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God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. . Who do we want to be? . What attorneys do when we are at the top of our game . Another way of thinking about ethics.
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God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Who do we want to be? • What attorneys do when we are at the top of our game
Another way of thinking about ethics • Ethics as describing a pattern of identity: • What “sorts of people” are we becoming?
Oscar Wilde: “The thing about sin is not really what we do; it is who we become.”
The joy of stats! • Conservative estimate: • One in five attorneys suffer from alcoholism or other substance abuse.
Alcoholism/ Addiction: a disease • Manifested by • Physiological components • Genetic predisposition • Defined psychological aspects and patterns of behavior.
Attorneys and Addiction • Much more difficult time getting and staying sober than rest of population.
Attorneys and Depression • Per Johns Hopkins Study: • Attorneys lead country in rate of depression • As of 1996, attorneys overtook dentists as profession with the highest rate of suicide
Model Rule 8.3 • 8.3 Reporting professional misconduct. • (a) A lawyer who knows that another lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, shall inform the appropriate professional authority.
Functional Alcoholics • Great workers. • Lousy people.
NEBRASKA LAWYERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM • 1-(888) 584-6527 (NLAP)
What do we take from this? • Law is your job, not your life; • Don’t confuse the two
We are problem solvers. We just need the courage to change the things we can.