What happens when a brilliant legal career collides with a hidden addiction and a fear of failure that won’t let go? Our guest, former attorney and longtime pastor James W. Smith, takes us inside the spiral from weekend poker to a desperate bank robbery—and the surprising path back through accountability, faith, and service. It’s a raw, human story that moves from a dye pack exploding in a getaway car to quiet hours in a mental health ward where a new life began to take shape.
We talk about the difference between image and integrity, and how the decision to plead guilty became a turning point rather than an ending. James shares how humility was forged bagging groceries and pumping gas after release, how seminary first closed the door and then opened it, and how a historic church embraced his leadership for over three decades. He also explains his 11 years as an approved Continuing Legal Education sponsor teaching ethics, mental health, and substance use to attorneys across North Carolina—proof that credibility can be rebuilt when character leads.
James’s books—Deal By Me: Golden Opportunity Blown and Deal By Me, Second Edition: A Self-Evaluation—trace the rise, fall, and rebuild with uncommon honesty. His most striking insight: the engine under his worst decisions wasn’t a lifelong compulsion, but a deep fear of failure that pushed him to “fix” the unfixable. From practical counsel on staying focused and staying ethical to a moving tribute to a mother’s tough love, this conversation offers hard-won wisdom for anyone wrestling with addiction, shame, or a second act that feels out of reach.
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