Page 63 - ACTL Journal Win24

and current defenders, fifteen of us who are plaintiff’s lawyers, another twelve that are in civil defense, seven of us teach at various law schools and you mush us all together in this idea of what no one else understands, I think, other than us that it’s not the rivalries in the courtroom but the camaraderie outside of it that seem to take what would be a contest of who wins and who loses into something greater?
And like the hermit or the horse, there are so many Fellows from humble beginnings that have become thoroughbreds. The Fellows whose dads were long-haul truck drivers and moms cafeteria workers exist in the same fellow- ship whose dads taught Italian medieval poetry. Those that worked their way bussing tables and those that worked their way caddying at golf courses have all led to the same stage of being outstanding at their craft.
And the paradox that the public may not understand – how can lawyers on opposite sides of a case who are supposed to hate each other, like Robby Alden or John Day, who were my opponents in litigation, take the personal time to then call references, check on trial lists? All the Fellows that took such good care of us through so many hours with the sole idea that it’s not about the case in court but what we built in our legacy for a justice system that we are proud of.
Simon Sinek talks about the two types of games that can be played. If there are two parties, a game exists. There are finite games where there are rules that are defined, there are players that are known, there’s an arbiter, there’s a winner, there is a loser. And so the public sees what we do as a finite game and
WINTER 2024
JOURNAL 62