He did not graduate in the top ten percent of his class because Lenny took a drink now and again...and again.
He passed the bar with one lobe tied behind him,a couple/three drinks in his system,and took the only law firm job he was offered,in a personal injury firm.
Personal injury was a revelation to him and he thrived. He understood the game and played it well.
The state legislature was full of lawyers who keep "no fault" off the books,and allowed civil damages for "pain and suffering".
The injury firms advertised heavily and had nurses on commission in the emergency rooms.
When someone was not at fault or only partly at fault in a motor vehicle accident,they would sue for "pain and suffering",turning a ten thousand dollar settlement into a fifty thousand dollar settlement. The insurance adjusters paid,the injury lawyers kept twenty five percent,remitted the balances to their clients,and the insurance companies simply increased premiums.
The injury firms then sent lucrative contributions to the lawyers in the legislature to keep the pain and suffering laws on the books.
It was a license to print money and "Lenny" Urbanna got good at it.
In fact,he got so good at it that when there was an opening on the Circuit Court bench,the local bar association recommended to the lawyers in the legislature that Urbanna be appointed----so the other lawyers could split up his practice.
He drank hard,but he knew his way around his courtroom and his library. He taught classes at the law school. His opinions were cited in textbooks and he was seldom overturned on appeal.
When his wife was killed in an automobile accident,the irony was too much. He crawled into a bottle.
It is almost impossible to remove a sitting judge,so his clerks covered for him as best they could.
The legislators who remembered all the contributions over the years had him "retire" so his pension was intact.
Thanks to AA,he dried out and hears overflow cases from time to time. He also does arbitration hearings.
But the bottle is always there,always calling.......