Event Title: Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession Prevention, Detection, and Treatment
Event Type: Special Co-Sponsored MCLE Society Session
Location:
ACBA
Oakland
To Register:
Visit www.acbanet.org/calendar/ Call 510-302-2201
Presenter: David Mann
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017
Time: 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Cost:
FREE for ACBA Members
FREE for TMS Members
Lunch included
MCLE
1.5 Hours
Competence Issues Credit
Description:
Join the ACBA ADR Section and The Mediation Society for an insightful overview of the substance abuse challenges attorneys face. Speaker David Mann will present a review of the brain chemistry of addiction and alcoholism, as well as a discussion of the behavioral and health consequences of the disease. He will offer insights into the personality traits of attorneys and the qualities of the legal profession that combine to make lawyers significantly more susceptible to addiction, and more difficult to treat, than the general population.
David will present a case study of an addict attorney, as well as a self- diagnosis exercise for attorneys to utilize if they are concerned that they may have a problem which needs to be addressed. His concluding remarks are directed towards both systemic and individual solutions to the problem with references to specific strategies and resources available to attorneys. David approaches this very serious topic in a manner that incorporates humor and irony and invites attorneys to engage in some self-reflection.
SPEAKER:
David Mann, The Other Bar
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.