Pennsylvania (PA) Mental Health CLE Course Catalog

As the lines have gone from blurry to nonexistent, lawyers and legal teams everywhere are struggling with when to ‘end’ the workday before a new one begins. An already long overdue concern for lawyers, finding appropriate work/life balance amid a global pandemic requires legal teams to think more creatively about how they are helping lawyers reduce stress and maintain a sustainable pace that will not lead to fatigue, burn out, or more serious mental health concerns. Thanks to the recent pandemic however, a silver lining has emerged: there is a new light and focus on what firms can do to boost morale, keep mental health front-and-center, and make work/life balance a reality, instead of a hopeful, yet distant dream.

Incapacity and dementia affects all practitioners (both personally and professionally) especially as our profession ages. Truly, it is not a matter of "if" a practitioner will be confronted with issues related to incapacity, it is a matter of "when".

A number of Important dialogues in recent years have addressed lawyers struggling with mental health issues and drug/alcohol problems. But what happens when it's the debtors and creditors who have these issues, such as small equity-holders and former employees of chapter 11 debtors? This roundtable discussion will focus on the issues the industry sees on a daily basis — mostly in the consumer context, but not always.

The program covers how to best respond when lawyers and judges are impaired and unfit to practice.

This program discusses how to recognize the impaired practitioner, how to start a conversation with a practitioner you believe to be impaired, resources to assist in recovery, and identifies the possible disciplinary implications of an impaired practitioners' conduct.

It used to just be ERISA. And then came COBRA. And HIPAA. And a whole lot more after that, including some state and local rules that ERISA might have been thought to preempt. Such is the increasingly complicated regulatory regime applicable to health and welfare benefits that you blink and the whole landscape seems to have changed. Add an unprecedented pandemic, and you end up with turbulent times indeed.

This program will define the stigma around substance use and mental health disorders, explain the reasons why stigma is so pervasive in the legal profession, and why it is critical to overcome these beliefs and identify effective means to ameliorate stigma and replace its effects with affirming attitudes for recovery. It will focus on several different "life stages" of an attorney (law students, career practitioners, and judges), and how stigma affects each group and identify practical and applicable ways to conquer stigma in the legal community.

Practicing law is hard enough without the recent changes in our culture. Learn how to cope with stress and depression to excel and thrive in the new COVID normal.

Discover resources to help you cope with the anxiety and fear during these challenging times and explore best practices for reducing and avoiding mistakes that can often lead to malpractice and/or disciplinary claims.