Circuit Court Judge Robert L. Childers of Memphis has been appointed to a second term on an American Bar Association advisory commission created to assist lawyers and other legal professionals with addictions, mental health issues and other personal problems.
ABA President Robert Grey, Jr., asked Childers to continue serving on the advisory group for the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs ( CoLAP). The commission’s goal is to educate the legal community about impairments and the assistance available to lawyers. Childers also is a member of CoLAP and the commission for the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP).
“Only in the past two decades has the legal community recognized the importance of these programs,” Childers said. “Until the lawyer assistance programs were created, attorneys with impairment problems often were reluctant to seek help. In some cases, their practices were affected, as well as their personal lives.”
The Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program provides consultation, assessment, referral, intervention and other services for lawyers, judges, bar applicants and law students with issues such as substance abuse, stress, family problems, depression, gambling and eating disorders. The program was created by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1999. From its inception through August 2004, there have been more than 1,102 inquiries and referrals.
“I am proud to have been an original commission member for TLAP,” Childers said. “The good the program does, not only for lawyers, but indirectly for their clients as well, is impossible to quantify. The same is true for similar programs in every other state.”