For most lawyers, it’s not hard to imagine why alcohol and drug abuse have become such prevalent problems within the legal profession. After all, the practice of law is high stress, and lawyers work under significant pressures, such as looming deadlines, competitive work environments, demanding clients and long hours.
What is hard for most attorneys to imagine is how they would deal with a situation involving suspicions that a partner or an associate has a substance abuse problem. What would you do if you suspected that someone in your firm was abusing either alcohol or drugs? To whom would you owe a duty: the firm, the struggling attorney, the clients? Is it permissible to ignore the problem, at least initially? Should you confront the individual immediately? How do you protect yourself in the process? These are only a few of the difficult questions attorneys must consider when faced with a colleague who is struggling with a substance abuse problem.
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