Campbell Law Hosts North Carolina State Bar Lawyers’ Assistance Program

February 10, 2011

RALEIGH, N.C. – More than one-hundred second-year law students, in conjunction with their legal ethics class, listened intently to four North Carolina attorneys – Mr. Ben Brown, Mr. Sharif Deveaux, Ms. Kathy Klotzberger, and Mr. Rob Waddell (’90) who shared their personal stories about the intersection of law practice and substance abuse and mental health issues. With candor, humor, and the upmost respect for themselves and the legal profession, Brown, Deveaux, Klotzberger, and Waddell caught law students’ attention early Friday afternoon. The four attorneys represented the North Carolina State Bar’s Lawyers’ Assistance Program (LAP) and were accompanied by LAP Coordinator Towanda Garner.

The Lawyers’ Assistance Program assists North Carolina lawyers and law students in identifying and addressing problems associated with alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental health issues. The program is completely confidential, providing lawyers and law students support regarding these issues, while at the same time allowing receivers of LAP services to become or continue to be successful members of the North Carolina State Bar. LAP offers a variety of services, including assessment, referral, follow-up, consultation, intervention, and monitoring services. Yet LAP’s flagship service is its peer support. Easily outnumbering the one-hundred plus Campbell Law students who attended the panel presentation are LAP’s volunteer attorneys who offer peer support to lawyers seeking assistance. Accessed through LAP’s website at www.nclap.org under the “Our People” link, North Carolina law students and lawyers can make direct contact with LAP volunteers. Just scrolling the extensive list of volunteer attorneys engenders hope and optimism about a North Carolina lawyer’s ability to be a successful, respected, and contented attorney while representing clients, serving our courts, and being public citizens with special responsibilities for the quality of justice.

About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. The School has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,200 alumni, including 2,200 who reside and work in North Carolina. For 23 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina Bar Exam has been unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school.

Media Contact: Julie Lechner, 919.865.5978, lechner@law.campbell.edu