The risks that legal professionals encounter because of dependence on substances or mental afflictions will be identified and discussed during the ISBA Midyear Meeting next month at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

The seminar, “Colleagues in Crisis,” will be conducted from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 7, by the ISBA Bench and Bar Section, the Illinois Judges Association and the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

Speakers include Benedict Schwarz II, chair of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission; Mary T. Robinson, former ARDC administrator, and 18th Circuit Judge Ann B. Jorgensen, a member of the Bench and Bar Section Council.

Others are Wheaton attorney Brigid A. Duffield, and two past presidents of the Lawyers' Assistance Program, Carol A. Coon of Hinsdale and 22nd Circuit Judge Michael T. Caldwell.

The program is intended to provide reliable and medically sound descriptions of conditions such as alcoholism, drug addiction, depression and other mental health issues, including gambling addiction.

The panel will discredit misinformation and uninformed points of view that seriously compromise the ability of lawyers and judges to recognize symptoms of illnesses that jeopardize careers.

Accurate understanding of the physiological and behavioral patterns associates with these illnesses is a critical first step for colleagues and friends who want to do something more helpful than just watching self-destruction.

Originally presented in DuPage County, “Colleagues in Crisis” was prompted by the tragic circumstances of the deaths of three lawyers.

Each of the panelists has encountered some of these situations, and has participated in interventions for the benefit of impaired lawyers or non-lawyers. They hope to empower other lawyers to reach out to colleagues who are in danger of losing livelihoods.

The seminar is accredited for 2.0 hours of MCLE, and additional Professionalism MCLE credit will be applied for.