Hi Penny--
I am an LLL Leader (since 1982) as well as an LC (since 1987). I've been the
ONLY Leader and ONLY LC in this area for a number of years and it's a very
difficult situation. LLLI has guidelines to help Leaders in this position
(LEAVEN article sometime ago--don't have the reference handy).

I lead LLL meetings and do free phone helping on my home phone number. If I
meet a mother first at LLL meetings and she requires more help than just
what can be done on the phone, I do it for free, but tend to conduct myself
as an LC (charting, letters to doctor, etc.). I do the breastfeeding class
and follow-up for the local childbirth association and always mention that I
am also involved with LLL (so they aren't shocked when they come to a
meeting and ta-da! there I am as a Leader). I really don't like operating
this way, but haven't had a co-Leader for several years and just can't bear
to see the Group fold. What the Group offers to mothers is so much beyond
what I can do one-to-one, once the crisis is resolved, that it would really
distress me to not have that resource. LLL is also a great preventer of
problems. I can only think of a few women, in all the years I've led
meetings, who attended meetings while pregnant that required the services of
an LC.

I think that under usual circumstances, however, a Leader is better off to
stop leading once she establishes an LC practice--too much potential for
conflict. Some Leaders have also found that they really like what they do as
Leaders, so much more so than as LCs, that they've just gone back to leading.

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River Breastfeeding Clinic
Peace River Alberta, Canada