OFF THE PRESS

There are more than 200,000 lawyers in recovery in the United States, and studies show that lawyers have twice the rate of addiction as the nation as a whole. A new book tries to help them. "The Lawyer's Light - Daily Meditations for Growth and Recovery," a new book of meditations by attorney Kevin Chandler, addresses the feelings and issues confronted by lawyers who are in recovery. "It took me maybe five minutes in recovery to realize that I was different from the others around me," Chandler said. "While we all shared one big thing in common, my mind, trained in the law to think linearly and logically, didn't mesh with a lot of the leaps of faith asked of everyone in the program." Chandler said his legal training, while valuable and essential to his career in the law, was a barrier in recovery, and so he set out to write a set of meditations that attorneys would quickly grasp and to which they could relate. The book from ABA Book Publishing contains 365 meditations, one for each day of the year. Sources for quotations range from legendary jurists Learned Hand, Benjamin Cardozo, Louis Brandeis, and Thurgood Marshall to such notable lawyers as Lionel Hutz in "The Simpsons" and Vincent Gambini from "My Cousin Vinny." "There are many theories as to why we lawyers are more prone to addiction," Chandler said. "But it doesn't matter. What matters is the recovery, and it is my hope that this book will provide comfort and support to my fellow attorneys, just when they need it most." Chandler earned his law degree from The Catholic University of America and went on to serve in the U.S. Justice Department, on the staff of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, as a Minnesota state senator and in the Minneapolis law firm of Opperman and Paquin. "The Lawyer's Light - Daily Meditations for Growth and Recovery" costs $39.95 and can be ordered onling at www.ShopABA.org. Published: Fri, Jul 25, 2014