Oregon Bar Bulletin Addresses Cognitive Decline Issues for Lawyers
In the November 2014 issue of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin, an attorney-counselor at the Oregon Attorney Assistance Program, Douglas Querin, reports that he has had more calls over the past two to three years involving questions of age-related cognitive decline than in all the previous years he has worked in his position.
One factor potentially contributing to an increase is the number of lawyers who may be staying in practice longer, as a result of the economic downturn’s effect on their retirement savings. In Oregon, more than a quarter of all lawyers are age 60 or over, and nearly half of the active members in the Oregon bar are age 50 or over.
“‘The most heartbreaking situations are where a lawyer may have had a stellar reputation for 30 to 50 years of practicing, then changes with cognitive issues, in part because no one raises the problem, and he keeps practicing and gets into trouble, which raises the attention of the bar,’ [Assistance Program Attorney Querin] says. ‘Then you have a senior lawyer with a great reputation whose legacy ends up being under an ethical cloud.’
By the time such discussions take place, the impaired lawyer’s reaction may be denial, because part of the cognitive changes may include the inability to recognize that a problem exists, says [Oregon neuropsychologist Michael R. Villaneuva]. ‘An inability to know there are difficulties is part of the nature of what’s happening to them.'”
In “Ready or Not: When Colleagues Experience Cognitive Decline,” author Cliff Collins details signs and symptoms of potential cognitive impairment, drawing upon the ABA Senior Lawyer Assistance Committee’s 2014 Working Paper on Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline Worksheet. The article further suggests approaches to take with colleagues and urges members of the profession not to “ignore” any problems.
A companion article in the issue further addresses “Ethical Implications of Aging – The Graying of the Profession,” including specific guidance in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and relevant formal ethics opinions.
“Thank you” to Dickinson Law Professor Laurel Terry for sharing her copy of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin.