Legal Happenings

In Support of Sober Celebrations

December 06, 2024

By Jeremy Conrad

From left to right: WCL Associate Dean of Student Affairs David Jaffe, Andrew Ferguson, Thomas Williams, Gigi Arandid

With holiday parties in full swing, festive mocktails are making appearances at events. Law firms, bar associations, and law schools are especially vested in creating nonalcoholic alternatives at work functions, given increased attention to the prevalence of substance abuse among attorneys.

American University Washington College of Law (WCL), for example, has been hosting annual mocktail events, including a “cocktail party with a twist” on November 22. The twist was a competition challenging several teams of professors and staff members to design and serve innovative mocktails that are then assessed by students and local celebrity judge Gigi Arandid, the owner of Binge Bar, the District’s first and perhaps only nonalcoholic bar.

Professors Christine Farley, Angi Porter, and Brenda Smith seemed well-positioned to pull off a hat trick, serving their “Learned Hand Warmer.” The hot-chocolate and zero-proof rum drink had the advantage of unseasonably early snow flurries that heightened the drink’s appeal.

However, at the end of the day, professors Andrew Ferguson, Brandon Weiss, and Thomas Williams bested the other teams with their “Three Men & a Whiskey.” Williams told students that the drink’s rosemary garnish was taken from his garden.

For a moment, it appeared that an impromptu prosecution might take place. Late in the event, a student was sent across the room in an attempt to rattle the competition, accusing Williams of stealing the rosemary from another professor’s garden. Williams indignantly denied the accusation. No charges were filed, however, and Williams and his colleagues went on to win the day.

WCL’s mocktail event is part of a semester-long series of professional development sessions attended by first-year law students. “We are trying to remind students that there are still issues with drinking in the profession, and we are trying to encourage them to consider alternatives to drinking,” said David Jaffe, WCL’s associate dean of student affairs.

Throughout the event, slides displayed facts relating to alcohol abuse in the legal profession. In its 2016 study, the American Bar Association showed that problem drinking occurs among attorneys at twice the national rate.

However, the profession also includes many people who do not drink for health or religious reasons, and the convivial atmosphere helped sell the proposition that there is a good time to be had, regardless of whether alcohol is involved.

Three Men & a Whiskey

Ingredients

• 1½ oz spirit-free whiskey
• 2 oz fresh lemonade
• 1½ oz orange juice
• 1 oz soda water
• dried orange slice garnish
• fresh rosemary sprig garnish

Steps

1. Add spirit-free whiskey, lemonade, and orange juice to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake thoroughly; strain into a rocks glass.
2. Add soda water and stir gently.
3. Per Arandid’s suggestion, slap the rosemary sprig between the palms of your hands to bruise the leaves and release its fragrance.
4. Garnish with the dried orange slice and rosemary sprig.