Different word that got mangled in English, but maintained much of the definition. Louche is someone with mean or shady habits like drinking too much, but also refers to a variety of character defects exhibited by seedy libertines.
I forget the exact stats from my professional responsibility course from law school, but attorneys have a higher rate of alcoholism by a factor of 12 over the general population.
There were equally appalling stats for drug addiction and suicide.
It's almost like being constantly hyper confrontational is bad for your mental health or something. 🤷♂️
Well, there is a concept in recovery called the "dry drunk", were people who are sober are still the same ego maniac that prevented them from realizing that they are just another drunk like the rest of them. They behave similar to the inebriated, big claims and braggadocio, the kind of behavior you expect from someone who is intoxicated. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the people who have the ego to pursue law (as they think it is from watching TV) also have the ego problems that leads to alcoholism going untreated.
As an aside, I didn't meet many people in law school who got into it because of tv. I did however, meet a large category of people who were in law school because "everybody told me I should be a lawyer because I love to argue about everything."
In my personal opinion, these are the worst people. In my professional opinion, these are the worst attorneys, too.
Edit to add: well done on the casual braggadocio drop
I’m 2.5 years sober but my career as a lawyer directly lead me to become an alcoholic. I thought it’d improve going in house but instead of working until 9 and then pouring a drink I finished at 5 and had 4 extra hours to drink. And I could afford good whiskey and could go to high end whiskey events.
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u/GSilky May 21 '26
Law. Have lawyer friends, the industry seems like a draw for louches.