Thursday, January 21, 2010
1:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
HELP Task Force
3.0 MCLE Credit Hours

You Have the Right Not to Remain Silent: Raising Awareness of Substance Abuse, Mental Illness and Suicide in Our Profession

Recent studies show that lawyers are three times as likely to suffer from depression as other professions. The rate of substance abuse among lawyers is twice that of the general population. Suicide is one of the leading causes among death of attorneys, after cancer and heart disease. The rate of death by suicide for lawyers is nearly six times the suicide rate for the general population.

Have you ever wondered why lawyers are vulnerable to these types of problems? What do recent studies tell us about addiction as an illness? What can we do as individual lawyers and as a Bar to address these problems?

Whether you are the husband, wife, employee, judge, law student, law partner, law firm associate, friend or colleague of a person challenged by substance abuse or mental illness, your understanding of the nature of the problem can play a vital part in helping that individual to achieve and maintain recovery. Join us for a spirited discussion of these issues.

1:30–1:45 p.m. Defining the Problem: Why Lawyers are Vulnerable
C. Stuart Mauney, Greenville

1:45–2:30 p.m. Is Addiction an Illness or Weakness?
Suzanne Thomas, Ph.D., Charleston

2:30–2:45 p.m. Break

2:45–3:45 p.m. Lawyers in Recovery
Ronald W. Hazzard, Conway
C. Stuart Mauney, Greenville
Manning Smith, Beaufort
J. Robert Turnbull, Columbia

3:45–4:45 p.m. Reclaiming Our Roots: Understanding Law as a Learned Profession and High Calling
Hon. Carl Horn III, Charlotte, NC

Course Planner/Moderator: C. Stuart Mauney, Greenville