SBAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE BENEFITS
OF BEING A MEMBER
TONY J. WEILER
SBAND Executive Director
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with
the lawyers in the northwest part of our
state when I was asked to address the Upper
Missouri Bar Association in Williston.
The turnout was good, and we had others
teleconferenced in from Watford City and
Crosby. In my time as your executive director,
I’ve had quite a few opportunities to address
our local bar associations, and I always enjoy
it. Sometimes, I am joined by the president
of SBAND, and other times, I go it alone.
Some of the larger associations ask us to
address them each year, as they look for
programming relevant to their membership.
Speaking to our local associations gives the
president and me an opportunity to speak
about the work done here at SBAND by
my staff and me, and outline the programs
SBAND offers to you, our members. One
member benefit I stress each and every time
I speak to local bars is the Lawyer Assistance
Program (LAP). All the efforts of those
involved with the LAP, and the efforts of the
SBAND staff and leadership, are intended
to help members thrive and succeed in their
professional lives.
The LAP receives clients from self-referrals,
from colleagues who make a referral, and
from the disciplinary system as a form of
diversion. Not long ago, a North Dakota
lawyer reached out to the LAP indicating
he was struggling to balance the work of the
profession with his home life and indicated
he was struggling with work satisfaction,
which was affecting his family. He finally
reached out to the LAP by sending an
email to [email protected]. This is
a confidential email. One of our dedicated
volunteers set up a time to talk to the lawyer
about how LAP could help, and eventually
he was accepted into the program.
Once a lawyer is working with LAP, the
committee finds that lawyer a mentor. It can
be someone in the lawyer’s firm, another
lawyer in the community, or a lawyer the
client has never met. A Mentor Agreement
is signed by both parties, and the LAP helps
the mentor craft an Individual Assistance
Plan (IAP), outlining what work needs to
be done to help the lawyer with his or her
struggles. Mentors then provide a monthly
report to the LAP Committee, who discuss
the progress being made (or not made) under
the IAP. The length of time a lawyer spends
in the program varies widely, and much of
that depends on the issue.
Often, lawyers believe the only time they
need help is if they are struggling with
addiction or dependency issues. That simply
isn’t the case. LAP often assists lawyers
who need help with practice management
or dealing with the stress the practice of
law causes. The issue is, often a lawyer who
knows they need help doesn’t reach out to
LAP until the issues is such that they are a
case of diversion. LAP helped the lawyer I
described above move forward and have a
successful thriving practice.
The volunteers on the LAP Committee truly
care about those we are trying to help, and
want to make sure the lawyer is taking any
and all necessary steps to improve their life.
Sometimes, the issues are a matter of life
and death when dealing with addiction. The
LAP Committee is comprised of not only
lawyers, but lay members who often have a
specialty in dealing with mental health issues
or addiction. The members bring a wealth of
experience to the p rocess of helping in any
way they can. If you or someone you know
may benefit from the LAP, please send an
email to me, [email protected], or the LAP
email. Keep in mind, anything shared is
confidential.
As a side note, the LAP recently received a
team from the American Bar Association’s
Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs
(CoLAP) for an assessment and evaluation
of our state’s program. The CoLAP
evaluation provides insight into what is being
done well by our LAP and offers suggestions
for what we can do better. These changes will
be addressed by the LAP Committee (and
the Supreme Court, if changes to the Rules
are necessary) over the coming months.
We want to make improvements here at
SBAND that help lawyers practice law, and
we are always mindful the programs we offer
are intended to benefit all our members. Your
board of governors and my staff and I are
dedicated to doing this each and every day.
WINTER 2018
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