Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession December 2018

1 Hour of Participatory MCLE Competency Issues Credit

11:30 am -Noon Check In and Bring-Your-Own-Lunch

noon - 1:00 pm Presentation

Spending more time in “The Other Bar” than in your office, in court, or meeting with clients?

If you or a friend have this kind of “recreational” drug habit, including alcohol, you should attend our program.

Mann approaches this very serious topic in a manner that incorporates humor and irony and invites attorneys to engage in a bit of sometimes much-needed self-reflection. He incorporates his own situation as a case study of an addict. You will laugh, you may be shocked and you will be tempted to cry.

He will review the brain chemistry of addiction and alcoholism, and discuss the behavioral and health consequences of the disease. The personality traits of attorneys and the qualities of the legal profession combine to make lawyers significantly more susceptible to addiction, and more difficult to treat than the general population. A self-diagnosis exercise is provided for attorneys who are concerned that they may have a problem. He discusses both systemic and individual solutions to the problem, with references to strategies and resources available to attorneys. The ethical rules concerning substance abuse are cited.

Speaker: David Mann

David Mann is a graduate of Ohio State University and Stanford Law School. He served as a Deputy Public Defender in San Francisco before becoming a solo criminal defense practitioner. After 12 years of practice, substance abuse-related issues caused him to resign from the bar with disciplinary charges pending. Following a relentless battle with addiction which included numerous hospitalizations and periods of living on the streets, he succeeded in getting clean and sober in 1998. Since then he has worked, among other things, as a cab driver, a private investigator, a paralegal, and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation counselor. He presently serves as the Northern California Consultant to The Other Bar, a statewide organization of recovering attorneys, judges, and law students. In this capacity, he spends his time providing outreach and education to the legal community, and assisting attorneys as they struggle with substance abuse and related challenges that threaten their ability and/or eligibility to practice law.

Alameda County Law Library is a multiple activity MCLE provider approved by the State Bar of California.