http://fallenlawyer.com

Did you ever see the Abel Ferrara movie
"Bad Lieutenant," with Harvey Keitel?
It's about a NY cop on the edge of
annihilating himself, whose behavior
and character have so deteriorated
that it is unclear that redemption
is even possible.

One might well call this book, an
anonymous memoir, "Bad Attorney."
Only it's supposed to be a true story,
and at the end of the book no gesture
of redemption seems forthcoming.

But it's a mesmerizing read. The
author begins his tale by describing
a single lawsuit over a fall from a
horse in which he was never able to
bring himself to file the papers
necessary to go to court. He goes
on from there to recount in
affecting detail his grossly
incompetent law practice, his
systematic deceit of clients,
the day-trading habit that he
embezzled money from clients in
order to support, and his eventual
disbarment. The legal details are
particularly juicy.

Woven into this narrative of
self-destruction, too, is the
author's infidelity to his wife,
scenes from two marriages
(the second to a woman twenty years
his junior), his brushes with various
characters who wish him harm,
and his attempts to make a living
first selling cars and then as an
Internet pop-up advertiser and
salesman for "work-at-home" scams.
The tone of the narrative is neither
apologetic nor boastful; if anything,
it tends toward shell-shocked. Read
this book as a cautionary tale about
procrastination, or as a warning to
take extreme care when picking out your next lawyer.


http://fallenlawyer.com