Law Students

A Recovery Story: Overcoming Barriers of Culture and Fear

Denial is a big part of addiction. The step from denial into recovery is a huge one, and for women lawyers it is very large indeed. As a young associate in a private firm, I faced a terrible fear. That fear was about addiction. I had gone straight from college into law school and from […]

Seeking the High Ground

“Man is nourished by that which is beyond the personal. He dies from preferring their opposites.” These are the concluding two sentences of Jacques Lusseyran’s book Against the Pollution of the I, which I discussed in this column last month. Today, I would like to explore what this means in legal education and how Lusseyran’s sentiment […]

Suicide – A Misunderstood Tragedy

These articles are written by the family members of Mississippi lawyers lost to suicide.  But for the Grace of God these stories could be about anyone of us affected with these illnesses.  Rodney, Robert, and Portrait were real people, loving fathers, husbands, and lawyers.  Often our culture focuses on “the suicide.”  With these stories we […]

The Addictive Personality and the Legal Profession

One of the questions I get asked over and over in meetings with local bars across the state is, “Are lawyers really that much more likely to become alcoholics or drug addicts?” Or, said another way, are lawyers more apt than others to contract addictive disease? The statistics for the general population reflect that approximately […]

It’s Now Easier for Law Students to Get Help

Every now and then the Lawyer Assistance Program gets a call from a law student at one of our seven North Carolina law schools.  The student would rather talk without giving his or her name.   The LAP person answering the phone says that’s OK and asks what the concerns are. Usually the student is facing […]

Women and Addiction

Close your eyes and think woman alcoholic or woman lawyer alcoholic. What image comes to mind. Probably not any. There is not the image of the dirty, sleeping-under-the-train trestle wino image we often have for the male alcoholic. That image is inaccurate, but at least we have one. There is not the more accurate image […]

A Revealing Survey Sheds Light On The Well-being of Lawyers

Close to ten years ago, the members of the Consortium for Professional Recovery Programs began discussing a collaborative project to survey North Carolina professionals. This consortium, comprised of representatives from medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, nursing, and social work, met regularly to discuss methods to improve the behavioral health issues experienced by their professionals. The […]

Work Dissatisfaction: Common Causes, Uncommon Solutions

“I’m one of them,” quipped Jesse in a staccato voice.  “One of whom,” replied the professional counselor.  “Oh, you know, one of those lawyers branded a success.  It looks like it’s working; that is, on the outside.  But, on the inside it’s not happening!” Jesse continued, “I’m thinking: ‘Is this really what I want from my career […]

Coping with Depression

One of the great difficulties these days with contracting a serious illness is that the disease makes us tired, emotional, vulnerable, and uncertain at a time when we most need to be mentally sharp, resourceful and diligent in order to reach out and determine the most effective treatment. This is especially true with diseases like […]

Exorcising Your Depression Through Exercise

In a recent column, I mentioned the results of Mary Howerton’s doctoral research.  Mary is the former director of the Mecklenburg County Bar and a member of the Lawyer Assistance Program Board.  Her doctoral research, concerning the quality of well-being of lawyers in North Carolina, revealed that over 27% of the lawyers in her study […]

Seven States of Being Stuck

Keith Yamashita is the hot item right now in advising corporations that have hit a brick wall.  He is a 37-year-old principal in a business consulting firm on the West Coast known as Stone Yamashita Partners.  His skill has been in identifying structural and systemic problems in a company or its leaders. His firm has […]

A Recovery Story: Before and After

I didn’t consider alcohol as a remedy for my unhappiness and depression in high school.  I was introverted, although active in school activities, but I never felt like I belonged in social situations.  While my classmates were having fun outside the classroom, I was at home reading a book. I discovered alcohol when I was […]