Page 65 - ACTL Journal Win24

So I say this, in terms of our Fellows, we promise you, not on our watch. We are not here for the finite game of who wins and loses at trial but for the infinite game of humanity and civility. We will protect the ability for human beings to untangle the paradoxes of other human beings’ lives in our shared struggle to become a better people. These are times that are hard for civil discourse and dialogue but there is no team of rivals that we’d rather be here with than you.
So everyone in this class, I give you our word, will pull our weight like a horse and maintain our humility like a hermit. From our diverse strengths to yours, we accept the charge to preserve the mighty fabric of law, not just for our sake or our children or grandchildren’s or every American or Canadian’s, but for the sake of all mankind.
Thank you, David. Very, very well done. Now, David put his remarks together by combing through the brief statements we asked each of the new inductees to give us – but he wasn’t given a full deck. President Harriman asked each member of the class to send a note with something unusual and interesting about themselves . . . and the majority did. But we were about two dozen responses short. So I reminded – and warned – them. I cautioned “I have a vivid and vindictive imagi- nation, and anyone who doesn’t give me a timely response should not be surprised to be written up as a former toe-fungus model.” That shook loose responses from nearly all, but we still had about half-a-dozen AWOLs. And one or two finally got back to me long after I had invented something, but I liked what I wrote better. So . . . the following bits about each our new Fellows are either true (at least as perceived by the Fellow) or I totally made them up. Guess which is which.
NEW INDUCTEES
DAVID A. ABRAMSON, New Orleans, Louisiana, acquired the nickname “Swamp” at Dartmouth due to being from Gonzales, a town no one had heard of, despite being the Jambalaya Capital of the World. Dave has spent many years coaching travel base- ball for his sons. Their travels included the College World Series in Omaha and the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
CHRISTINE A. AMALFI, Newark, New Jersey, is married to a judge and loves the adventure of travel (we don’t think her love of travel is related to her marriage but rather is a feature of it) and has visited Hawaii, Greece, France, Croatia, Italy, England, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Mexico with her family, while work has taken her to Japan, China, Sin- gapore, Switzerland, and Argentina.
JEFF BARBER, Anchorage, Alaska, is the son of a professor of medieval Italian po- etry. Jeff studied for the Alaska bar exam by listening to the audio tapes for twenty
hours while driving up the Alcan highway. On a sabbatical in New Zealand, Jeff came in dead-last place in the Rotorangi Gut Buster (14K kayak, 12K mountain run, and 46K bike). One of Jeff’s strangest legal cases involved a crucifix injury. [Jeff did not elaborate even though we all have a cross to bare.]
HARVEY BARTLE, IV, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, joined the Marines after college and spent five years as an infantry officer in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He has an identical twin brother who also joined the Marines and later became a lawyer (although not a litigator). Harvey is the son and spouse of judges. He, like most of us, wins more arguments in court than at home.
WINTER 2024 JOURNAL 64