Hazelden Legal Professionals Program Awards First Excellence in Legal Community Leadership Award

Awarded to Judge Robert L. Childers of Tennessee, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs.

CENTER CITY, MINN. (October 9, 2012) — The Hazelden Legal Professionals Program awarded its first “Excellence in Legal Community Leadership Award” to Judge Robert L. Childers of Tennessee, immediate past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs.

Link Christin, Hazelden’s Legal Professionals Program Director, presented the award to Judge Childers on Saturday evening, October 6th as part of the annual Legal Professionals Retreat at Hazelden’s Dan Anderson Renewal Center in Center City, Minnesota. Also on hand to honor the Judge were Mark Mishek, President and CEO of the Hazelden Foundation, Patrick Krill, Assistant Director of the Legal Professionals Program and Sheila Murphy, Director of Women’s Clinical Services at Hazelden, Center City. 

Judge Childers’ record of helping others is long, Christin mentioned  in his introduction, while noting “I am honored to present this first annual leadership award to a true giant in the field, a person who has literally dedicated his professional life to helping others triumph over addiction in our legal profession.”

The award recognizes Judge Childers’ extensive accomplishments in helping legal professionals find help for addiction through legal assistance programs -- confidential services for attorneys struggling with addiction, depression, anxiety, stress and burnout, anger or grief.

Judge Childers has been a Circuit Court Judge in Tennessee since 1984. He is past President of the Tennessee Judicial Conference and the Tennessee Trial Judges Association, and has served as a Special Judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. He is Past Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP). He has been recognized as Outstanding Judge of the Year five times since 1984, and received the Judge Wheatcraft Award for outstanding service in combating domestic violence in 2000.

Hazelden’s Legal Professionals Program is a residential addiction treatment program for legal professionals that incorporates integrated clinical disciplines with individualized planning and care --all in a comfortable, healing and supportive environment. Core treatment programming at Hazelden is Twelve Step-based and gender-specific, and length of stay varies with the patient as clinically indicated. The Hazelden Legal Professionals Program is the most extensive specialty track for lawyers at a major treatment center and has already served approximately 200 legal professionals since its launch in 2011.

About Hazelden

Hazelden, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1949, helps people reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. Built on decades of knowledge and experience, Hazelden offers a comprehensive approach to addiction that addresses the full range of patient, family, and professional needs, including substance abuse treatment and continuing care for youth and adults, research, higher education, public education and advocacy, and publishing. Learn more at www.hazelden.org.

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