Investigated the effects of counselor gender and drinking status on 93 mandated clients' perceptions of counselor trustworthiness, expertness and attractiveness, and confidence in the counselor. Results revealed no differences between ratings of recovering alcoholic, nonalcoholic, or no-statement counselors on any of the dependent measures. Discusses findings relative to prevalent assumption of superiority of recovering alcoholics as alcoholism counselors. (Author/PVV)