Lucky To Work With Caring People at Bratcher Gockel Law

I have met and served some amazing people in the thirty-three years in which I have practiced law. My job representing civil rights clients brings me immense joy, not in small part because of the kind, talented, intelligent people with whom I am blessed to work.

1.  My law partner Marie Gockel - I am fortunate that among the first people I called when I decided to start my firm was my law school chum Marie.  I remember her exact words, "Can I come, too."  And, a law firm was born. Marie is the hardest working, most tenacious, most intelligent lawyer I know. She never gives up. I kid her that she is the bull dog of the law profession. Perseverance is one of the most important traits of a lawyer. Plus, she and I work well together, brain-storming, with our strengths complimenting each other. For 22 years she has been great. And Marie is a great friend.

2.  Our amazing staff -  Ann Gloor leads our amazing staff. I have worked with her for 30 years, since both of our eldest girls were infants. She is wicked smart, hard working and kind, plus she reads my mind. Nancy Breuning has been with us for 15 years. She is diligent, a perfectionist when need be, and amazingly smart. Both Ann and Nancy are two of the kindest people I know. Within the last 5 years we hired paralegal Mike Bell.  Mike has worked many years as a paralegal and is not afraid to dig into files to assess what went wrong. He, too, is extremely intelligent and hard-working. All three of the staff have been recently been blessed with grandchildren and we see videos of first steps, first words, and wide toothless smiles. What a joy.

People in our office either bring their lunches or go downstairs to the food court to buy food and bring it up. We typically sit around our old conference table, often for a little more than the "allotted" hour, looking out over the Power & Light  district while chattering on about grandbabies, movies, books, our lives, or my stupid jokes to which they graciously smile. We talk about cases and what we need to do, but most of the time we just shoot the bull. We have a great team. We never give performance evaluations, because oftentimes employers feel they need to mark employees down and criticize. Our employees are so great, performance evaluations seem counter-productive. I hope everyone realize how much I  appreciate tand care about them. I know I am prejudiced, but I think our law office is a wonderful place to work.

Tell Trump - We Are Better Than This

I voted already. I am going to be a poll observer in Florida, so I voted here. But, I cannot tear myself away from the horrible Trump train wreck. I just hope that through his horrible conduct, this scorched earth tactics, and his total lack of respect for large segments of the population, if not all of humanity, we learn a lesson.  I hope we are horrified by this wretch of a human being and we realize that he is not who we are.

Women should not be judged by how large their breast are. Grabbing a woman's crotch without her consent is a crime. We are more than the sum of our parts, literally. African-Americans are not thugs condemned to live in "inner cities" where they constantly must dodge their own bullets. Latinos and Latinas are hard-working, decent, and kind human beings by nature, just as are the majority of the rest of usl

Most people are good and kind and deserve our trust and respect. Most others are honorable unless they prove otherwise. We must see the best in others, not the worst. We must teach our children to help others, not to bully them. We have our differences, and our differences are what teaches us to grow and accept others.

We must fight bigotry, whether that fight amounts to going to the polls, or legally fighting against the racial and sexual bullying. We must set examples of tolerance, humility, and charity. I believe Americans are essentially kind, caring and have moral values. We are strong and self-assured and need not denigrate others to nurse our egos.  That is characteristic of Trump and his ilk, not us.

Trump is a test of our character and our resolve and we will pass this test. We are better than the horrible America he sees. We will survive this election and grow and learn from this. We are better than this. Trump is a cult-like leader who will lose. I know Americans are decent, compassionate and generous.  I know that the kind, decent, caring people of this country will continue. We are a country of immigrants. We take in, "your tired, your poor, your yearning to be free."