Passing the State Bar but Not Your Local Bar? The Effects of Rising Alcohol Consumption on Noncommunicable Diseases and What the Legal Community Can Do to Protect Attorneys

• Author: Jeff Willis
• Position: Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. expected 2023; University of Georgia, B.B.A. 2020
• Pages: 1195-1211

Passing the State Bar but Not Your Local Bar? The

Effects of Rising Alcohol Consumption on

Noncommunicable Diseases and What the Legal

Community Can Do to Protect Attorneys

JEFF WILLIS*

INTRODUCTION

It is no secret that many attorneys experience a significant amount of stress

while working the long hours demanded by their respective positions.

1

Nicole Black, ABA Survey: Lawyers Are Stressed Out, ABOVE THE LAW (Aug. 5, 2021), https://

abovethelaw.com/2021/08/aba-survey-lawyers-are-stressed-out/ [https://perma.cc/J4S9-BDHF].

Complex matters, high-profile clients, and 2,000-hour billable requirements

are enough to break down even the most determined attorneys, and adding a

global pandemic to the mix has only further exacerbated attorney stress levels.

2

This exorbitant stress has become so extreme that a whopping 19% of attorneys

report having anxiety while 28% report experiencing depression.

3

Profile of the Legal Profession 2021, A.B.A. (July 2021), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/

administrative/news/2021/0721/polp.pdf [https://perma.cc/QK28-BRNE].

What then

can attorneys do to help abate all of the stress inherent in the industry?

Unfortunately, there is one answer that often seems to prevail: turn to alcohol

and other substances.

4

The legal profession and alcohol consumption have become so inexplicably

intertwined that it is difficult to imagine the legal environment any other way.

Firm-wide happy hours signal the end of a long week, lavish dinners with free-

flowing drinks mark the close of a deal, and even films and television shows often

depict attorneys with a glass of scotch in hand.

5

Perhaps unsurprisingly, attorneys

also have much higher rates of problematic drinking and substance use habits,

even when compared to other highly educated professionals; a survey of 12,825

attorneys revealed that 20.6% of participants drank at a level consistent with

problematic drinking while the rate for other professionals lies at 11.8%,

6

and the

* Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. expected 2023; University of Georgia, B.B.A. 2020. © 2022,

Jeff Willis.

1.

2. Forty percent of attorneys surveyed by the ABA reported that their work-related stress levels had

increased in light of the pandemic. See id.

3.

4. See Patrick Krill, Ryan Johnson & Linda Albert, The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental

Health Concerns Among American Attorneys, 10 J. OF ADDICTION MED. 46, 52 (2016).

5. See, e.g., Suits: Tiny Violin (USA Network television broadcast Apr. 25, 2018).

6. Krill et al., supra note 4, at 51.

1195

rate for the general population at a meager 5.3%.

7

The Alarming Alcoholism Rates For Lawyers, THE RECOVERY VILLAGE (Aug. 13, 2021), https://www.

therecoveryvillage.com/alcohol-abuse/alarming-alcoholism-rate-lawyers/ [https://perma.cc/5EWG-CV5Y].

While the legal community is

hardly blameless for its struggle with problematic drinking and substance use

behaviors, the alcohol industry itself is significantly augmenting these issues.

Part I of this Note will begin by examining the growth of the alcohol industry,

its effect on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and the increased risks that

Covid-19 has imposed on people who are afflicted by these diseases. Next, it will

discuss the effects that Covid-19 has had on alcohol consumption for professionals

and how the industry is targeting young adults specifically. Part II will then suggest

the proper role that the United States government should play in taxing and regulat-

ing the alcohol industry. Finally, Part III of this Note will start by examining the

problem of alcohol and substance abuse in law schools and what law schools should

be doing to mitigate these issues. It will further explain how these problems persist

for practicing attorneys and the role that law firms should play in the battle against

alcohol and substance abuse.

I. THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON NCDS, THE INCREASED RISKS IMPOSED

BY COVID-19, AND THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY’S TARGETING OF

YOUNG ADULTS

The alcohol industry has been booming in recent history.

8

Andrea Bla

´zquez, Total Alcoholic Beverage Sales in the United States From 2006-2019, STATISTA (Jul.

26 2021), https://www.statista.com/statistics/207936/us-total-alcoholic-beverages-sales-since-1990/ [https://

perma.cc/4C9P-ANVH].

After remaining rel-

atively stagnant for a number of years, alcohol sales in the United States have

increased by 30% since 2011, and as of 2019, sales of alcoholic beverages

reached over $252 billion.

9

In the past three years since the inception of the

Covid-19 pandemic, this trend of upward growth has accelerated even more rap-

idly than in previous years.

10

Tori Rodriguez, COVID-19’s Continuing Toll: Increasing Alcohol Use and Liver Disease

Disproportionately Affect Women, PSYCHIATRY ADVISOR (July 29, 2021), https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/

home/topics/addiction/alcohol-related-disorders/covid-19-pandemic-disproportionate-affect-on-women-led-

to-increased-alcohol-use/ [https://perma.cc/Z96D-7WYQ].

Though there was a slight dip in alcohol sales during

March and April of 2020, consumers more than compensated for this by the end

of the year; liquor sales alone increased by 7.7%, the largest percentage increase

in 18 years.

11

Justin Fox, Wow, We Sure Drank a Lot Last Year, BLOOMBERG (Mar. 20, 2021, 8:00 AM), https://www.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-03-20/covid-drove-alcohol-sales-higher-even-as-bars-closed [https://

perma.cc/B7WQ-3NCH].

More recently, the state of affairs around the country has continued

to “return to normal,” but this has not hampered the rapid growth persisting in the

alcohol industry. Alcohol sales in 2021 outpaced sales in 2020,

12

Dorothy Gambrell & James Ellis, One Thing Covid Can’t Stop: Alcohol Sales, BLOOMBERG

BUSINESSWEEK (Jan. 14, 2022), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-14/covid-lockdowns-saw-

soaring-alcohol-sales-at-pre-pandemic-levels [https://perma.cc/TM2E-Q4MF].

and the U.S.

7.

8.

9. Id.

10.

11.

12.

1196 THE GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL ETHICS [Vol. 35:1195