Chat G. P. Tea, Attorney at Law
November 7, 2026
A real lawyer is better than a law machine. Accept no substitute. … More Chat G. P. Tea, Attorney at Law
Category: Rule of Law
A Soliloquy Upon the Eve of Trial
February 17, 2025
The night before a trial is a particularly poignant moment. I find I cannot organize what I am thinking for this post without some reference to antiquity, and recall those who also find it hard to sleep before such a battle. The soliloquy Upon the King from Henry V comes to mind. As William Shakespeare … More A Soliloquy Upon the Eve of Trial
Judgment at Kyiv
May 8, 2022
War crimes are back, this time in living color. I take the anniversary of Germany’s surrender in WWII to highlight how far we have come to a well developed international justice system to deal timely these crimes. … More Judgment at Kyiv
Scholar, Solider, Lawyer, Spy
February 20, 2022
This post is about my Dad. I discovered in my studio an interview I did with him about his early life, and I have to say, hearing his voice again after all these months he has been gone was comforting. Let me tell you about his early life by letting him talk about it to … More Scholar, Solider, Lawyer, Spy
Wishes for the Fishes: China and the Law of the Sea
May 22, 2021
In international relations, is the world as wide open as it was in the 1930s when legends like Hemingway were made? Or did our post-WWII efforts to avoid war as a remedy to conflict by adopting international laws amount to anything enforceable? What if the parties refuse to act in good faith? … More Wishes for the Fishes: China and the Law of the Sea
His name was Bond, James Bond
November 8, 2020
Sean Connery, the actor who played the original Bond passed away this week. Iconic both in fiction and real life, to me he represents a defender of all we embrace in liberal democracy as something to be protected in an age when authoritarian governments appear to be on the rise everywhere. When I say “liberal … More His name was Bond, James Bond
Upon the President
March 31, 2018
Don’t we want a warm feeling of respect to come over us when we refer to “The President”? A feeling of trust in his ability to do better than the common man? A sense he really does care about us ordinary people and we are in his thoughts in the midnight hour? We expect character … More Upon the President
Sound Bytes from Family Law
March 25, 2018
There are just so may sound bytes from family law that stick with a guy after a few decades of practice. “Mr. Patterson, Control Your Client!” the guy says to me. Couldn’t see who it was but I think it was my clients ex-husband. The hearing had not gone well for us and his former … More Sound Bytes from Family Law
TV Lawyers
November 18, 2017
I remember watching Perry Mason literally sitting on my fathers knee in some rented house in Everett as a child. Like everything in the early 1960’s, the show was in black and white, and I do believe we as a country expected the law to be as stark; right and wrong. Dad was in law … More TV Lawyers
Magna Carta and the Rule of Law, Part 1
May 20, 2017
802 years ago in a field at Runnymede, near London, England, King John was forced by his barons to place his seal on the first document ever known to curb executive power, Magna Carta, or Great Charter. Given recent events in the country birthed from England but with a more developed governing document, the United … More Magna Carta and the Rule of Law, Part 1
