Donald L'Abbate

The Broken Lawyer Donald L'Abbate

NEW RE-EDITED EDITIONCan an alcoholic lawyer working out of the back room of a Chinese restaurant in New York City's Chinatown and barely surviving on court assigned cases save a young Hispanic man from a wrongful conviction and a family from the grips of a notorious Triad while battling his addiction? Once a star prosecutor in the NYC District Attorney's office the lawyer is forced to deal with his alcoholism or lose his law license. As he struggles to get his life back on track he must represent a succession of mostly hardened career criminals for whom he has little or no use. But two of his cases challenge his attitudes and test his skills. Convinced that a young Hispanic man accused of armed robbery is actually innocent he works to have the case dismissed before the young man's life is ruined. Police procedure, a courtroom battle, a savvy expert and an incompetent ADA all play roles in the outcome of the case. A chance introduction brings a Chinese family that's been dragged into cocaine smuggling and a diamond robbery by a notorious Triad to the lawyer. With the lives of an innocent woman and child hanging in the balance, he works closely with the NYPD and the FBI to free the family from the Triad's grip. That well-laid plans sometimes go wrong is not surprising but why they go wrong can be surprising as he finds out. The lawyer's battle with his alcoholism and his AA experiences are very much a part of his story. From his initial skepticism about AA through the various stages of his recovery he tells all with a blunt honesty, sometimes humorously but often painfully, as he is forced to examine his past life and himself.