Gambling-Addicted Lawyer to Help Repay Clients with Book Proceeds
A former lawyer plans to contribute the earnings from an ABA book about his downfall to help repay clients whose trust accounts he raided to support a gambling addiction.
Michael Burke spent three years in jail for embezzling $1.6 million from client funds and was ordered to repay the money, the Grand Rapids Press reports. The 62-year-old former lawyer from Howell, Mich., shared his experiences Thursday as part of Cooley Law School’s “Integrity in Our Communities” series.
Burke said it’s common to trade one addiction for another, and he did that when he started gambling after seeking treatment for alcoholism. He said 18 percent of lawyers have a drug or alcohol problem, compared to 10 percent of the general U.S. population.
Burke told the ABA Journal that he received a high-roller ranking from the Las Vegas casinos and was swayed by the ego gratification. He began gambling more often when a casino opened 58 miles from his home. Burke was featured along with other lawyers in the May ABA Journal feature, “Learning the Hard Way.”
Burke’s book is Never Enough: One Lawyer’s True Story of How He Gambled His Career Away and, according to an ABA press release (PDF), the book costs $24.95 for ABA members; $29.95 for nonmembers.
