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The ABA’s House of Delegates on Monday approved changes to the organization’s Model Rule for Minimum Continuing Legal Education that include a required hour of substance abuse and mental health CLE every three years, as well as mandatory diversity and inclusion CLE. The decision was made at the ABA’s midyear meeting in Miami without any opposition or debate.The change comes a year after a landmark study concluded that lawyers suffer substance abuse and mental health problems at higher rates than other industries. That study, conducted by the ABA’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, found that 21 percent of licensed attorneys qualify as problem drinkers; 19 percent have symptoms of anxiety; and 28 percent show signs of depression. Lawyers in their first decade of practice were more likely to face these issues.
“This is an important next step in bringing substance use and mental health issues closer to the spotlight they warrant,” said Patrick Krill, an attorney and counselor who co-authored the lawyer substance abuse study. “It’s far from a panacea, but it is progress.”
The updated model rule is advisory, as individual jurisdictions set out their own CLE requirements. Currently, most jurisdictions allow attorneys to earn CLE credits for programs on mental health and substance abuse. Only California, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina currently require such courses.
Krill said he hopes jurisdictions will move quickly to update their own CLE requirements to comply with the ABA’s updated model rule.
Administrators of lawyer assistance programs across the country endorsed the requirement and said it will remove the stigma attorneys might face for voluntarily attending mental health and substance abuse sessions. Lawyers are often concerned that people will assume they are struggling with those issues should they choose to attend that kind of CLE session. By making it mandatory, no one will make that assumption, they said.
The updated rule also requires one hour of diversity and inclusion CLE every three years. Only three states — California, Minnesota and Oregon — now require attorneys to complete specific diversity and inclusion programs. That may include instruction about implicit bias or how to improve diversity in the legal profession, according to the resolution.
The changes were sponsored by the ABA’s Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education and its Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs. They resulted from a multiyear review of the continuing legal education model rule by special committee. That rule hadn’t been updated since 1988.
Celia Ampel contributed reporting.
Contact Karen Sloan at [email protected]. On Twitter: @KarenSloanNLJ.
