CalBar Lawyer Assistance Program Sees Surge of Attorneys in Need

New case intakes for the State Bar of California’s Lawyer Assistance Program for attorneys struggling with substance abuse or mental health issues jumped 36% from 2020 to 2021.

That spike from 141 cases in 2020 to 192 last year, was “the largest one year percentage increase in the LAP’s history” said Lisa Chavez, director of the bar’s Office of Research and Institutional Accountability. The LAP was created by the California Legislature in 2002.

The climb in new cases coincided with the second full-year of the coronavirus pandemic, according to California state bar defense counsel Susan L. Margolis of Margolis & Margolis LLP, a firm that specializes in defending attorneys in bar disciplinary proceedings.

“It’s possible the ongoing stress that resulted from these conditions may have caused more mental health and substance abuse problems in the profession and caused more attorneys to seek assistance from LAP,” Margolis said via email.

But the pandemic isn’t the only factor, according to ethics lawyer David C. Carr. According to Carr, the LAP program has been historically underutilized.

Less Stigma

“It was thought that this was because impaired attorneys were afraid of participating because it was operated by the State Bar despite the LAP’s strict confidentiality,” Carr told Bloomberg Law. “Efforts were made to put some distance between the State Bar and LAP, literally moving it into a different building.”

The assistance program has also done a lot of outreach emphasizing its confidentiality, Carr said. The increase in attorney participation is “good to hear,” he said.

“LAP has literally been a life-saver for some of my clients. Others have not been so fortunate. I have lost five clients to suicide in the last 20 years, all of them struggling with mental health or substance issues,” Carr told Bloomberg Law.

James I. Ham, whose practice also focuses on legal ethics and attorney regulation in California, said there has also been a more gradual trend within the LAP program.

“Over time there has been a general increase in awareness of mental health and substance abuse issues and less stigma attached to treatment,” Ham said via email. He added that this was “also possibly contributed to by the statistical fluke caused by the relatively small numbers involved.”

State Bar Position

The State Bar of California—a regulator whose membership is compulsory and that licenses and oversees more than 250,000 attorneys—says there is no data that directly measures the cause of the spike. Anecdotally, however, the program’s supervisor, Michelle Harmon, said it is “likely that the increased stressor” of the Covid-19 pandemic had something to do with the uptick in LAP intakes.

It’s also possible that increased workplace assistance in the form of mental health support would result in fewer applications for LAP, Harmon said

She further confirmed that the program is confidential.

“Currently, we find there is reluctance for some attorneys to voluntarily enroll in LAP because of a fear of backlash for admitting they need assistance,” Harmon said. “The benefits and assistance that attorneys receive can be life-altering, and until more firms and law offices offer assistance, we hope more attorneys enroll in LAP.”