Why do lawyers (and judges like Kavanaugh) drink so much? Because they can.

[pnwmom]

I think Matt Damon nailed it in SNL -- Kavanaugh had prepared himself for the hearing with some alcohol. What we were seeing was a functional alcoholic in action. The alcohol made both the displays of anger and weepiness easier -- and the loss of inhibition that allowed him to snap back to Sen. Klobuchar and others.

https://abovethelaw.com/2012/10/why-do-lawyers-drink-so-much-because-they-can/

Earlier this week, a tipster sent us a link to a Greedy Associates post entitled “Why Do Lawyers Drink So Much?” My initial thought was “Ugh.” Honestly, somebody writes that article every three months, and every six months we have to write another version of the same story.

The reasons given for lawyer alcoholism are always the same. “Lawyers are only alcoholic because they’re super TYPE A badasses.” “Lawyers hate their jobs and drink to forget.” “It’s not the law that makes people alcoholics, it’s alcoholics who choose the law!”

SNIP

Assuming for a second that functional alcoholism represents a happy balance between having fun and holding down a job, name me careers that are more conducive to that lifestyle than being a lawyer. It’s not like you can be a firefighter who rolls into work in the morning with your blood alcohol level set to “flammable.” Go ahead and try to be the emergency room physician who is holding a tray of shots when the beeper goes off because some stupid attorney drunk drove himself into a tree.

I’m not saying these people can’t go out for drinks, I’m saying that they can’t really “function” in their positions while also being alcoholics.

[Funtatlaguy]

1. Wrong question

Why are alcoholics attracted to positions of power
Why are pedophiles attracted to positions around children

[brooklynite]

2. Do they have some actual basis for asserting this en masse?

I know plenty of lawyers ( they work with my wife -- a lawyer -- in a high stress, white-shoe law firm). Only one had a serious drinking problem.

[pnwmom]

4. The American Bar Association says as many as 20% of lawyers are problem drinkers --

twice the national rate.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/resources/alcohol_abuse_dependence.html

How Alcohol Use Disorders Affect Lawyers

As many as one in five lawyers is a problem drinker – twice the national rate. While it’s uncertain why lawyers experience alcohol use disorders at a higher rate, it is clear that alcoholism has devastating effects on a lawyer’s career and personal life.

Lawyer assistance programs (LAPs) are here to support lawyers, judges, students and other legal professionals who suffer from alcohol use disorders. Contact your state or local LAP.


How to Help a Colleague

If you believe a colleague may have a drinking problem, encourage him or her to seek help. Contact a LAP for additional support and resources.

[Throck]

3. Try supervisors.

Sales supervisors were the worst.

[redstatebluegirl]

5. Sales supervisor was the one who tried to assault me.

I walked 5 miles to get to a farm house for help after he tried to sexually assault me in his car. He was loaded then.

[Mopar151]

7. Dry ones are just dry drunks. n/t

[Cicada]

6. Escape from tension. Jurispruding is stressful.

Until the puppy I bought taught me on our weekend mountain trips what life was really about I had pretty much constant pain in my stomach. After we escaped to live all the time in our miners cabin high above California I never again had a stomach pain. I had joint custody, quarter on, quarter off, with a woman who stayed behind, doing law. She ended up dead in her bathroom, accidental speed ball death. My dog saved my life, he taught me the meaning of life. More than half the lawyers in LA in those days had a drinking and/or drug problem. Self medication.

[pnwmom]

8. We also love our dogs. It broke our hearts when our first one died, and it was hard to think about

"replacing" him.

Luckily, we had gotten a second dog several years earlier, so we were never dog-less. When, after a couple months, we brought the new puppy home, he had an older sister.

Knowing how you feel about your dog, it will hit you hard when you lose him. Please don't hesitate to get another. One dog doesn't replace another, but the new dog will help with the healing.

[Cicada]

10. A month after I got my puppy we got a girlfriend, they lived happily ever after

Both dogs alternated in joint custody from wilderness, no fences, run free everywhere, to pampered luxury, maids to spoil them. Usually there were three dogs at my house, a lot of cats who found us over the years. They saved my life, they had fulfilling happy lives too. Thank you for your thoughts.

[EffieBlack]

9. Do you have any evidence that lawyers and judges drink more than the average

teacher or construction worker or salesperson or anyone else?

And saying they do it on in higher percentages than "the national rate" doesn't tell me anything since the latter is an average of everyone. It's possible that certain groups drink LESS than most others, thereby skewing the national rate down.

Do you have numbers for specific professional to compare the legal profession to?

[Cicada]

11. I read in a bar journal in Los Angeles, eighties, more than half drank or drugged too much

I don’t know if that was true.

[pnwmom]

12. The American Bar Association has a page about this on its website.

Last edited Mon Oct 1, 2018, 10:11 PM - Edit history (2)

And, yes, lawyers are part of the general population -- but they aren't an extremely large segment of it. And, yes, there are groups that drink less than average, but that doesn't change the overall point.

ON UPDATE: According to another site, 2012 and 2014 studies showed more than 15% of doctors with alcohol abuse or dependence! Yikes!

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/business/dealbook/high-rate-of-problem-drinking-reported-among-lawyers.html

High Rate of Problem Drinking Reported Among Lawyers
By Elizabeth Olson
Feb. 4, 2016

Lawyers struggle with substance abuse, particularly drinking, and with depression and anxiety more commonly than some other professionals, according to a new study conducted by the American Bar Association together with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

One in three practicing lawyers are problem drinkers, based on the volume and frequency of alcohol consumed, 28 percent suffer from depression, and 19 percent show symptoms of anxiety, according to the study, which involved 12,825 licensed, employed lawyers in 19 states around the country.

The study’s conclusions were based on the lawyers’ anonymous responses to a questionnaire, in which they were asked to characterize their alcohol use and mental health. Problem drinking was defined as “hazardous, harmful and potentially alcohol-dependent drinking.”


https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/resources/alcohol_abuse_dependence.html

How Alcohol Use Disorders Affect Lawyers

As many as one in five lawyers is a problem drinker – twice the national rate. While it’s uncertain why lawyers experience alcohol use disorders at a higher rate, it is clear that alcoholism has devastating effects on a lawyer’s career and personal life.

Lawyer assistance programs (LAPs) are here to support lawyers, judges, students and other legal professionals who suffer from alcohol use disorders. Contact your state or local LAP.


How to Help a Colleague

If you believe a colleague may have a drinking problem, encourage him or her to seek help. Contact a LAP for additional support and resources.

https://www.alcohol.org/professions/

Lawyers: Some reports suggest as many as one in five attorneys struggles with problem drinking, including binge and heavy drinking. This is twice the national rate.

Nurses and other healthcare professionals: About 4 percent of healthcare and social assistance professionals, including doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, and case managers, reported heavy alcohol consumption in the prior month. A 2014 study found that 15.3 percent of physicians, specifically, struggled with alcohol abuse or dependence. A 2012 survey found that, in a self-reported survey of alcohol consumption patterns, over 15 percent of surgeons who responded had scores consistent with alcohol abuse or dependence.