According to authorities, Florida attorney Kelly Elkins arrived at Beach Lounge & Billiards in St. Petersburg, Florida, “intoxicated to the point the manager refused to serve her.” Faced with this speedbump, Elkins allegedly “walked into the restroom and then came back out into the bar unclothed and completely naked.”
Is this a problem in Florida? Whatever happened to #freedom in the Sunshine State? When you think about it, aren’t clothes just masks for the body?
Eventually, deputies managed to get her in a hoodie with the zipper down. Despite entreaties to don pants, she allegedly said that she was too tired to do so, summing up the last two years of Zoom-based legal practice.
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Cops slapped a disorderly conduct charge on her and she was released. The night before, she’d been pinched for trying to drunkenly skip out on a restaurant tab according to police records, which may or may not have been intentional depending on the extent of her drinking that day.
Media have picked up on the story because the concept of a naked attorney thrills the masses, but the whole tale reads as though Elkins is going through a rough patch and is dealing with it in a negative, but not necessarily harmful way (especially if the restaurant incident was an accident). In a world where people can and do hurt people under the influence, cut Elkins a little slack if her only outward expressions are getting a little goofy. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a reminder to keep things in perspective — she’s not an axe murderer, this doesn’t necessarily reflect on her ability to be a lawyer, and her recent travails are all problems that she can, hopefully, bounce back from.
Lawyer stripped naked at St. Pete Beach bar, refused to put on clothes, deputies say [WFLA]
Drunk Florida lawyer busted for stripping naked in a bar after being refused service [NY Post]
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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.