reason to put the screws to such attorneys (and they do). Hence the limitation that they are not precluded from information that OBC "independently discovered." If the State Bar or Jim's Group of 7 Thugs had ever shown themselves to be trustworthy, maybe we could trust them. But unfortunately we cannot.
Can Ozzie Fumo please stop texting me? It is annoying, and I will not be voting for you.
…and Vegas is STILL a cess pool