“Mr. Rogers,” inquired the Judge. “Do I detect the scent of alcohol on your breath?” Without batting an eye, the drunken trial lawyer snapped back, “If his Honor’s sense of justice is as keen as his sense of smell, I have no fear of the outcome of this case.”

Alcoholic though he was, Earl Rogers was a genius who went on to defend the most famous of all 20 th century criminal lawyers, Clarence Darrow; and he also went on to put his family through hell and died in a hospital ward for alcoholics. Two things in this story are typical: Many alcoholics are geniuses and most put their families through hell. A third may or may not be typical. Why are there so many alcoholics in the legal profession? Maybe Rogers’ story tells us some answers. They are people with a desire to show off, to control and to snub authority.

Or it could really be the other way around --that lawyers are attracted to alcoholism. Are they geniuses first, and then, unable to face failure, mediocrity, and professional stress they turn to alcohol as a substitute?

In Rogers’ day at the turn of the century, there were no 12-step programs for drinkers. Today one half of the State Bars have Alcohol Intervention Programs and Lawyer Recovery Networks for alcoholic lawyers -- estimated to be 15 percent of bar membership as opposed to 10 percent of the general population.

The national ABA convention sets aside time and meeting rooms for Alcoholics Anonymous groups, in admission of their great number and need.

Help is there. But does it work? Yes says Paul Van Valkenberg in an ABA Journal article ; “In the 5 years since I quit and admitted I was an alcoholic my clients remained loyal and new ones did not care. Nobody thinks less of me because I am a recovering alcoholic.

The question still remains - why so many alcoholics in a profession filled with leaders, politicians, the intelligent and the powerful: One answered “I always had to hit the home run so clients, employees and other lawyers would tolerate my life style.”

They never read George Washington Plunkett’s advice to the lawyers of Tammany Hall “that no matter how well you play the legal game, you won’t make a lasting success of it if you’re a drinking man. Temperance is a business proposition and an attorney who gets his business out of the law must keep sober to succeed just like any other business.”

Contrary to the public stereotype of Irish politicians, Plunkett required sobriety as a business proposition for the lawyers and leaders of Tammany Hall 100 years ago. Today’s legal profession should require nothing less.