Once-Renowned Ohio Lawyer Became Client Disaster, Due to Drug Habit

When Ken Lawson's professional life first began to spiral out of control, his sterling reputation helped save him from any significant repercussions.

"Clients, colleagues and judges say they cut the Ohio trial lawyer slack when he began missing appointments or deadlines because they knew he was busy and had done a good job in the past," reports the Cincinnati Enquirer, in a magazine-length Sunday article about his downfall.

But from 1999 to 2007, as his problem with prescription painkillers became a $1,000-a-day drug habit, according to court records and what Lawson himself said in a 2007 interview with the newspaper, that lenience and his continuing neglect of his cases cost at least 13 clients their chance to win in court. Now Lawson, who is 45, is awaiting sentencing in a federal drug conspiracy case that could result in a sentence of as much as four years. His law license was suspended in 2007.

"The extent of the damage only now is coming into focus," the Enquirer writes: "At least five clients have sued Lawson, more than a dozen have received or are seeking reimbursement for stolen money and almost 30 filed grievances that led to disciplinary action with the Cincinnati Bar Association or the Ohio Supreme Court."

Lawson's addiction to pain pills followed a shoulder injury in 1999. He declined to discuss his case with the Enquirer before sentencing, except to say that he has been sober for almost two years and remains in treatment.