Has anyone had to confront another partner you suspect has a substance abuse problem? Beyond wasted at client and firm events on multiple occasions. Not aware of impact to work yet, but how would we even know until it is too late? If this is what we actually see at important work events, would guess it is even worse when no one is watching. Any advice?

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It’s a major problem in our profession. I serve as outside General Counsel to solo to mid-sized firms and deal with this quite a bit. Per the ABA, 55% of legal mal and ethics complaints involve attorney mental health or substance abuse. I recommend referring to your partnership agreement, documenting everything, and brining in an outside consultant to assist and support your partner. Happy to discuss further if you’d like, please DM me. Good luck!

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If the consultant is brined it might make things worse. Sorry, couldn't resist.

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At my very first partner meeting another partner got wasted, and it then became obvious to me the partner had an alcohol problem. To my knowledge it didn't noticeably impact his work quality, and the partnership had not yet addressed it because of that. Less than 1 year later said partner died in an accident which we suspect was alcohol-related.

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So hard. We’ve all seen it.

And, to be honest, I think most of us have personality traits that incline us toward enjoying the old binge drinking.

I, personally, always go into a cocktail party intending to exit totally sober and almost never exit totally sober. The thing that disciplines my behavior somewhat and keeps me with herd? God I hate hangovers.

i.e., it’s not some great virtue that I possess where I am able to stop going back to the bar to refill my glass. It’s the previously experienced and well known cost of the hangover that disciplines my behavior. That and the fear of saying something that ends my career while drunk. Get drunk often enough and with the wrong people? In today’s world? It’s almost inevitable that your drunk brain is going to say something that costs you big time. And no, that doesn’t actually make you a bad person that you may say offensive stuff when drunk. In vino veritas is only a half-truth. We have tons of different areas of our brain that are in constant conflict. Your frontal cortex is the part of the brain that is most “you,” arbitrates these disputes within your brain and determines what should be said.

And, what part of the brain goes to sleep when you get way too drunk? The frontal cortex. If you don’t say dumb shit when way too wasted, it’s just God Damned Luck.

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Dealing with a similar issue right now. I confronted him but the behavior has not changed.

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Your state bar’s lawyer assistance program might be a resource worth checking with. Generally they have resources on how to approach the situation and resources to assist the attorney in their overcoming their problem.

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