Attorneys with Dementia

The ABA Journal recently ran an article, As the legal profession ages, dementia becomes an increasing concern. “There is no comprehensive information about how often ethics officials and lawyer assistance programs deal with lawyer dementia, according to Bloomberg Law. But the percentage of lawyers older than age 65—about 14%—is higher than the 7% of workers generally in that age group, suggesting that the problem could be worse in the legal profession.”  The article discussed the potential difficulty for identifying lawyers who may have dementia as well as the variety of state requirements regarding the obligation to notify the disciplinary authority of an attorney who may have dementia.  ABA ethics opinion 03-429 is discussed, as well as the Illinois story of Robert Fritzshall.