I Wish I’d had Access to Peer Support When I was in Law School

I come from a family of alcoholics, and when my mom died in 2000, I promised myself I was done drinking. I stopped drinking for over a decade. I didn’t take a sip of alcohol or do any other drug. Instead, I ran - literally. Running gave me structure, much needed endorphins for my mental health and a supportive community. I was finally and forever free . . . or so I thought.

 By the time I started law school in 2011, I knew the statistics: roughly one in three law students drink problematically. Depression and anxiety are pervasive.  The first half of law school, I knew drinking wasn’t going to help with any of it: the awkwardness of being a middle-aged law student, the brutal schedule, the constant push to compete for everything and against everyone. But not drinking was not enough. I needed support from someone who had been through it before – had faced and successfully overcome similar challenges.  I sought support, but I didn’t open up to mentors who might one day be prospective employers or future colleagues. I looked at the State Bar website and thought: No way am I reaching out to the same people who will judge whether I am fit to sit for the bar. 

I pushed on without the critical support I needed. I know now that what I needed was someone specifically matched to me - based on my life experience and specific struggles. Someone trained, and constantly training, to be useful as peer support to another lawyer or soon to be lawyer. Because midway through law school, my resolve cracked. The financial stress, the academic grind, and the lack of informed support wore me down. Seemingly out of nowhere (but not really), watching The Good Wife and sharing a glass of red wine with Alicia Florrick seemed harmless. It wasn’t and I started drinking regularly again.

I moved into the first few years of practice – another statistically vulnerable time for legal professionals - with almost overwhelming anxiety and a growing drinking problem. I finally quit drinking in 2019 and found some very expensive help for my anxiety disorder.

I don’t know if the peer support that is available now through WALAL would have prevented my relapse, but I have a sense that it would have. The truth is I was looking to the legal profession for guidance and help. Normal people didn’t get it. Sadly, what I saw was the statistics - a whole lot of people struggling, maybe also barely hanging on - and not talking about it. What a relief it would have been to be matched with someone to talk to who could have said, “I hear you, I know exactly what you are going through.” Someone who had been where I was, struggled with similar issues - anxiety, addiction, NEW LAWYER stress - and who had come out on the other side of it.

Today, I do have peer support. My life is fuller, calmer, and more honest. The constant hum of anxiety is mostly gone. I am so grateful that WALAL exists – and is growing. That as a peer I can be there for other lawyers and for law students who are struggling.

 Nicole Gainey, JD (Board Member For Washington Lawyers Assisting Lawyers)      ngainey@walal.org

Gambling Addiction? Working Together to Help Lawyers Understand and Recover

As a Washington State attorney and long-time Board Member of the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling (ECPG), a 501(c)(3) organization addressing gambling disorders, I am grateful for the services WaLAL provides as a free, confidential, and independent 501(c)(3) lawyer assistance program.  

WaLAL provides peer support services to Washington lawyers, judges, and law students dealing with the myriad addiction and other mental health challenges disproportionately faced by those in our profession.  Accordingly, ECPG is pleased to work with WaLAL on gambling disorder issues as well as the many other addiction and mental health challenges that have high instances of co-morbidity with gambling disorder.  

I recommend watching the powerful video, by former attorney Michael J. Burke, about his lived experience with gambling addiction (and alcoholism).  He is the author of the book, Never Enough:  One Lawyer's True Story of How He Gambled His Career Away (ABA Book Publishing 2008).  This topic was also the August 2025 cover story of the ABA Journal, "All About the Action:  Are Lawyers More at Risk for Gambling Addiction?”

Dave Malone is a Partner at the law firm of Miller, Malone & Tellefson in Tacoma.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling since 2008, including terms as President, Treasurer, and currently as Vice President.  

I am an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a lawyer.  I started out highly functional despite bouts of alcohol binging and depression. 

Andy Benjamin, JD, PhD, ABPP, discusses briefly the etiology of lawyer stress that can lead to depression, alcohol/drug abuse, and cardiovascular disease.

I love being a volunteer peer counselor for other lawyers struggling with addiction.  Peer counseling provides me with continuous opportunities to reflect on my own personal progress.

Dan Lukasik, JD, has made more than 200 presentations throughout the U.S. on depression, anxiety, and stress.

As a lifelong Atheist (as I am today) after 30 years of law practice and 24 years of recovery from substances, I closed my law practice to care for my wife in her Parkinsonism and dementia.

Andrew Imparato describes his lived experience with bipolar disorder.

Hoping to process his grief while balancing his professional obligations, Washington lawyer Patrick Preston found a solution: short-term grief counseling through his employer’s Employee Assistance Program.

I have been diagnosed with and have lived experience with secondary PTSD.  I have now received treatment and strategies for it.  This has also included peer support and saved my life.   

Marijuana is less destructive than alcohol use on individuals and society, right? I sometimes heard or read that, and I sometimes said it myself.