Lawyer Wins Community Leadership Award for Work Related to Addiction and Mental Health Epidemics
Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program director Bree Buchanan has won national accolades for her work to find practical solutions to the legal profession's addiction and mental health epidemic.
April 26, 2018 at 03:46 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Texas Lawyer
Texas Lawyers Assistance Program director Bree Buchanan has won national accolades for her work to find practical solutions to the legal profession's addiction and mental health epidemic.
Buchanan won the 2018 Excellence in Community Leadership Award from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment provider that runs a Legal Professionals program that focuses on helping lawyers and judges. The award recognizes extraordinary service for lawyers with substance use and mental health disorders.
No one deserves the award more than Buchanan, said a statement by Kevin Chandler, who directs Hazelden's Legal Professionals Program.
“Her tireless, selfless work is clearly changing the trajectory when it comes to wellness in the legal profession,” he said.
Since 2010, Buchanan has directed TLAP, which assists Texas lawyers and judges with addiction or mental health struggles. She's also chairwoman of the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs, which assists state and local lawyer assistance programs. Previously, she served as a co-chair of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and helped to write its report, “The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.”
A 2016 study by the Hazelden foundation and the ABA commission found that 21 percent of attorneys are problem drinkers, 28 percent struggle with depression, 19 percent have anxiety symptoms and 23 percent struggle with stress.
The 2017 well-being report that Buchanan co-authored created a roadmap to improve lawyers' mental health. It urged legal industry leaders to eliminate the stigma of lawyers seeking help, said that lawyer rules must stress that a lawyer's competence depends upon well-being, suggested boosting law school education about lawyer well-being, and more.
Buchanan said she's honored and humbled to win the award, but thinks the recognition should go to all of the members of the well-being task force.
“Many thousands of hours went into the development of this publication,” she said. “There's been a huge amount of impact: Close to 20 states have already instituted a task force or special committee dedicated to advancing lawyer well-being in their state. It's amazing it occurred in such a short period of time.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Meet the Long Island Judge Tapped to Be US Attorney for Eastern District of New York
3 minute read
Appeals Court Rejects Trump Attempt to Delay Friday Sentencing
Trending Stories
- 1Western NY Justice Agrees to Public Admonishment Over 'Obvious' Conflict of Interest
- 2How to Litigate Before the EU’s Top Court, the European Court of Justice
- 3After Solving Problems for Presidents, Ron Klain Now Applying Legal Prowess to Helping Airbnb Overturn NYC Ban
- 4Attorneys Allege Contract Broken for Sharing $13M in Fees From MDL
- 5ZwillGen Acquires Lawyers, Scientists and Technology from Luminos.Law, Developer of Luminos.AI Platform
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
