Get Your Mind Right

Sadly, the country’s overall suicide rate is on the rise and the legal profession’s rate is increasing faster than the general population. If you are feeling hopeless, withdrawn or overburden. If you feel as if you’ve had enough, you are not alone. I repeat, you are not alone!

Text “Home” to 741741 if you are feeling depressed, upset or just need to talk and you will find a crisis worker on the other line. #yourenotalone

To see if it did in fact work, I tried it myself.

If the Suit Fits, You Must Acquit.

More important than the brand, suit fit determines sophistication. Lawyering is persuasion and to persuade you must look good and feel good. Look good, feel good, persuade good, lawyer good.

The Lawyer’s Suit – Jacket Shoulders

The Shoulder Fit for the Lawyer's Suit Jacket
The shoulder line should be clean without lumps and/or wrinkles

The Lawyer’s Suit – Jacket Length

Proper length (from side): end near middle of the hand
Proper length (from front): end near bottom zipper of pants
Proper sleeve length: end near large wrist bone.

Proper suit jacket fit for lawyers

The Lawyer’s Suit – Jacket Closure

Lawyer Suit Proper Fit Jacket Pull

The Lawyer’s Suit – Pants

The pant “break” is the fold or bend above where the pants end. Whether or not to have a “break” is a matter of preference (as is cuffs vs. no cuffs and pleats vs. no pleats)

The pant waist should be fit snug enough to be worn with or without a belt.

The sophisticated lawyer prefers a proper, yet slim fit suit with no pleats, no break and no cuffs.

Suit Buying for the Lawyer

Sure you can have a personal stylist come to your office, measure you and pay well into the thousands for a suit.

In the alternative, with your measurements in hand you can wait for 1/2 year and year end sales at major retail stores and spend a third of the money for equal gear.

How many drinks to get drunk?

Regardless of your field of practice, if you’re a lawyer you can bet the house you will be asked about DWI; What do i do if I am pulled over and have been drinking? How many drinks does it take to get drunk? Below, provides an explanation of how many drinks it may take to become intoxicated under the law. 

How is intoxication defined?

Most states define intoxication as having lost the normal use of one’s mental and/or physical faculties or having a blood alcohol level 0.08 or higher at the time of driving.

Calculating your blood alcohol content (BAC)

For an old school way of calculating your blood alcohol level, keep reading. For the new school way of doing it, you can type “blood alcohol calculator”into Google and find a number of online calculators.

Widmark Formula – the OG of Blood Alcohol Calculations

The most widely known formula for calculating blood alcohol content is the Widmark formula, named for Swedish Scientist, Erik M.P. Widmark (1889-1954) who was considered a pioneer in forensic toxicology.

The Widmark formulafocuses on how alcohol behaves in the body from the time it is consumed to the time it is eliminated.

Widmark Formula

Blood Alcohol Content = [alcohol consumed in grams / (body weight in grams x r)] x 100

(“r” refers to the distribution of water in the bodyand is a constant number of 0.55 for females and 0.68 for males)

A standard drink = one 12 oz beer, one 5 oz glass of wine, or one 1 ½ oz shot of liquor.

A standard drink is 14 grams.

Beginning the calculation of your blood alcohol level:

1) Alcohol consumed in grams (i.e. how much have you had to drink):

  • Standard drinks consumed x 14 = alcohol consumed in grams.

2) Body weight in grams:

  • Body weight in pounds x 454 = body weight in grams

3) Body weight in grams x “r”

  • Body weight in grams x (0.55 for females or 0.68 for males)

4) Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)

  • Plug in the numbers and multiply by 100 = Blood Alcohol Content

5) How long have you been drinking?

  • Blood Alcohol Content – (Number of hours since drinking started x 0.015) = Approximate Blood Alcohol Content

0.015 refers our the rate our bodies metabolize alcohol per every hour.

This formula and any other online blood alcohol content calculator is an approximation at best. Because two people are not alike, there are many factors that impact the way a person’s body metabolizes alcohol. Also, Blood alcohol concentration is a percentage of ethanol/alcohol in the blood. For example a 0.08 means there are 0.08 grams of alcohol for every 100 mL of blood.

See below a chart that approximates your blood alcohol level based on number of drinks, number of hours spent drinking and body weight.

Blood alcohol levels (BAC) for men
Blood alcohol levels (BAC) for women

In calculating your blood alcohol level over a period of time you would subtract 0.015 for every hour spent drinking. For example, if you were a 200 lb. male who had 8 drinks you would find 0.15 on the chart above. If you had those 8 drinks over 3 hours you would subtract 0.045 (0.015 * 3 hours) from 0.15. Thus, your approximate BAC would be 0.10 (o.15 – 0.045).