Supreme Court Amends Rule XIX Regarding JLAP On November 21, 2019, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued an order amending Rule XIX, Section 24E3 to specify that in lawyer disciplinary matters JLAP is the path through which respondents must pass to be reinstated or readmitted in cases wherein substance use disorders are a causative factor in misconduct.The amendment reflects recommendations made by the national experts in the 2015 JLAP Performance Audit. It is also a straightforward codification of thirty years of Louisiana Supreme Court jurisprudence endorsing JLAP, beginning with the watershed case Louisiana State Bar Association vs. Arthur F. Dumaine, 550 So.2d 1197 (La. 1989) wherein the Court ordered JLAP to provide the Court with expert, independent, objective and reliable data regarding the diagnosis, treatment and recovery of respondents in substance abuse cases. JLAP is recognized nationally as a leading program and it continues to generate an excellent no-relapse success rate. The Court’s amendment of Rule XIX, Section 24E3 will not only ensure that the public is appropriately protected from the harm that an impaired lawyer can cause, it will also save more lives and careers among those attorneys who have fallen victim to the diseases of alcoholism and addiction. Click here to read the Supreme Court Order.