The American Bar Association this week launched a pledge campaign for legal employers to address the profession’s high rates of substance abuse and mental health problems. The campaign, organized by the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession, asks firms to adopt a seven-point framework that includes steps such as breaking from the expectation that all events include alcohol.

Alcohol and drug counselor Patrick Krill, an attorney who developed the framework and a member of the working group, answers questions about how some firms got involved at the outset, how the campaign will seek to hold signatory firms accountable and the challenges ahead.

Patrick Krill.