Page 399 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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THE PERPETUAL QUEST

This lawyer tried psychiatrists, biofeedback, relax-
ation exercises, and a host of other techniques to con-
trol her drinking. She finally found a solution,
uniquely tailored, in the Twelve Steps.

hen i was a newly minted lawyer starting out
W in the practice of criminal law, there were five
of us in our law office. My favorite lawyer was the ec-
centric, disheveled, wild-eyed Irish law professor who
was brilliant or crazy, depending on your point of view,
constantly cleaning out his pipe bowl with a black fin-
gernail and tossing back vodka martinis whenever he
got the chance. Then there was the new but world-
weary litigation lawyer who told endless tales of his
former life of white wine and bouillabaisse under the
Mediterranean sun as he conducted his exporting
business on the Riviera. Why would he leave such an
ideal, wine-drenched job in sunny climes to slog away
at law school? I kept wondering. There was also a
giant good-hearted bear of a man, who today is a
judge, who spent more time listening and helping oth-
ers than he did practicing criminal law. Into this office
landed a pair of know-it-all, fast-acting, but not too
experienced young lawyers: my husband and me.
Within a dozen years, three of these five promising
lawyers were dead from alcoholism, struck down at
the peak of their careers. The judge is still and always
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