St. Thomas Law Review
First Page
217
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This article will discuss cocaine addiction within the legal profession and its impact upon individual attorneys, clients, and the profession as a whole. It discusses different approaches that have been taken in Bar disciplinary proceedings and the need for professional sanctioning bodies to accept cocaine addiction as a disease, and recovery from it as a mitigating factor. It argues that admitting evidence of addiction and recovery as mitigation best serves the goals of the disciplinary proceeding, which are to 1) protect the public, 2) maintain the integrity of the legal profession,. and 3) preserve public confidence in the legal profession. The article calls for intervention through statewide lawyer's assistance programs and expanded education issues throughout the Bar. It further proposes that addicted attorneys must meet the following conditions in order to qualify for probation: 1) treatment, 2) active participation in a recovery program, 3) mandatory abstinence, and 4) full restitution.
Recommended Citation
Raymond P. O'Keefe,
The Cocaine Addicted Lawyer and the Disciplinary System,
5
St. Thomas L. Rev.
217
(1992).
Available at:
https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol5/iss1/12