800 years ago this month King John was cornered by his barons in a field at Runnymede and made to place his seal on this document, the Great Charter, that limited his power. It was likely the first of its kind. He and the other chief executives have been fighting the issue ever since. Ab initio this … More Magna Carta
Its been a 100 years but the sting of it still rings through the telling. A German U-boat was able to approach and sink the Cunard liner off the coast of Ireland on this date 100 years ago because she had no destroyer escort, despite wartime conditions. There were not supposed to be any Americans on … More The Sinking of RMS Lusitania – May 7th 1915
What we leave behind on earth is seldom organized. Typically there are unaddressed problems lying in wait for the family when we pass. Take houses for example. Rarely do we find anyone as optimistic as my parents, still living, who at 70 put a 40 year roof on their house. Most of the time the … More The Debris Field of a Life
Is there anything more obnoxious than leaf blowers? The guy across the street from me had one. You know the kind, they sound like this: Arghhhhhhhhhh! He also had cancer and so was off work. Apparently this made him bored. After he had finished blowing all the leaves on the ground into the street, he … More Leaf Blowers
There was a Demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged the Demon would die. Men came to the high desert to ride it. They were called “test pilots.” And no one knew their names. The Right Stuff- Warner Brothers 1984 Should you desire that sense again of anonymous heroism captured in the … More Rebecca Wallick Has The Right Stuff-Growing Up Boeing
This year, 50 years after becoming a lawyer, my Dad had his right knee replaced. He said it was due to all those years carrying a briefcase in his right hand. I believe this to be true as the literal and figurative weight of lawyering tends to damage the body. On October 4th Dad was … More Lawyers Knee
Summers in London seem to always feature that gritty diesel smell and taste in the mouth that is just more pronounced there than any other large European city. Forgetting the taste for a moment and checking my watch, I folded the copy of the Financial Times I had been reading, checked my watch again and … More Bond, James Bond
How does one pack up a law library? What becomes of the files of the closed cases, and what does one do with the bits and pieces of paper, mementos from clients, paper weights and desk ornaments that have been collected over 30 years? Oddly they are much easier to dispose of than the memories … More When Law Firms Close
I have had the pleasure of representing Veterans, most often in the estate planning context. Sometimes I think my courtroom tales curl the toes, but the truth is the conflict we address day in and day out is without bloodshed. The tales these men tell evidence more at stake and a privilege to hear. An older fellow … More Representing Veterans: They Have Seen More Than Anyone Should
I am just off the phone with a woman representing herself to be married to one of the heirs of a will I I have in probate. This is her second call this month, demanding to know where the money is. She made representations about what we had promised which were impossible because we hadn’t … More Where’s The Check!?
Lawyers Road Review 