As some lawyers turn to drink and drugs to ease the tension of their high-powered jobs, Chris Baker reports on the various support systems firms have in place to help their staff, and how LawCare is aiding partners who are suffering from stress or addiction

We drink roughly 150% more than we did 50 years ago - and lawyers are no exception.

Last year, the British working public took off an incredible 14 million weeks' worth of time owing to excessive drinking or drug use.

This cost UK industries some 2.8 billion, and the NHS around 5 billion.

Some 22,000 people died and more than 150,000 people ended up in hospital because of substance misuse.

A survey by the Institute of Personnel and Development, Alcohol Concern, the TUC and the Health and Safety Executive found that three-quarters of the firms questioned reported staff absences owing to alcohol.

And, while it is largely hidden, the legal profession is suffering a hangover caused by lawyers seeking release from a bottle or some other drug.

Evidence suggests 30% of male lawyers and 20% of female lawyers regularly exceed recommended drinking levels; up to 15% of those get hooked.

Recently, Edward Flitton, managing partner of US firm Holland & Hart, called for partnership agreements to include provisions that allow firms to deal with partners suffering from drug and alcohol problems (see [2003] Gazette, 25 September, 6).

It is far easier to deal with employees whose substance misuse affects their work than it is to handle a partner in drink or drug-related decline, he told the International Bar Association conference in San Francisco.

On this side of the pond, partners will mutter anonymously about losing a partner each year to drink, but there is a general reluctance to talk about it on the record.

However, most UK law firms have policies in place to deal with all staff who find themselves addicted to drink or drugs.

'We do have a substance or alcohol misuse policy but it's for the whole firm and not just the partners,' a spokesman for City firm Denton Wilde Sapte says.

'It's quite a helping policy rather than a negative drug test and then you're out.'

This policy encourages people whose recreational habits are affecting their work to seek counselling.

Confidentiality is assured, time off work for treatment is regarded as normal sick leave, and 'every effort will be made' to keep the person's position open until they are free of their demons.

Disciplinary procedures only apply once the individual refuses treatment or relapses before treatment is complete.

'If you realise you have a serious problem that affects your work you can go and talk to a counsellor about it,' the spokesman adds.

David Bradley, head of the human resources group at DLA, says his firm also monitors the behaviour of its staff and will help any employee with an addiction.

The firm has a policy to look after the best interests of its staff, he says.

DLA also offers confidential help and support through the private medical insurance it provides for its workers.

'If a partner or any of the lawyers need support and assistance there are counselling services available through that plan,' Mr Bradley adds.

He can see why people in the legal profession can fall foul of drink or drugs.

'Lawyers all work long hours and there's a lot of close concentration involved, so I suspect there's a risk that a number of those will seek some release,' he says.

'But it's very often a private problem - people don't go around making it known that they are suffering.'

Lawyers' support service LawCare agrees.

The number of alcohol-related calls it receives - 50 last year - has increased by around 30% a year since it was set up in 1997.

One in three of those is a referral from someone else, compared to calls about stress, which almost always come from the individual suffering.

It has brought out a pamphlet, An Alcoholic in Our Firm?, to assist partners and lawyers to identify, support and assist co-workers to get back on track.

The old-fashioned model - still popular within the civil service and local government - of retiring someone on ill-health grounds is 'socially irresponsible', it says.

LawCare backs initiatives to support staff and hold their jobs open until they are well again.

It suggests people be appointed to liaise with those undergoing counselling to keep them in touch with the firm, and has just released another leaflet, called Back to the Beehive, for people returning to their firm after a stress-related absence.

But founder and co-ordinator, Barry Pritchard, argues that the US model of special partnership agreements is still needed.

More than three-quarters of the calls it receives about alcohol are at partner level.

'Very often you cannot necessarily terminate a partnership or expel a partner because he or she has got alcohol or drug problems,' he says.

'You would need some more substantial misconduct like dipping into the client account to fund their addiction - then you can sling him or her out.'

The LawCare draft partnership agreement 'addiction clause' proposes that if the majority of managing partners form the opinion that a partner is suffering from stress or addiction the firm will fund an independent psychiatric diagnosis.

The partner will then agree to treatment - treated as sick leave - funded by the firm's medical insurance or partnership funds.

If the partner is unable to return after three months then he shall retire.

Otherwise he can return when treatment is completed satisfactorily.

Relapses will result in dismissal.

But Mr Pritchard advocates using such agreements as more of a carrot than a stick.

'By having similar clauses to what we've been suggesting firms have a lever for dealing with the situation,' he says.

'We get calls saying: "We love this guy but he's got a problem - how can we stop him drinking?"

'With these agreements you can say to that person: "We want you to get better - we would like you to get help.

But if you don't, don't forget there's a clause under which we can ask you to leave."'

But not everybody agrees such measures are necessary, or even in the firm's wider interests.

Mr Bradley says: 'In relatively extreme cases [special partnership clauses] would be a sensible approach, but it depends on the size and resources of the firm.

With a small or medium-sized firm - where the partnership is like a family unit - the impact of somebody going completely off the rails is devastating.

'Then you have got the significant practice where you would hope that the activities of one individual from time to time would not have that impact.'

But, as an employment lawyer, Mr Bradley says he often advises companies that the best way to tackle substance misuse among employees is to help people help themselves.

'As a lawyer, I would give that advice unless the behaviour was capable of short- term risk or if there was a threat to safety - in which case you've got to do something pretty swift to take them out of that environment,' he says.

That could involve a partner drawing 10,000 from the client account without remembering doing it or the reason why.

LawCare is continually hearing anecdotal evidence that more and more lawyers are suffering from drug problems, but people tend to be too embarrassed - or too much in denial - to report it.

And while the calls it receives are on the increase, that could be down to the fact that it expanded its pastoral services to barristers and members of the Institute of Legal Executives.

Greater awareness of its services is another possibility.

'We get around 50 calls a year but I'm sure there are far more alcoholic lawyers out there,' LawCare co-ordinator Anna Jones says.

And, as there is no sign of addiction among lawyers decreasing, Mr Pritchard urges firms seriously to consider using special partnership agreements.

'If you look in a statute book for your partnership agreement you won't see anything about addiction in there,' he says.

'And it's far easier to terminate employment than it is to terminate a partnership when it comes to drink or drug problems.'

Chris Baker is a freelance journalist