President's Page
Honorable Michael T. Caldwell, President
Woodstock, Illinois
It is once again my honor and privilege to serve the Lawyers’ Assistance Program as its president.
This is my third opportunity to serve as president of this marvelous organization, which dedicates itself to service to the legal community and to help those individuals within it who need it most.
My selection for a third term has been the occasion for reflection. A lot has changed since my initial two terms from 1996-1998. Then, LAP’s funding was dependent upon cash and in-kind services from the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association and the contributions of the profession at large. That generosity notwithstanding, LAP still found itself constantly financially strapped. Yet, LAP always managed to survive, but doing so was a constant challenge. Assistance to lawyers who suffer from the demons of alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness was LAP’s main mission, but fundraising was its main activity.
A lot has changed since then. When the Illinois Supreme Court generously adopted LAP by allowing an increase in lawyer registration fees to fund it, LAP enjoyed the assurance of stable, reliable funding, which in turn allowed it to become more professional and efficient. LAP now has its own offices, a fact that insures the confidentiality of its activities, a full time Executive Director, Clinical Director and Downstate Associate Director, and Administrative Assistant.
Our Executive Director, Janet Piper Voss, performs all of the administrative activities necessary to the operation of the programs. She assembles plans and executes the training programs for our volunteers and our continuing education programs to assist attorneys in complying with their minimum legal education requirements, coordinates the delivery of services to our clients and plans the agenda for our board of directors.
Our Clinical Director Susan Reigler is usually the first contact for those lawyers conflicted by alcohol, drugs, other process addictions, stress, depression, and other mental illness concerns. She identifies the nature of the problems, the type of services needed and the direction of future care, while maintaining contact with clients until they can be referred for the help they need. Ms. Reigler also facilitates two weekly, ongoing support groups.
Our Associate Director retired Judge James Radcliffe is the downstate face of LAP. Judge Radcliffe not only spreads the message of LAP downstate but also coordinates the delivery of services to downstate lawyers who need our services.
As a result of our stable funding and the dedicated professionals, LAP has the ability to deliver timely competent services state wide to the members of our profession who need it. The problem is that LAP is becoming a victim of its own success. Last fiscal year LAP served a record number of lawyers for a wide variety of problems. Alcohol and drugs lagged behind stress, depression, and suicide as the problems that LAP addressed within our profession. As a result, LAP’s ability to competently and professionally deal with these issues and assist our clients is becoming increasingly compromised. In brief, we need more help.
Of first importance is the expansion of our clinical services. Our Clinical Director is currently hired to work four days per week. That time needs to be expanded to five. We also need an assistant to our Clinical Director. LAP needs someone to assist in maintaining contact with a growing number of clients, assist with follow-up, and coordinate the delivery of services. It is imperative that no one who asks for our services winds up falling through the cracks simply because LAP is overworked.
Ideally, we could use a central Illinois associate director. Judge Radcliffe is responsible for an impossibly large area. He is currently coordinating LAP’s services for all of Illinois south of the collar counties.
LAP indeed finds itself at a crossroads. The demand for our services has never been higher. Our need for additional personnel has never been greater, and the economy has never been poorer, making this the worst of all possible times to request money. But that is what we need. The legal profession has been just as much a victim of the current recession as every other segment of society. As a result, a dues increase is unlikely at this time. LAP thus finds itself in a bit of a quandary. We have never been better at what we do, never had more demand for our services than now and have never been more challenged in our ability to fully deliver those services.
We need your help and hope that you can make a regular, generous contribution to the Lawyers Assistance Program. LAP is a 501c(3) not-for-profit corporation so all donations are tax deductible. Please help us if you can.