Not Always A Happy Ending
Sometimes the imposition of professional discipline really is a sad duty.
Such a matter fell to a Louisiana Hearing Committee, which had recommended a year and a day suspension with all but six months stayed in light of an attorney’s demonstrated progress in treatment for his alcoholism.
He had so impressed the director of the Bar’s Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (“JLAP”) that he drove to Baton Rouge on his own dime to testify on his behalf.
The original recommendation was conditioned on the attorney’s continuing path of recovery and participation in the Bar’s program.
It appears that he had a dramatic relapse, which led the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to seek a remand to submit evidence of his return to drinking.
While he denied drinking alcohol and admitted to consuming only non-alcoholic beers and claimed exposure to “high ethanol alcohol cleaning solution” at work, the committee found his explanations for positive alcohol tests incredible.
This is a sad case. It is difficult to be in the presence of Mr. Trelles and not have compassion and sympathy for what he has become, particularly juxtaposed to what he could have been. By all accounts, Mr. Trelles was a good lawyer. His addiction to alcohol has been catastrophic to his promising career and personal life. There is a nice guy in there somewhere, but the once competent attorney is cloaked beyond recognition.’
He once was cooperative with those who sought to help him. [JLAP Executive Director] Buddy Stockwell was impressed with Mr. Trelles at one point, and that is no easy accomplishment. Mr. Trelles appears to have taken a different approach since the committee first met him in 2017. Where he once was honest about his addiction, he is now refusing to admit, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, that he has returned to drinking heavily.
The committee now recommends a year and a day suspension.
Mr. Stockwell now directs the Tennessee program – a move from JLAP to TLAP – as noted in this announcement
Stockwell’s tenure as JLAP’s executive director began upon his return from a sailing adventure in October 2010, and, in 2012, he was awarded the Bar Association’s President’s Award for his exemplary service at Louisiana’s JLAP. Stockwell is a certified clinical interventionist through “Love First” training at the Betty Ford Center and has personally been in recovery from alcoholism for over 37 years. He has supported hundreds of bar members, bar applicants, and family members of the bar with a wide range of substance abuse and mental health issues and he brings a high level of professional clinical programming expertise to TLAP. Stockwell credits the progress to the development of close working relationships with some of the top addiction experts and treatment centers in the nation.
“There is a lot of change happening in legal practice right now, and lawyers and judges are under a tremendous amount of stress as they balance covid-related changes to work, family, and life,” said Judge Michael Spitzer, TLAP Commission Chair. “TLAP is here to help. We are delighted to bring Buddy onboard at such an important moment for the TLAP program and are confident he will bring a fresh perspective and energy to help the program develop and evolve.”
Stockwell earned a bachelor’s degree in management from Louisiana State University in 1989 and a law degree from LSU in 1993. He enlisted in the United States Navy and served on a guided missile destroyer prior to attending college. Post-law school, Stockwell opened a solo practice in Baton Rouge after a few years at other firms. He focused heavily on domestic litigation. In 2004, Stockwell sold his Baton Rouge law office, home, and vehicles, and he and his wife, Melissa, moved aboard a large catamaran and sailed the seas for six years, covering 19,000 nautical miles. The Stockwells are both U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Captains and seasoned ocean mariners.
(Mike Frisch)