A little over 40 years ago a well-liked Memphis attorney took his own life. Nobody saw it coming.<\/p>\n
His name was John Dice. He was a successful criminal defense lawyer, respected in the Memphis legal community, a law partner of Janice Holder who would go on to become the first female Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
His death was a shock. And out of that shock came a decision. A group of his colleagues, led by Janice Holder, decided that his name would not just be a memory. It would be a movement. She and others lobbied the Memphis Bar Association to create the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee. With Justice Holder\u2019s involvement, the Tennessee Supreme Court later created the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program.<\/p>\n
His friends did more. They created a seminar in his honor. What started as a criminal defense seminar has evolved over 40 years into a full day devoted to lawyer well-being, ethics, brain science, mindfulness and movement.<\/p>\n
The legal community learned something hard that day. Lawyers are taught to solve other people\u2019s problems. We are not taught to tend to our own. And when we do not have the tools, the community and the permission to ask for help, the weight can become unbearable.<\/p>\n
That is why this seminar exists.<\/p>\n