The Broken Lawyer

---

Can 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.    

 "Just discovered your work on Amazon. Broken  Lawyer is a great read. Best discovery since John Grisham. Currently  downloading Murder Under The Bridge. So good to find a great new author. "

 "It is so well written, I had trouble putting it down at night." A verified Amazon Customer.

"Legal  Thrillers are my favorite genre and by stating this fact my  review is  based on the twist this author has mastered. "First Person"  protagonist  is often used sporadically in good fiction but this work is  so  masterfully delivered my attention was grabbed so intently that the   perfect ending led me to Donald L'Abbate's next book." A Kindle Customer.

"This was  one of those 'couldn't stop til it was done'!! This author  did a  brilliant job of weaving his life in between the ribbons of all  the  characters and their different situations. Amazing.. Can't wait to  read  next story."  A verified Amazon Customer.

This was not my first attempt at writing, but the one Rose encouraged me to publish. One lesson I learned from that first effort was the value of a good proofreader. As we discovered neither Rose nor I fit the bill. I can’t say why I wrote the story in the first person, but at the time it seemed like the right way to do it. I never expected the book to be so popular and never dreamed there would be sequels.  

 This book is available in Kindle and paperback editions on Amazon.  A hard cover edition is also available.