The talk frames lawyer wellbeing as a systems problem, not a character flaw: heavy caseloads, untreated symptoms, and weak safeguards combine to create predictable professional risk. Craig will trace how untreated distress follows a five-stage failure path and why the earliest stages offer the widest window for intervention.
Drawing on attorney discipline cases marked by elevated rates of problematic drinking, depression, anxiety, and stress, Craig will compare how Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. approach disability-based mitigation differently. He will also explain what it takes to build a credible mitigation record under these frameworks.
Craig Brodsky is a partner with Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann LLP in Baltimore. For over 25 years, he has represented attorneys in disciplinary and legal malpractice matters and has served as ethics counsel to numerous clients. His Legal Ethics column appears monthly in The Daily Record. He can be reached at csb@gdldlaw.com.