Jerome Braun’s alcohol abuse trailed him through a his career as a litigator and law firm leader. It took a doctor’s intervention—and an unwelcome visit from the county sheriff—to lead him to the community of supportive lawyers that finally helped him break free.

Braun, now 89, wrote for the law review at Stanford alongside William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor. He co-founded venerable San Francisco firm Farella Braun + Martel. With work on early price-fixing cases in the gypsum wall board and plywood industries, he was a pioneer in the field of nationwide antitrust litigation. And he became a philanthropic leader in the Bay Area, serving as president of the region’s Jewish Community Federation.