From the Chair...
by: Michael A. Cooper

It is both humbling and challenging to succeed Dave Pfalzgraf as Chair of the Lawyer Assistance Trust. Having joined the Trust Board last year, I was immediately struck by the quietly effective way in which Dave led the Board, by his unvarying courtesy when responding to Board members and by the warmth with which he welcomed me as a new member and more recently as his successor. I doubt I can emulate those qualities, but they will serve as models.

I would like to share with you the path by which I came to this position. About a decade ago, a good friend died suddenly in his fifties of a heart attack. He had appeared to have an almost limitless capacity for alcohol. I never told him that he should not have another drink, much less suggest as a friend that he seek help to curb his drinking habit. As soon as I learned of his death, I became convinced that alcohol had been a significant contributing factor, and I vowed never to remain silent again when I thought a friend was drinking to excess.

A year or two later, not long after I became President of the New York City Bar Association, I was seated at lunch next to then Presiding Justice Lerner of the Appellate Division, First Department. Attempting to fill a lull in the conversation, I asked him whether the Departmental Disciplinary Committee encountered with any frequency instances of unethical behavior that were rooted in alcoholism or other substance abuse. They did, he replied, and then he told me of his own interest in the subject. When he had sat on the Supreme Court, Queens County, he had failed to take action when an inebriated lawyer had appeared before him. Justice Lerner freely acknowledged that he had made a mistake, as I had with my friend.

Within a matter of months, with Justice Lerner’s encouragement (and prodding), we had created a lawyer assistance program at the New York City Bar, and then had the good fortune to hire Eileen Travis as its first Director. There was a great need for her services, and she has been providing them ever since. Participating in the creation of the New York City Bar LAP was perhaps my most significant and most personally rewarding accomplishment as President of that Association, and I am pleased that I can now serve the same cause statewide.

There is much to do. Fortunately, my fellow Trustees are a very committed group and are very generous with their time. Fortunately, also, we have a superb Executive Director, Barbara F. Smith, who is ably assisted by Sue McDougall. We could not be more pleased that Barbara has received an Award for Excellence in Public Service at the 2008 annual meeting of the New York State Bar. I look forward eagerly to working this coming year with Barbara and the Trustees.

NYSBA SPRING RETREAT 2008

L-R: Arnie Herz, Program Speaker; Sarah Krauss, Chair, NYSBA Lawyer Assistance Committee; Bernice K. Leber, President-Elect NYSBA, Patricia Spataro, Director NYSBA LAP; Barbara Smith, Director, LAT & Michael Cooper, Chair, LAT

L-R: Eileen Travis, Director, NYC Bar LAP; Gary Reing, NYC Bar LAP Committee; Ray Nelson, Award Recipient; Sarah Krauss, Avrom Robin, NYC Bar LAP Committee Chair and LAT Trustee

About the Lawyer Assistance Trust

The New York State Court of Appeals created the Lawyer Assistance Trust to provide statewide leadership and financial assistance to programs for the treatment and prevention of alcohol and substance dependency among lawyers, judges and law students in New York State.  In 2006, that mission was expanded to include addressing mental health concerns among members of the profession.

Our Grant Program, a unique feature of the Trust, offers financial support to Bar Associations and foundations and law schools seeking to develop new programs or enhance existing programs of education and prevention, outreach and service. Eligible applicants are invited to submit their applications online.  Grants awarded in 2006 will enable the New York State, New York City and Nassau County Bar Associations to enhance their lawyer assistance programs by retaining part-time staffers to provide outreach and clinical services for the profession.

We've organized several projects to enhance understanding of the subject at law schools, including our conference "Meeting Our Responsibilities: Substance Abuse and Law Schools", an examination of the role of law schools in addressing alcohol and substance abuse in the legal profession.  You can view streaming video of portions of the speakers' remarks at the "events" tab, along with text.  We have facilitated meetings with law school administrators and LAP Directors and volunteers, particularly with the goal of supporting newly-appointed student LAP representatives. The "Course in a Box", a curriculum module for use in law school, has been distributed and included in a "Tool Kit" for law school administrators prepared by the American Bar Association.  Our latest project is a new brochure describing the Character and Fitness process for bar applicants, prepared with the intent of de-mystifying what information must be reported and what impact it may have, giving law students the information they need to recognize that having sought treatment for alcohol or substance abuse or mental health concerns, or being in the status of a recovering alcoholic or addict, are not grounds for denial of admission to the bar.

This site also makes information about available lawyer assistance services throughout the State very easy to find-check out our resources tab.   You may read our latest Annual Report and the newsletters under the publications tab. A bibliography of books, articles and reports, prepared by the ABA's Commission on Lawyer Assistance Program's Law School Outreach Committee now appears under the "Resources" tab at "related links":  check it out!  Last, but not least, we have an enhanced calendar of events and the start of a listing of "lawyers only" AA meeting around the State, under "Events."

We welcome you to browse our site and learn how the Trust -- and the organized bar -- are addressing the pressing aspects of the problems of alcohol and substance dependency in the profession. With information, outreach, affirmative programs, and financial support, we are making a difference.

 Barbara F. Smith, Executive Director