Recovery Leads To Reinstatement

The Colorado Hearing Board granted the reinstatement petition of an attorney disbarred in 2002 for, among other things, knowing conversion of client and third-party funds.

The attorney’s downfall was his addiction to alcohol. As a result, “his personal and professional life fell apart.” He lost his lobbying clients, was divorced and estranged from his family. By 2004, he stated: ” my life had come to where I was sleeping in a friend’s basement on a pad on the floor with a TV and half a gallon of vodka to keep me company.”

After an intervention, he entered a 28 day treatment program and has not had a drink since 2004. He obtained employment and reestablished his lobbying practice. He has been engaged in a number of community service activities and married a woman he met in AA. He also passed the July 2010 Bar exam. (Mike Frisch)