For the Defense - Volume 2, Issue 3 - 2017 - 20

However, the most significant activity during
the first half of 2017 was in the areas of intervention
requests, mostly from concerned family members
and colleagues, where we have experienced a 2.2fold increase over the same period in 2016.
As an education source, LCL reached 15,207
judges, attorneys and law students in 2016 and
we have already reached an audience in PA and
nationwide of 10,442 in the first six months of 2017.
Not surprisingly, LCL's most recent statistics
show the same striking results as the Krill study,
with 33% of Helpline calls related to problems
with alcohol and 14% with depression, yet only
4% of callers reporting problems with prescription
drugs and 7% with illicit drugs.12
The reasons, we believe, are the same. The
stigma attached to addiction and mental illness
in our society as a whole is disproportionately
magnified in the legal profession. Instead of
admitting that we have a problem and asking
for help, we are often overcome with the shame
and embarrassment of being labeled an alcoholic,
drug addict, depressed, bi-polar, etc., which is then
reinforced by the fear of how public disclosure may
harm our reputations and careers or embarrass
our colleagues in the bar and on the bench.
Complicating this problem further is the
tendency of the attorney's or judge's peers to
indulge in a conspiracy of silence (enabling) and
lighten the normal stresses of our profession. When,
for motives good, bad or mixed, colleagues protect
the impaired individual from the consequences of
his or her illness-based misconduct, the result is a
progression of that illness to the greater detriment
of career, family and well being.
LCL's educational programs are designed to

target these obstacles by teaching members of the
bench and bar:
* we are dealing with illnesses that have
scientifically based causes;
* these illnesses are progressive in nature;
* these illnesses, when left untreated, will
contribute to premature death;
* how to recognize the early warning signs of
substance use and mental health disorders;
* with early detection and proper treatment,
there is a good prognosis for recovery; and
* Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers is here to
assist them to approach the lawyer, judge
or law student (or family member) who is
in distress.
I have used my personal story to describe for
you what impairment looks like. I have also used
my personal story to describe for you what denial
looks like, what hopelessness looks like. But most
importantly, I have used my personal story to show
you what recovery looks like.
Lawyers have a great impact on all aspects of
society. Therefore, the impaired lawyer has a great
impact on society as well. It is up to us to ask the
question that can change a life - and to make the
call that may save one.

Notes
1.
2.

See Terence Gorski, Denial Checklist http://www.tgorski.
com/clin_mod/dmc/denial_checklist.htm.
Arthur T. Donato, Jr., Esquire, was the Founding
President of PACDL (1988-1990).
Click here to view and/or print the full notes
section for this article.

About the Author
Brian S. Quinn, Esquire is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania who currently
serves as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Lawyers Concerned for
Lawyers of Pennsylvania. Mr. Quinn obtained his undergraduate degree in
1970, his law degree in 1973 and a certificate in Drug and Alcohol Counseling
in 2012, from Villanova University. Prior to working for Lawyers Concerned
for Lawyers, Mr. Quinn was a sole practitioner in Delaware County and has
also worked in the field of Drug and Alcohol Counseling and Rehabilitation
at Mirmont Treatment Center in Lima, Pennsylvania and the Malvern
Institute. He is also a past member of the LCL Board and has served as a peer
volunteer for over six years.

For The Defense | Vol. 2, Issue 3

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Volume 2, Issue 3 - 2017