Legal Remedies : The Victims: Clients usually lose more than money when their lawyers abuse drugs.

A new breed of lawyer has emerged in the 1990s. They’re as bright, well-educated, tough, sophisticated and relatively affluent as lawyers always have been.

But some of them also are alcoholics or drug abusers. To feed their habits, these addicted lawyers often rip off clients with inferior service. They take money for work they never provide. They have been known to take money directly from clients’ liquid assets.

As many as one in seven California lawyers has a serious substance abuse problem, according to Alan Rothenberg, president of the California State Bar. In a court system clogged with drug cases, many of the accused are prosecuted or defended by lawyers in the grip of their own addictions.

Although other professions have similar problems, the problem in law has grown so severe that the State Bar--the quasi-governmental agency responsible for licensing and disciplining the state’s 122,000 lawyers--has “decided to meet the issue head-on,” Rothenberg said. Confronted with statistics that showed that roughly half the 5,000 legal misconduct cases the Bar investigated each year were linked to substance abuse, “we felt that it would be irresponsible to sweep it under the rug,” he added.

Times staff writer David Haldane asks: Who are the lawyers with drug or alcohol problems? Who are their victims? And what is the State Bar trying to do about this problem?

Lawyers who abuse drugs or alcohol can wreak havoc with clients’ lives.

Gary Meicke, a Los Angeles construction company owner, lost what he thought was a no-miss $6,000 breach-of-contract case because his lawyer was strung out on drugs.

“They won because we didn’t show up,” he said. “I felt very badly. You’re relying on your lawyer to ease the tension and pressure so that you can go on with your business, and when you realize that that’s not happening, it’s devastating.”

Sam Toda, a Glendora school teacher, waited and waited to receive his $2,000 settlement from an auto accident. His lawyer had collected the money, then disappeared. Toda called. He wrote letters. Nothing happened. Then, he said, he learned his lawyer was an alcoholic off on a binge.

“It’s shocking when it happens,” Toda said. “You don’t figure that an attorney would just disappear.”

Jack J. Kelly Jr., owner of a Malibu construction company, decided to handle his own legal affairs after suffering what he considered incompetent representation by several lawyers, one of whom admitted abusing drugs. “It gives you a helpless feeling when you’ve entrusted your faith to someone who basically drops the ball,” he said. “It took a few cases for me to realize that I could do the job myself.”

Kelly, Meicke and Toda--whose lawyers have admitted to having problems and have undergone treatment for alcohol or substance abuse--all got investigations of their claims and monetary restitution of their financial losses by complaining to the State Bar of California. But the experience was demoralizing and undermined their faith in the law, they said.

“There were numerous calls and correspondences,” said Kelly, who estimates he lost $300 in retainer fees and $2,000 in breach-of-contract cases unfiled or lost through neglect. “When I’d make contact with (my attorney) I’d be told that everything would be taken care of, but it never was.”

Ted Shapiro, a Los Angeles technical writer, said it took more than a year of calls and visits before his alcoholic lawyer turned over the settlement money from Shapiro’s accident: “I’d call him and he’d say ‘come on down.’ So I’d go down to his office and he’d say, ‘Sorry, a messenger just left with the check.’ It shakes your faith.”

Said Meicke: “I’d never run into this before and hope I never do again. If lawyers are using drugs, where is society going? They are the ones who guide us.”

Experts say there are tell-tale signs that can warn clients their lawyers may be abusing drugs or alcohol.

Those indicators might be a lawyer who is distracted beyond the norm, who misses too many appointments, or who is excessively late or absent without explanation. Other signs, they say, include failing to return phone calls, missing court and filing dates or refusing to explain things, or being inexplicably late with payments or paper work.

Clients who can’t resolve their problems on their own may wish to complain to the State Bar by calling (800) 843-9053.

“We are never going to be able to completely solve the problem,” said Karen Betzner, director of the Bar’s office of professional competence, planning and development. “What we hope to do is instill a different kind of thinking about the issue.”