In a statement on the sentencing of Richard Luthmann, a Staten Island lawyer who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and extortion conspiracy, U.S. Senior District Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York wrote that Luthmann is hardly the only lawyer to suffer from issues related to mental health and substance abuse.

Weinstein urged members of the legal community—especially judges and senior attorneys in mentorship roles—to encourage a culture of openness about mental health so that lawyers aren't afraid to ask for help.

"Stigma and underresourced programs no doubt contributed to his wariness of obtaining intensive necessary assistance dealing with these problems," Weinstein wrote in a statement filed Wednesday.

Luthmann gained notoriety in 2015, when he demanded the Staten Island Supreme Court honor his "right" to "trial by combat" with an attorney representing the other side of a case.

He was arrested in 2017 on charges related to participation in a scrap metal fraud scheme, after he used his law license to lend an "air of legitimacy" to the fraud, Weinstein wrote.

Weinstein sentenced Luthmann to four years in prison in September, and according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he is currently in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Luthmann's lawyer, Arthur Aidala of Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, said his client is one of the smartest people he's ever encountered but he lacked the coping skills to handle the dramatic level of pressure facing lawyers today.

That's not uncommon, he said, because tasks that used to take lawyers a week or more are now due within hours. Now that everyone has a smartphone, it's much harder to take a break from constant communications with clients and colleagues, he said.

"A lot of people crumble—and I shouldn't say crumble, but the way they figure out how to exist is to self-medicate," he said.

Luthmann drank to excess and used cocaine, according to Aidala and court papers. Aidala said he knows other attorneys who abuse pain medications or simply work until they have to be hospitalized for exhaustion.

Weinstein noted that the New York State Bar Association offers a Lawyer Assistance Program so that lawyers can seek confidential help. Other bar associations provide similar programs, but Weinstein said more resources are needed for prevention and intervention.

Since lawyers are accustomed to staying up to date on legal issues through continuing education classes, Aidala suggested they could learn coping skills in a similar format.

Aidala said he's learned through experience that the best professionals take breaks, and he hopes more lawyers learn to do that.

"(Our work is) important, but it's not like a doctor doing brain surgery," he said. "So why don't we just chill out for a little bit and breathe? But we've gotten to this point where nobody breathes."

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