Uncommon Courage

What's Wrong With America Today

2012-01-24T12:54:00.001-06:00

The United States Constitution was written in 1789, with the Bill of Rights added in 1791. Our courts continually look at it's terms to interpret the framers' intent. Really? Our courts look at this hundreds of years old document as if it were the Bible (which is fodder for another blog, but not one the subject today). Were the framers endowed with omniscient powers, able to foresee the future? Let's get real.

How were things different in 1791 as compared to today? In 1791:

1. SLAVERY WAS LEGAL AND HUMANS WERE PROPERTY (that's in all caps because I cannot over-emphasize what a different world it was in 1791). The framers condoned slavery. I know it was a different time, but we are revering these people and they said owning other human beings was not only okay, many said it was a necessary part of commerce and several owned humans themselves.

2. WOMEN - Only white men with land could vote. Women could not vote until 1920!!!!!!!

3. TECHNOLOGY - There have been great technological advances - in travel, communication, living. We have planes, the Internet, electricity, indoor plumbing. We no longer use leaches for medical care. We have traveled to the moon. We can kill millions of people at a time with our weapons, not just hundreds.

4. CORPORATE BUY-OUT OF GOVERNMENT - Those "persons" with rights were living, breathing, eating white men. Entities invented to escape individual liability, called corporations, were not "persons" given first amendment rights. A real live person has a larynx and can speak. He or she can write, either with a pen or computer. Thoughts come from a person's brain, an organ of the human body. Corporations have no such biological makeup.

What is the Constitution were written today, what would you like to see in it? This is what I would like:

A. EQUALITY - All humans are entitled to the pursuit of life, liberty, and property.

B. NO CITIZENS UNITED - Only living breathing human beings have rights under the Constitution, not corporations, not robots nor cyborgs. And rich people do not have more Constitutional rights than poor people. (No Citizens United - go Stephen Colbert!)

C. MORE EQUALITY - Humans in the United States cannot be discriminated in employment, commerce, public accommodations, or WEALTH, based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, sexual preference, etc.

D. EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT - All United States citizens are entitled to a free education THROUGH COLLEGE OR TRADE SCHOOL so as to continually be employable and not outplaced by citizens with more technical or other education in other countries. We will continue to make sure our citizens are employed and employable so that they can support themselves and their families.

E. TAXES - Rich people and entities cannot be taxed on income at a lower rate than people who have to work for a living. This means that wages and salaries are not taxed at a higher rate than investment income, dividends, or capital gains. People like Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett, multi-millionaires or billionaires, will not be taxed at a lower rate than nurses, and teachers, and mechanics.

I am no economic scholar, but I don't think it takes one to explain the current state of this country's economic woes. Rich people don't pay their fair share of taxes, especially since the Bush tax cuts and we have engaged in several wars costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Corporations and the wealthy can spend unlimited amounts in getting candidates elected. These candidates become politicians who write our laws and control our lives. Thus, they have lower tax rates than the common worker. THIS MUST STOP.

We are no longer fighting the British and supporting an agricultural system off the backs of human slaves. A woman no longer loses her rights when she is married. Hopefully, humanity has evolved. Our country needs to reflect this enlightened progress and stop rewarding the American quasi-nobility, the rich. We don't need another violent revolution, someone just needs to slap some sense into these overly entitled rich people. They are the ones truly receiving welfare and public assistance through the inequality in the tax laws. The very rich are the real welfare cheats. And don't get me started about the banking debacle. Come on. It's time for a change.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - a message to lawmakers and judges

2012-01-16T13:30:00.000-06:00

We in Missouri are continually struggling with some Legislators who want to emasculate our state's discrimination laws. We need these laws and the ability to stop discrimination by going to Court. As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless."

Why I Love Social Media and the Internet

2012-01-15T15:40:00.000-06:00

There is hardly a person I can not find something about. I don't hire private investigators, I have one who works for free. His name is Google. I find people through Facebook and My Space. And I am interested. If I weren't a lawyer, I would still probably be looking people up on the Internet, because I am interested in who we are and how we are presented to the world. We live in a much more connected world than the world of my youth. When I was in college, a computer filled a building. I bought my first personal computer in 1991, after 8 years as a lawyer. When I was fresh out of law school, people used "word processors.". I didn't know how to turn one on. Research was done in various libraries with books. We contacted others either by letter or phone. In a prior law firm, there was a conflict about whether or not we needed the new-fangled "fax" machine since only dilatory lawyers failed to get their work done in time to use the mail. How things have changed. We have so much more access to everything and everyone. When I represented a woman suing Mayor Funkhouser, I checked the Internet every morning. Some days this was how I found out about new developments in the case, even though I was the plaintiff"s attorney. I also discovered how anonymity emboldened those making vicious and vile comments. Nasty racist and sexist comments appeared regularly, by people who falsely assumed they could forever remain nameless. Of course, we could have tracked them down through there ip addresses, but those people were not worthy of the effort. I received one anonymous hate letter by mail, and figured it must have been from a person who was essentially computer illiterate. I resolved after that experience to never post anonymously anywhere ever. With the Internet, anyone with a desire can have a voice. We can learn a lot about others. We had a sexual harassment case and my partner was going to take the deposition of the purported harasser. She looked on the Internet, and there, on MySpace, was his page talking about how hot he thought he was to women. How insecure is someone to have to post how desirable he or she is on the Internet? Alternatively, there are people with whom I have been quite taken based on their social media postings. I feel that I am honored to share a part of these people, especially the courageous ones who make themselves vulnerable and share their hopes, desires, sense of humor, and even progression of their labor pains. I hear others complain because people use social media for trivial information. I love all of the information. I feel honored that people make themselves vulnerable and let us know about their lives. I know lawyers who tell their clients not to use social media. I disagree. We all need to exercise common sense, but isn't it wonderful that we get to learn about so many people and realize that we share hopes and dreams with those we hardly know. I can't wait to see what technological advances are yet to come. P.S. Tony, I love your blog the most. You have the courage to be controversial, and funny. Don't we need controversial people in this conformist society? Yes! Especially if they can laugh, not just at others, but also at themselves.

BEING A BETTER TRIAL LAWYER - WITH OR WITHOUT A PENIS

2012-01-03T23:10:00.000-06:00

This issue is near and dear to my heart, since I lack a penis - how to be a better trial lawyer without emulating other trial lawyers with different physical "characteristics." Now, it is undisputed that most trial lawyers are men. Men have historically been the fighters on our planet. Men can be strong,and fierce and brave, and so can women. People of different genders may just approach lawyering differently. Man and women can learn from each other.

I have been a woman all of my life and a female trial lawyer for the past 253+ years, trying over 7,000 jury trials (perhaps a slight exaggeration). Based on my many years as an estrogen-laden trial lawyer, these are some of the traits that make trial lawyers more effective:

1. DEVELOPING A THICK SKIN

Self-confidence - or the absence of self-consciousness. This is probably the hardest attribute to achieve. Lack of self-consciousness is a difficult skill to develop. You must developing a very thick skin or believe in yourself that it doesn't matter if you are personally attacked. It means realizing that those lawyers who attack you or your client are doing so from a position of weakness. The absence of self-consciousness, or the lack of self-centered-ness, comes from believing in oneself. Most people are born with some self-consciousness, some insecurity. Selfish insecurity has no place in advocacy. Our job is to put our clients' interests ahead of our own. I know of no way to eliminate insecurity without engaging in some form of self-exploration. We all have demons. We all have weaknesses. We need to be okay about who we are before we can put our clients first. Recognizing our own faults and foibles, and owning up to them, will set us free.

To become self-confident, it is essential to be self-critical. This means a lawyer may need to undergo counseling, psychodrama, or read self-help books or do whatever takes you out of your skin. Being a good trial lawyer is not about you or your ego. Egos get in the way of effective advocacy.

To overcome fear, prepare. Be the most prepared lawyer in the courtroom. Care about what you are doing. Believe in your client and in your client's case.

2. DEVELOPING A THIN SKIN

The ability to empathize with our clients and with everyone else in the courtroom is essential. When it comes to others, we must understand and empathize. Compassion is essential. We need to look at a trial as more than a battle. We need to understand what are clients are going through. We need to listen. Listening, true listening, is a selfless act. We need to care, about our clients and about justice. What we do must matter to us.

3. TAKING RISKS

This is where a little testosterone comes in handy. We can't stand by the wayside and hope things come out okay. We must jump into the fray, leap off that cliff. After all, this is not about our egos. We are furthering justice.

4. NOT GIVING UP

Persistence is the key. Need I say more.

5. BECOME THE MOST "YOU"YOU CAN BE

Some lawyers are big and commanding, some are small and soft. We need not change who we are, we need to embrace who we are. Many women have soft voices. Sometimes that softness comes from fear, but more often it is just a part of who we are. Should we shout to be heard? I think not. We must be true to ourselves. I would much rather see a woman lawyer with a portable microphone than hear a judge repeatedly criticize a woman for being soft-spoken. Revel in who you are. If you are sweet and soft-spoken in life; in trial, be sweet and soft-spoken. Be who you are. Love who you are. Care about yourself, your client and justice. Treat everyone, including yourself, with respect. Play to your strengths.

6. HAVE FUN.

Love your clients, love yourself and follow your passion. Relish in what you do. How many people are as lucky as you to be able to do what you love.

7. REMEMBER FROM WHENCE YOU CAME.

Most trial ayers I know have overcome a great deal of adversity in life. Remember what that feels like. Feel. We are humans with feelings. Care.

This article did not turn out as I had envisioned. It's not so much about gender, but more about humanity. Being a trial lawyer can be a very honorable thing to do. Don't screw it up. The judicial system is the bedrock of civilization. Don't forget the honor in this profession. And don't chase ambulances. It makes the rest of us look bad.

Resolving to Laugh

2012-01-01T09:49:00.000-06:00

2011 was a serious year, at least for me. When I say it was a serious year, perhaps what I mean is I took it too seriously. I have serious cases, my friends and relatives had serious illnesses, the world had serious financial issues. In 2011, I took myself very seriously.

At the end of 2011, yesterday, I seriously wanted to punch some lawyers and their clients in the face, metaphorically speaking of course. I have clients with serious problems who want serious help from me. I have family members with serious issues and concerns and they deserve serious help from me. 2011 was a year of serious financial concerns to Americans in general and people close to me, specifically.

We have serious issues to address, poverty, hunger, injustice. And on the last issue, injustice, I fancy myself as a serious advocate of justice for my clients. And this last year, I have looked at all the issues in my life, and most of my relationships, whether professional or personal, in a very serious manner.

My mission this year, should I choose to accept it (yes, I just saw Mission Impossible again) is to laugh as much as possible. I understand the caveat, however, which is to endeavor not to laugh at inappropriate times.

I want to guffaw again. I love guffawing. I love making others laugh, too. Sure life and our work is very serious (unless you who are reading this is either a comedy writer or a speech writer for Newt Gingrinch or Donald Trump. In fact, how is someone named Newt Gingrich or Trump even taken seriously, but I digress.)

Laughter makes me human. Laughter allows me to enjoy life. Laughter makes this world bearable. I love to laugh and I laugh to love (how corny). I resolve in 2012, the year the Mayans predicted Armageddon, to laugh daily. There, I said it. That is my goal. We'll see how this works out. Ha!

And since we are talking about the future, I will leave you with this thought. I hope to die the way my joyous grandfather left his life. I want to die in my sleep, just like my grandfather did. I do not want to die yelling and screaming, like the passengers in his car.

With that, I wish you a joyous, happy, laughing new year!

Is "Gender Equality" Really Possible in the World As We Know It?

2011-12-24T13:27:00.000-06:00

Do American efforts to teach "gender equality" in third world countries make a difference? The American government and American contractors are seeking gender equality experts to teach Afghanis how to treat their women. I have read tales of Afghani women imprisoned for adultery or fornication after being raped by an acquaintance.

Recently a young woman jailed in Afghanistan was forced to agree to marry her rapist in order to gain her freedom from prison. I watched a documentary on HBO entitled "Pink Saris" in which "untouchable" women were routinely beaten and raped by the in-laws with whom they were forced to live. Recent reports in the United States indicate that one in four women in the United States are victims of sexual assault and this is hardly a third world country.

I discovered years after the fact that a woman who is very close to me was raped by a former boyfriend. This woman, by all outside appearances is strong willed and appears able to fend for herself. Yet, she was sexually assaulted and I never suspected at the time. By the time I found out, three or more years later, there was nothing I could do. Or was there? Could I have prevented the assault? I am haunted by these doubts.

If I couldn't prevent a sexual assault of someone close to me in the United States, am I capable of making a difference in a culture where sexual assault is fairly accepted by those in charge? Can anyone make a difference? Maybe, over decades or centuries, sexual victimization will be rare. It's common now, and it pains me to realize this.

Favorite Quote of the Day

2011-12-22T15:40:00.002-06:00

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
- Albert Einstein

Let's Hear It for the Underdogs!

2011-12-18T15:02:00.002-06:00

In America, we love underdogs. Who is an underdog, you might ask. We are all underdogs, that's why we love them. This is a nation of underdogs, filled with people expelled or mistreated by others, immigrants or badly treated native peoples. We pull ourselves up from our bootstraps, we prevail against amazing odds, we fight. That is why we love us, Americans. Fighting as underdogs is what we do best.

I am watching the Kansas City Chiefs play the Green Bay Packers. My husband has been sure we were going to lose and lose badly. We still might, the game is not over. All predictions have been that the Chiefs will lose: a) the Packers are the defending Super Bowl champs; 2) the Chiefs have played HORRIBLY this season; 3) the Chiefs fired their coach last week after a particularly horrendously played Chiefs game; 4) the Chiefs don't have a starting quarterback; and, 5) Arrowhead stadium is packed with Packers fans. The Chiefs are ahead now and they may ultimately lose, but this is a classic UNDERDOG game. Ergo, the Chiefs will probably win.

The Underdog Syndrome is a common phenomenon in American society. We love underdogs and want to be underdogs. Let's talk about which groups in this country relish in their underdog status:

1) Tea Partiers, harkening back to the Revolutionary War days when American Patriots were outnumbered by the British loyalists;

2) Occupy Wall Street (and the Occupy movements in all major cities) - we are all part of the 99% of underdogs, except for that 1%, who largely want to be in the 99%, e.g. , Warren Buffett who wants to pay taxes like the underdogs but Congress won't let him.

3) Any sports team whose owners pay less money and who aren't the New York Yankees. Don't most of us want those Steinbrenners to get their comeuppance?

We relate to underdogs because most of us have had to work hard to get what we have. We have no royalty in this country and we have little respect for those who are handed wealth or power with no work. Why else is Warren Buffett giving most of his billions to charity, so as not to corrupt his kids. Why do Americans love Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, and Barak Obama - three people who worked hard to achieve. No inherited power or money for those Presidents.

We love Rocky, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, and Lance Armstrong the cancer survivor. When an underdog wins against great odds, we believe that he or she is our standard-bearer, and maybe, just maybe we can win against great odds, too. When an underdog wins, we believe we can win, too. We can beat Walmart in lawsuits, or the banking giants. Whistleblowers can prevail if they do the right thing and their cause is just. Powerful companies can be defeated when they hurt individuals. Underdogs keep us believing that maybe there is some justice. The big, mighty and powerful don't always win. Underdogs keep us fighting.

I really don't care that much about football, but I am deeply involved in this game. It is important to me, right now, that the Chiefs win. They may not win but, gosh I hope they do. Go underdogs! Go Chiefs!

Why Lawyers Should Hate Themselves

2011-12-16T11:09:00.002-06:00

My last blog was why people hate lawyers. I touched on a few reasons why lawyers are reviled. Since then, I have thought about the many problems with lawyers and our legal system. Unfortunately, the system needs fixing and lawyers need to take a good look at themselves.

This is what I propose we need to examine -

1. Lawyers in it for their ego (and let's be truthful, aren't all trial lawyers, myself included, guilty of an overactive ego). In the lawyer's mind the case becomes about him or her and less about the client. Some ways you can tell when a lawyer thinks he or she is the bee's knees is when he lawyers reports things like, "in the deposition, I got him to admit...". Every good thing that happens becomes a reflection of the lawyers skill, not the righteousness of the case, the character of the witness, etc. All trial lawyers do this, me included.

2. Lawyers more intent on winning a "game" than furthering the case. For instance, lawyers fighting about where to hold depositions, obstructive objections, nastiness in general.

3. Lawyers whose primary concern is lining his or her pocket book. This goes for both sides. For the defense attorney, many of whom have boldly told me it was too early to settle a case because they didn't have enough in fees, it is needlessly delaying case. For the plaintiff's lawyer, it is thinking about the client as a commodity that should turn a profit rather than a human being needing justice. From the plaintiffs' perspective, you can spot these lawyers when they refer to their case in figures (6 figure case, 7 figure case), etc.

4. Lawyers so insecure that the only person they are interested in listening to is themselves. Probably the most important trait for a lawyer is being a good listener, yet lawyers has a whole are the worst bunch of listeners on the face of the planet. You have to forget about yourself to be a good listener. The best lawyers are those secure enough to give up being the center of the stage to listen to their clients, the witnesses, and ultimately the jury.

Lawyers would be well served to, in addition to the annual legal education requirements, take a course on empathy, listening, and humility. Someone needs to shake us every once in awhile to keep us on track. We are facilitators of the justice system. The justice system is not about us. In fact, a few of us may need more than just a gentle shake. Perhaps a slap might make us pay attention. But, that's a battery and would be illegal. I fear that some of us won't get back on track. I really, really would like to slap them. Oh, how I would like to slap them. Yes! ... Oh, were you saying something? I wasn't listening.

Why People Hate Lawyers

2011-11-30T05:38:00.002-06:00

For those of us who have been on this earth for more than a few years, we are sure to be faced with hard decisions that change the directions of our lives. Few of us recognize the importance of these life-changing decisions at the time they arise. For instance, as lawyers, we are confronted with situations where we must choose which way we will function as lawyers. Will we work for the people who pay us the most, regardless of the underlying principles? Will we defend that tobacco company if it makes us rich in the process. Will we stomp on the rights of weak and helpless? Will we sell out for the biggest bucks? Can we rationalize our decisions? How will our rationalizations impact on our character, or lack of character, as the case may be.

I was recently in depositions with older, experienced lawyers, who probably at one time were idealistic young, compassionate people. They probably had great loves and cared deeply about social issues. But something must have happened to them. Our client was grievously injured and the gaggle of lawyers assigned to represent the various parties seem prone to screaming, arguing and belittling us and our case. I wonder if they just force themselves to eradicate thoughts of our client, for how could anyone see this brave, hard-working, severely injured man and not feel empathy and admiration. What happens to people when making money, buying that fancy car, insulting others to build ones ego becomes more important than human decency.

I certainly am not a paragon of virtue. I used to work for the dark side myself, but after awhile, it should become hard. We should examine our motives. We should keep caring and compassion for our fellow humans. It is sad when someone loses his or her humanness.

No wonder people don't like lawyers. We like to use our voices just to hear their sound, we bully innocent, less powerful people and we put ourselves and our egos before justice and our clients.

There are things more important than money, status, and the need to feel important. Most lawyers started out wanting to do good and be fair. What happens? A thousand little decisions. Go work for the firm that pays the most, make that argument that you don't believe, fudge on the facts so you have a better argument, and, most important of all, throw your compassion out the window. It sure is tempting when the reward is money and social status.

There are lots of lawyers who hate practicing law and I suspect the main reason for that is because those lawyers do things of which they are not proud. How sad to be at the end of one's career and still trying to bully witnesses and opposing counsel. Bullying is certainly not restricted to middle school high jinx.

Lawyers who hate what they do should leave the practice of law. I am tired of having to deal with them. Good riddance.

Creativity and Growth - My Lucky Turn with the Fabulous 3 Sisters

2011-11-13T23:04:00.002-06:00

One of the things I love about being a trial lawyer is that I continue to learn and grow, both as a lawyer and as a person. Two years ago I made a fateful decision which was very hard, to quit being associated with the Trial Lawyers College and to take another leap of faith. I will be eternally indebted to TLC for all I learned, mainly about myself. Gerry Spence always said we need to work on knowing ourselves to be able to be the best trial lawyer we can be, and he is so right. I spent 15 years at TLC, almost 14 of them on staff, the last couple of years as a liaison to the Board. I am so indebted to John Nolte, Don Clarkson, Kathie Sinclair and Katlin Larimer for how they helped me be me. There are so many people at TLC whom I care very much about. However, in 2009, it was time for me to leave, just as how it had been time for me to leave my old firm in 1994 when I first came back from TLC. One thing about learning who you are is recognizing when it is time to make a change. Listening to your gut, following your intuition, is one way of taking care of yourself.

After I left TLC, I felt a little isolated. Not only had I burned bridges with TLC, but also with my fellow friends and ex-pats, who now call themselves the 3 Sisters. Those three women had big ideas, starting their own trial lawyer training program, writing a book, continuing to grow. When I was first asked to help with the 3 Sisters seminars, I said no. I was conflicted. It took me awhile to know what I should do.

The 3 Sisters, Joane, Fredi, and Mary had already started their seminars with Carl Bettinger and Charlie Abourezk. A year went by and Joane approached me again. I missed the intellectual stimulation of the college and I missed my friends, so I somewhat reluctantly agreed. I did not want to get back in a rat race of jetting to various locations to teach. At first I was unsure of my commitment to 3 Sisters.

I soon discovered the true creativity, intellect and caring of these friends - and I include Carl and Charlie in this. This collaboration has been exciting. It has opened me up to new ideas and experiences and is a blast! I feel the excitement one feels when she gets IT, the big IT!!!!! When I started at TLC, I had tried several cases, but I was still scared. I am no longer scared. I love being in the courtroom talking to the good citizens of this state about my clients who I generally have grown to love. I know that when I am in the courtroom, advocating for justice for my clients, that is where I should be. I am at peace with what I do, and my job is thrilling.

The 3 Sisters is filed with brilliant, caring, creative people (I am not so conceited to include myself in that description). When we get together at one of the seminars, the creative ideas grow exponentially. But for me, knowing I am where I need to be, in my life, in my profession and at 3 Sisters is so gratifying.

My last trial was in June. The case was settled after the first week. That case illustrated for me what it feels like to be in the zone - to love my client, to feel the justice of my client's position and to know I, along with my wonderful client, were up to the task.

I am so blessed to work with Joane Garcia-Colson, Fredilyn Sison, Mary Peckham, Carl Bettinger and Charlie Abourezk. They are the best. I mean that in a colloquial way, but also in a very real way. THEY ARE THE BEST!!! The most caring, creative, intelligent lawyers I know. I am blessed.

Money - A Complicated Concept

2011-11-11T12:17:00.002-06:00

Money - what a complicated concept. Money brings out the best and worst in us. Money means many things to us. Money is synonymous with freedom, security and power. Just as with anything pleasurable, food, drugs, or sex, money can be overly desired and become addictive.

I recently read that a survey was done of people with net worths of over$20,000,000. They were asked if they either wanted to maintain their wealth or increase it. 80% of those in this wealthy category wanted to increase their wealth. Not being in this category, I wonder when is enough enough?

Let's look at recent news. We all are affected by the debacle on Wall Street. I recently watched the movie "Margin Call." the demise of the investment bankers, and our economy, was caused by greed, pure and simple. What about the scandal at Penn State? Why was an assistant coach allowed to sexually abuse young boys for years? Who wanted to rock the boat and bring down a very financially successful football program? The root of the cover up was greed, nothing less.

So how does this relate to the legal system? As civil plaintiffs' lawyers we seek money for our clients, and, truth be told, for ourselves. When is enough enough? I suppose it depends on perspective. We all know plaintiffs' lawyers whom we think may be motivated by greed. In my situation, I wonder if my indictment of these rich lawyers might be mixed with some jealousy. However, the insurance industry and society is quick to point out the social ills allegedly caused by a greedy plaintiffs' bar.

Let's examine some real life situations that insurance companies and businesses fail to mention. There are products sold in this country by major retailers that are devastatingly dangerous to American citizens. The consumer product safety commission is mired in bureaucracy. Companies, when successfully sued, can file bogus bankruptcies under our system, even where they are not insolvent to avoid trial or paying judgments. Individuals who own multiple million or billion dollar companies move to Hong Kong or other places to avoid service of process, dissolving their companies and reopening them under bogus names. You may think that these situations cannot be happening in modern times in this country. I have two current cases where this is happening now. The bottom line for these owners of companies is to protect their enormous wealth at the expense of gravely injured or damaged victims. And America's biggest corporations help these greedy people evade responsibility.

In the end, I believe that my clients will prevail. I, and the other lawyers representing the injured, will continue to fight for our clients. But the love of money, the root of all evil, is a formidable opponent. With excess money, comes excess power. It is hard to fight against the power of too much money, but not impossible.

Excessive money is seductive and is likely to corrupt. It is not the plaintiffs' lawyers who are hurting others to maintain possession of billions. Corporations are not people, no matter what the Supreme Curt may say, they can be the means by which greedy people circumvent decency to line the pockets of its greedy masters at the expense of the health and wealth of living, breathing humans. It is that which we must combat.

Let's Hear It For The Misfits, The Ones Ready To Buck The System

2011-10-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

I grew up in the late '60's/early 70's and those years affected me enormously. When I was 15 years old, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. At the time of the Kansas City rioting I had not yet understood the significance of his death. Within the next few years, though, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War protests shaped who i was to become.

When my son started junior high school, at the annual parent-teacher meeting, the principal talked about nothing except the stupid rules, girl's skirts were not to be more than 2 inches over their knees, no students in the hall between classes, etc. I leaned over to my 12 year old boy and whispered, "Don't be afraid to question authority." It may or may not have been a turning point in my son's life, but that moment was significant to me.

This week Steve Jobs, a man of my generation, two years younger than me, died. He exemplified what a brilliant misfit could be when we he questioned the status quo. That Buddhist vegetarian is beloved and mourned by all of America, perhaps the world, for his creativity and innovation. Steve Jobs pushed the envelope. He didn't waste time conforming to society's expectations, he changed the world.

This week i have also been thinking of one of my client's, a whistleblower. As a result of her refusing to delete the truth from a medical record, she, a single mother, was fired. My client could not come up with the rent after her termination and she and her kids are on public assistance searching for shelter. She's a fighter. I am humbled by her and others like her. I want to show her that what she did was right and I pray I can do so.

Today we are supposed to have protests in Kansas City. The protesters here have been swayed by those protests on Wall Street and other places in this country. Is this a real movement? I don't know, but there is momentum. I have seen how one voice can make a difference. We are in a time now when we need to hear the voices of those who challenge the status quo. Let's hear it for the misfits, for they have the courage to make a difference!

What makes a person a "good" client?

2011-10-02T03:31:00.000-05:00

Lawyers, like other professionals, talk about "good clients.". Usually, the lawyer means a good client is someone who follows the lawyer's instructions. It's nice to be listened to and respected, but that is not what makes a client "good."

I have had so many "good clients" in the last 28 years. My definition of what makes a client "good" is much more expansive. The good clients whom I have represented (which comprise the bulk of the clients I have represented) may be scared, inarticulate, with a mind of their own. They may not be perfect on the witness stand, they may have traits I have difficulty with, and, yes, at times they may disagree with me. Those characteristics don't negate a client's value. In fact, I represent Whistleblowers who, by nature, buck the status quo. I like that quality that makes some of my clients turn into rebels most of the time.

Here are some of the qualities that I look for, and find, in prospective clients:

1. A desire for justice, not revenge.

At times my clients are so angry that, at first, they want revenge. However, most of the time they can distinguish between justice and vengeance. Those seeking vengeance are rarely satisfied. They must let go and seek justice.

2. The courage to go forward.

I have represented so any courageous people and I am humbled by the association.

3. Compassion for others, whether it be others whom they want to prevent from experiencing the pain, disrespect, and humiliation or family members they want to protect.

4. The insight into their strengths and weaknesses.

No one respects someone who claims he or she is always right and will not admit to making mistakes or having faults.

I have learned much from the wonderful people I have represented. Rarely do my clients ask me how much their case is worth. They care about the justice of the situation and making a difference. They hope when they get paid, that they have made a difference and that the money paid to them will prevent someone else from being hurt.

It is not easy to be a whistleblower or to complain about unlawful discrimination. I am blessed because I gain so much from the brave souls who I represent. I realize that I have rarely thanked them for teaching me how to act with dignity through true adversity.

To them, I say, "Thank you. You're the best."

In Memory of a Little Girl

2011-09-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

My husband's 13 year old cousin died today. She had suffered from debilitating seizures for most of her life. Her grandmother posted the following on Facebook:

"Thank you everyone for your prayers, love and assistance. I pray that in Amanda's memory people (especially children) have awareness and compassion for people that are different. Teach your children to say hello to a child in a special needs class rather than make fun of them or ignore them. They are the most loving children in the world. They are special, but in the most delightful way. As soon as I know arrangements, I will post. We so appreciate your prayers and hearing from so many people (even those we don't know personally)."

My heart goes out to Amanda's family. I am at a loss for words....

Our Crazy Civil Justice - Brave, Committed and Patient People Needed

2011-09-19T00:28:00.001-05:00

Most of my clients are worried about going to trial, and with good reason. Being a party to litigation which culminates in trial is not pleasant for either side. It's easiest on the lawyers. Some lawyers think it is their duty to be mean and nasty and others, probably most, get a kick out of rattling the other side. Knowing what I know about how these things go, I would think long and hard before being a party to a lawsuit. I like to think I would sue, if there is a grave injustice, but I know the emotional perils of trial.

I try to tell new clients what to expect in litigation. I refuse to allow lawyers to treat my clients with disrespect in depositions. However, it's impossible to tell what can happen in a trial. The other side wants to portray my clients as a liar, a cheat, greedy, with low morals. It takes a lot of my energy to deal with this and I can imagine what it is like for my clients, who have little control once the trial starts.

My goal is to find the good things in my clients, their courage and kindness, and by the time of trial I really care about my clients the same way I care about my friends and family. My role is not just to be their advocate, but also to be their protector. I am very fortunate because most of my clients display the type of courage in the battle of litigation that I have only dreamt about. It takes quite a toll on me to protect my client and be ready to deal with the other side. But, at least I have some control over the situation. I plan the strategy, ask the questions and make the objections. My client has to sit at the counsel table, displayed before judge, jury and opposing counsel, without any control whatsoever. My clients can only talk while being questioned. They must relinquish control and trust me, even while knowing sometimes our cases don't work out.

I believe that most of my opposing attorneys are fine, upstanding people, but every once in awhile, oftentimes based on comments from the lawyers, the other side will not resolve the case until the lawyers has exacted his pound of flesh. Ironically, this phrase comes from Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, and Shylock does not portray the lawyer Shylock in a very favorable light. Insteadvof flesh, some lawyers want to make a certain amount of money off the case before they will discuss settlement. Their pound of flesh is the unnecessary pounding on my clients from which they bill their time. The more time, the more unnecessary work, the more money that lines their pockets.

I long for the days before my time when lawyers just went in and tried their cases. No whorish experts, no multiple day long depositions. The way we drag out the civil justice system today is unfair. As some Supreme Court Justice one said one day long ago, "Justice delayed is justice denied." Perhaps we need to examine why the justice process is taking so long and who reaps the benefit from this delay. Can't we do this better? I think there must be a way.

I wish I could tell my clients what will happen with their case, but all I can do is guess. I don't know the future. At some point, most, but not all cases settle. I tell my clients that sometimes I feel like my job is similar to being a professional gambler. That does not give the client much solace, since I am, I effect, gambling with both their and my money.

It takes a lot of resolve to be a client in litigation heading toward trial. I admire my clients. I admire that most of them want to make the workplace a fairer place. But, darn, this is not a path for the timid of heart nor for the half-hearted. Thank God for the courage of people to do the right thing. My clients restore my faith in humanity.

Cannibalism And The Struggle Against Inhumanity

2011-09-06T15:34:00.001-05:00

I have been reading "What It is Like To Go To War" by Karl Marlantes and am struck by how much in common we have with violent warriors. The book is not just about war, it's about humanity. Obviously, warriors kill and fight physical battles, which is foreign to most of society. But the emotions, regrets and knowledge Marlantes recites applies universally to humanity.

In the book Marlantes talks about a friend of his, who, during the end of his tour in Vietnam committed an actionable atrocity. The man beats a prisoner and hangs him upside down from a flagpole. This soldier is, in all other respects, a normal, decent human being. What could make an otherwise normal person torture another human being? Marlantes explains how this one man's actions, while horrible and reprehensible are also understandable. He does not excuse the conduct, but explains it.

I have often wondered about the atrocities perpetrated in places like Bosnia, Rwanda, Nazi Germany, and the like. Who were these perpetrators, and more importantly, what made them carry put these atrocities? Were those "monster" who killed, hacked and mutilated other human beings so different from you and me. I have read books on genocide in Africa, about the rise of the Nazis and I am convinced under the wrong circumstances, a "perfect storm" if you will, any of us could become murderers. we could all become part of marauding cannibals similar to those depicted in "The Road", Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel.

What intrigues me about Marlantes' book is his lifelong struggle to understand his own behavior in Vietnam and to learn from it. He proposes methods to prevent soldiers from reverting to inhumanity. At first blush, it is easy to rationalize that soldiers act bad because war makes them bad. And, that is partly true. However, we all have darker, baser sides against which we must guard ourselves. Genocide is extreme bullying. That sounds trite, but it is true. When human dehumanize others, when humans put others down to enhance their own esteem, when cruelty is rewarded by a group, we risk inhumanity.

One part of the book really intrigues me as a trial lawyer and that is the satisfaction that soldiers may, and oftentimes do, feel when killing the enemy. Marlantes describes it in ways that remind me of a winning home run, the deciding touchdown, and the win at trial. One year, my husband and i went to a University of Missouri football game against Nebraska and I sat by a little girl in a Nebraska cheerleading outfit. She was 4 or 5 years old and instead of thinking, oh, how cute, she became the epitome of the enemy. When my rational self returned, I was scared. How could I, a grandmotherly mother of two reflect such I'll feelings on a cute little girl? At that moment, she was not just a little girl, but the enemy.

At trial, I have wanted decimate my "enemy". It's a real high to battle in the courtroom and win. It's physiological. Every night while I am in trial, I have an adrenaline crash. I live
on adrenalin in the courtroom and oftentimes in depositions. I hate to admit it, but those
highs are some of the real draws to this job. It scares me sometimes. I can imagine that instead of being a 58 year old female trial lawyer, I am a 22 year old soldier and how feeling
that rush could lead to disaster.

In our family, my kids and I all have odd little phobias, things that scare us enough we will not go to movies or read books about them. To my daughter, it is vampires; to my son it is worms; and to me it is cannibals. I never understood why cannibals have scared me so much ever since I was a little girl watching cannibal movies. Today, I think I understand why I am so afraid of cannibals. In actual fact, it is not that I am afraid of being eaten by cannibals, but that I am afraid of becoming one.

What it takes

Ahhh!!!!!

2011-09-02T13:22:00.000-05:00

Writer's block!!!!! I have been thinking about war, aggression, the meaning of life and illness. Plus spontaneity and intuition. Nothing I can articulate yet. I am reading the new Karl Marlantes book, "What It Is Like to Go to War" about war and morality. Yikes. Hope to be writing again soon.

Othello and the Practice of Law

2011-08-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Our clients are brave souls. It takes courage to buck the system and sometimes it takes a long time for justice to prevail. In my office, we handle discrimination cases on a contingent fee basis. Our jobs are to zealously represent our clients, which we do. Sometimes we go forth with cases for years, appealing summary judgment decisions, going on to try jury trials, overcoming post-trial motions, only to continue to have to fight the unscrupulous employers who change their names and liquidate their assets in order to evade justice. Sometimes it takes us 6, 7 or more years to get our clients and us paid. Sometimes we lose, and even though we advance all expense, we recoup nothing. Few people in the private sector are willing to work for others and forgo payment for years. We do. That's part of our job. We care about our clients and we work hard fo them. We feel that our mission as lawyers is to eradicate discrimination, but, too, we must pay mortgages, send our children to college and buy groceries. That's why we get paid when the clients get paid.

It is extremely rare for a client to object to this arrangement. After all, the client has no financial obligation whatsoever until we settle or win. We believe in our cases and we gladly advance our money to pay for expenses. We fiercely fight for our clients. We love our clients and at willing to work sometimes for many years on a case with no payment. Rarely, almost never, do we have issues with clients regarding fees and expenses.

It is hurtful to work for a client for years, for no pay, earn a wonderful result from a jury, then have to deal with a dishonest employer trying to hide assets only to have a client listen to a friend or relative who convinces the client that our deal is unfair to thr client I call this the Othello effect. We are the Desdemonas working hard and believing in our Othello clients when, unbeknownst to us slips in a Iago, whispering in Othello's ear that we, Desdemona, are cheating on Othello. How hurtful and disheartening. Othello and Desdemona did
not fare well in Shakespeare's play. I guess Shakespare really was brilliant and we humans are still plagued by the same insecurities and paranoia as in ancient times. How sad.

Shark Week and the Tea Party

2011-07-31T16:30:00.002-05:00

I, along, with millions of Americans, love shark week. The television screen fills with calming deep azure water, only to be shattered by the explosive violence of these terrific creatures. Those sleek, impervious monstrous devils fascinate me. The sharks, in their deep blue environs never stop, random victims in their path. Some fish and other aquatic creatures the sharks devour whole, while other victims can be dismembered. Teenage surfers are the humans who seem to fall victim to shark evisceration more than older less bold land mammals. I know people oftentimes call lawyers "sharks." Is that a badge of honor because we are fierce? Probably not, but sometimes I pretend that's what others mean when they can trial lawyers sharks. It's harder to rationalize the term "ambulance chaser," except, for me, my clients rarely have been in ambulances.

But this weekend Shark Week has a different meaning. My family has been glued to the television about the appalling debt ceiling "crisis" and the hostage taking of America. I don't even know the program I was watching, but the self-important, self-declared leader of the Tea Party in Tennesee was speaking. I immediately noticed how the guy looked like an Elvis impersonator, but obviously not during the years when Elvis looked like a non-drugged out bloated shadow of his former self. And he was the self-appointed guru or our economic policy. During his diatribe, what caught my ear was his disparaging of the alleged causes of our economic malaise. Was it entering two or three wars while lowering taxes? Was it the deregulation of the banking industry? No. Was it the greed of Big Oil? Of course not! It was that damned federal agency OSHA, attempting to insure that our workplaces were safe, or the disabled Americans who get protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act, or those lazy Americans who are out of work and have to subsist on unemployment. REALLY.

And they call lawyers sharks.

Don't Nazis Scare You?

2011-07-24T23:28:00.000-05:00

Don't Nazis scare you? Shoot, they scare the bejesus out of me. Sure they scare me because the old German Nazisvscare me because ey killed my ancestors, not much before I was born. But the real reason Nazis scare me is because, if the situation was right, with the right scapegoat and the right leader to exploit the scapegoat, we could be the Nazis. Groups can become scary. I remember a comic strip, Pogo?, which declared "We hav found the enemy ad the enemy is us."

Remember the bullies in schoolv. If their target was not us, how many of us stood up against the bullies. I am sur some of you were bully-fighters, but most of us just wanted to stay under the radar and fit in. At least that's how it was for me. My Hebrew name was Bela and in Hebrew School some of th boys would call me "belly" because I was chubby. Who stood up for me? No one. Not even me. we all just wanted to fit in.

In the 1960s and 1970s we wanted to protest the war. Protest was in. In my circles, especially after the Nazis, civil rights was in. I am glad it was. But what if we lived in Nazi Germany, coming out of oppressive inflation and World War I humiliation, wouldn't we want to listen to someone awhi told us we were special? And if we were special, buy the country was screwed up, wouldn't it be nice to have a scapegoat, someone to blame and to hate? Like those money-lending Jews who kidnapped Gentile boys to get their blood to make matzos. Problems solved. Most Germans were part of the master race and th once who weren't caused all the problems and needed to be exterminated. This group mentality was fundamentally flawed and many died in the process, but this is an example of group dynamics at it's worst.

You may say, "Oh, that could never happen here in the good old U S of A.". But could it? I think it could and we need to be forever vigilant so that forces looking for scapegoats cannot spread hate. I believe, under the right circumstances anyone, including me, could have been a Nazi. Look how we talk about illegal immigrants in this country, or Muslims, or people who hav had abortions. Some of us get all self-righteous and say they don't deserve what we have. They are different. Amercians who have been here awhile (as little as one or two generations) are different, they are special. 24 hour news station preach hatred when there are slow news days. we are not special. we have responsibility to prevent the vilification of others.

WE NEED TO BE VIGILANT. GROUPS CONDUCT CAN BE DANGEROUS, JUST LOOK AT RWANDA. One group is not morally or religiously superior to another. We are all humans on this planet, all part of the grander universe. Stop this narcissistic bullshit. I don't want to have to find out if I will stand up to the bullies. I want everyone to put the bullies in their place. We are better than that. I hope.

Intuition - The Art of Letting Go

2011-07-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Intuition has got a bad name in our society. Intuition is thought to be a gut feeling some lucky people have. Intuition is a "6th sense," a gut feeling, some kind of supernatural sense. I don't think that is what intuition is about at all. We all have the ability to be intuitive, to make the right decision in a split-second. How many times have people instructed us on standardized multiple choice tests, to go with your first answer, trust your gut.

Intuition is logic which seemingly spontaneously enters your mind before you can analyze the situation. Intuition is pre-verbal, pre-cognitive logic. The brain is analyzing the facts, along with using your empathetic abilities and understanding non-verbal clues before you can clumsily attempt to dissect the situation verbally.

Look back at any of your knee jerk reactions, your three year old child has that look on his face like he wants to step off the curb, you grab him. You don't wait until he moves toward the street. You don't go through mental gyrations and evaluate the situation, first noticing
a movement of the child's leg, then notice the direction of his gaze, then say,"what are you thinking of doing, little Spike," before you decide to grab your child. You don't have time.
You had all the observations, but made your decision before actually mentally verbalizing the
reasons.

If you had been distracted by a friend, or on the phone, you may have missed the clues to
prevent your child from stepping into oncoming traffic. Intuition requires complete
attention. If you are thinking, "I wonder if this outfit makes me look fat, oh, where should
we go for lunch, I am so mad at my husband because he left that mess," you may have missed the important clues. Mothers pay close attention to their children and pick up all of the signals. That's what "women's intuition is all about."

Any lawyers can use his or her intuition. But, to have intuition you must forgo other thought or emotions. You must be "in the moment" completely concentrating on what you are doing. If you are cross-examining someone with a checklist, reading your checklist and not listening to
the answers, your intuition will not emerge. If you ar more focused on sounding articulate and
lawyer-like, trying to impress the jurors, the judge and the girlfriend in the back of the
courtroom with your finesse and command of the English language, your ability to be intuitive
is annihilated.

To be intuitive, in life as in law, you must be in the moment. What does that mean? You must listen more than talk. You must understand the meaning of what you hear from the speakers
point of view. Your mind and gut must be free of barriers to react. You must pay complete
attention to what is going on and none to yourself or how you look or to what you are going to
say next. Intuitive requires letting yourself go.

While I certainly do not profess to be the be all and end all of intuitive lawyers, I want to give an example from one of my trials. I was cross-exmining the human resource executive about the way she conducted an investigation. She was defensive and obstinate in insisting her investigation was complete. Then, all of the sudden, she fought back tears. I was listening and watching. My next question was,"Would you have liked more help with human resources?". "Yes," she sighed. I asked how many people she had to help her and she replied three people
in human resources for 29 offices in 9 states. She looked relieved that I understood her
dilemma. She wasn't the bad guy, the company that really did not care as much about
preventing discrimination as it cared about profits was the bad guy.

In yoga, my yoga teacher says the hardest pose is the corpse pose, where your task is to let go, to meditate, to clear your mind. Cultivating your intuition is like savasana, you must
let go. It's hard for lawyers, and people, to let go and trust in what will happen. But, to
use your intuition, let go, you must.

What It Takes to Be a Plaintiff - Hot Coffee, Sluts, and Other Fallacies

2011-07-11T12:40:00.000-05:00

Every time I pick a jury, I ask the same questions:

1. Are there two many lawsuits?
2. Are verdicts too high?
3. Do you believe that people should get money for emotional distress?
4. Do you believe juries should award punitive damages if warranted?

The insurance industry and corporate America has done an excellent job of disseminating the mistaken view that lazy, unethical people are running to the courts to cash in on big sums of money for very little effort. In almost every trial a person on the jury panel brings up the McDonald's coffee case as an example of juries gone wild. Te wildly help perception that America is filled with lawyers bringing frivolous cases is just plain false. I challenge everyone reading this blog to watch the HBO documentary movie, Hot Coffee, the Movie. I challenge those who thinks juries are running wild to do some research on what average verdicts are and what federal judges are doing to even moderate verdicts. Read about the people who go through years of ligitation, and even if they win, get nothing, because the company folds to avoid paying the judgement or declares bankruptcy even if it is solvent.

In cases I have handled, my clients have had to endure gross indignities merely to exercise their constitutional rights to redress and a jury trial. Here are some of the humiliating questions asked of my clients:

1. When did you first have sex?
2. Where did you first have sex?
3. Have you ever had sex in a movie theater?
4. Did you and your boyfriend who never worked for your employer videotape the two of you having sex? Is this that video?
5. Have you ever had sex with someone of the same gender? (That was in a car wreck case where a drunk driver hit my client and hurt his back.)
6. Were your children born out of wedlock?
7. Tell us about all of the times you have been married (in a slip and fall case with a broken ankle).
8. Wasn't the company just joking with you when the supervisor called you the "n" word?
9. Have you ever smoked marijuana (in a discrimination case).
10. You've had emotional problems before, haven't you, since your son has ADHD.
11. Have you ever had an extra-marital affair?
12. Wasn't it just a joke when nooses were hanged in the break room?

How many people have the drive and determination to go through the humiliation of ging forth with a lawsuit such as this? I represent those brave souls, but I doubt whether I have the courage to go through this degradation myself.

Most of my clients, when they come to see me, do not say , "How much money am I going to
get?". Most of my clients say,"I want to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else." I am proud to represent he pele I do. They are some of the real American heroes.

For the 4th, Celebrate the 7th (Amendment, that is)

2011-07-04T14:14:00.000-05:00

I love the 4th of July. I love fireworks, summer and independence. Heck, I live in Independence. The only other worthy Missouri town, by name, is Liberty in Clay County. Of course, most people I know probably think I should be living in Cass County in the significantly named town of Peculiar.

But, I want to talk about what makes our country great, and to a great extent that is because of our Constitution. My family came here because of the first amendment, religious freedom, after being persecuted in Nazi Germany. We hear a lot about the first amendment, and of course, the second amendment makes a lot of news. Most of the Bill of Rights are extolled as virtuous Ten Commandments-like rules. But little attention is given to the seventh amendment.

The founding fathers stated the following in the Seventh Amendment: "In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. ”. That means, regular citizens are entitled to a jury or their peers in civil disputes. The purpose of the 7th was to make sure the government, namely the judges appointed by the sovereign, did not abuse it's power. The 7th is another check on the power of government, just as the three branches of government are.

Let's embrace the 7th for the 4th. Who knows how safe cars and prescription drugs would be without the 7th. Without the 7th, sexual harassment in the workplace might be commonplace, as it was in the 1960's, and we probably wouldn't have airbags in vehicles. We live in a time where the individual is important, almost as important in government as the almighty corporation. Maybe we are working towards a world where peoplevare afforded dignity, respect and safety. We wouldn't be here if large corporations had their way. Hurray for the Seventh Amendment, which allows us to even the playing field.

Living Now - Happy Father's Day

2011-06-18T20:08:00.003-05:00

We don't know why is going to happen tomorrow. When I spend my time worrying, most of what I worry about does not come to pass. I spend more time in distress about things that never happen. The fear of adversity is worse than experiencing adversity. In fact, adversity gives one a chance to learn and grow. Worrying about adversity seldom has this benefit.

Live like every day is your last. Remember those you love and what they have meant to you. That is immortality.

Thank you, Dad. I miss you, Hyman Solomon Jaben. I miss you, too, step-dad, George Davis Wells. Happy Fathers Day.

The Courage of My Clients

2011-06-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

I am sitting on my deck under an umbrella, smelling the trees, grass and flowers and feeling the breeze against my skin. I am tired, but it feels good sitting put here in the 75 degree weather with the sounds of my wind chimes and the breeze flowing through the leaves. The dogs are out here, too, running up and down the steps to the deck, running along the fence to claim their male dominance over the treed plot of land that is our backyard.

Today, I started re-reading the beginning of the novel I had begun before trial prep. Even though it has only been a couple of weeks, those weeks were so packed with my intense concentration and focus on the case, that the memory of the novel seems to have simply fallen out of my brain. I swear my mind has a finite ability to store data, and I keep overloading it's memory. If my brain were a computer, it would be an old model and I would need a new hard drive.

I keep thinking of my client and of how brave she is. When I meet my clients, they have been damaged and it is gratifying to see when their personhood can be restored. When most of my client embark on the path of fighting for their civil rights, I doubt that many really envision how intense the battle will become. Some are simply not up to the task, because the battle for dignity and respect can become vicious.

Money and power can offer great appeal to those who are willing to sell their souls and take
up the banner for the greedy and powerful. And it is against these bastions of power and greed that my clients are forced to battle. I am surprised each time the battle becomes so ugly and so inspired by the client who has the courage to do what is right. I am still disappointed when I see adversaries whom are basically good people but who are overwhelmed by
the material things that the powerful have to offer. There are many lawyers whom I respect who ultimately reject the lure of the powerful. I guess it is not up to me to judge, and I know I am being judgmental. I, too, have represented corporations and insurance companies that I do not now respect. And I represented them with absolutely no qualms. I am glad I have rejected that practice now, but I should not belittle those caught up in making a good life for their children and family.

It is hard, though, to see my decent and kind clients be unfairly attacked. Usually, in the end, justice prevails and my clients are made stronger through the adversity. I am made stronger by representing these noble people. Are the defense attorneys made stronger? Representing the greedy and powerful did not help me. I wonder if it helps others.

Interesting

2011-06-12T16:37:00.000-05:00

I have not posted on my blog nor checked the traffic in the past couple of weeks because I was getting ready for trial. I have been in trial for a week and am continuing into next week. I was shocked to see how my blog interest has increased in the past few weeks. If it is jurors, which I am sure it is not because they are following the court's order to refrain from Internet research, please follow the court's order. If it is opposing counsel or the opposing parties, I hope you have found what you were interested in finding. If it's just the general public, I hope you enjoy.

I will be back posting more regularly when this trial is finished. Tune (or log) in then.

The Morass

2011-05-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

What compels humans to harass and ridicule others? Are bullies made, or are they born? Why are people so angry?

When I started to write this piece, just a few days ago, I intended to write the answers to these questions. I planned on regaling tales of insecure bullies, beaten down men and women who foisted their aggression on unsuspecting sweet souls. I hoped to write stories of the triumph of courageous victims of unjust discrimination over their misguided oppressors. But sitting here now in Starbucks writing this while I wait for my daughter to finish her shift, I just don't feel it.

What makes people act mean? Why was Hitler so evil? What drove the Hutus to annihilate the Tutsis? What causes inhumanity, injustice, indecency? Why are humans so flawed?

I don't know and it seems like too much effort right now to think about.

What should I write?

2011-05-21T23:50:00.000-05:00

I have considered various topics about which to write:

1. How human nature, bullying because of insecurity and self-loathing, create sexual harassment, racial harassment and other forms of civil rights claims.

2. How the legal profession, our legal system, and society would benefit from considering and practicing compassion.

3. What makes trial lawyers tick?

4. Examples of how litigants have helped encourage civil rights in society.

Got any other ideas? Let me know.

Do We Really Want to Privatize the Justice System?: Ethical and Constitutional Problems With Arbitration

2011-05-06T10:26:00.001-05:00

In more and more cases I see employers requiring prospective employees to sign an agreement to arbitrate employment disputes, including discrimination cases. This is problematic on several fronts. There inherent conflict of interest issues for arbitrators, no matter how fair and just they may be.

Arbitrators are paid by one or both parties, unlike judges and juries who are paid by taxpayers. If AAA rules are followed, the arbitrator is mainly paid by an employer. And the money an arbitrator is paid is not insignificant. The arbitrator's pay is dependent on repeat business or word of mouth. Some law firms, usually representing large employers, use the same pool of arbitrators. Lawyers use who they know and trust as arbitrators and mediators. If the result of the arbitration is not to one lawyer's liking, he or she will not use the arbitrator again. I know of a partner in one large law firm who declared he would not use the arbitrator in the future in a case where our client was fired from a big employer and our client won the arbitration. That situation potentially cuts into the income of the arbitrator. And arbitrators can rarely keep both sides happy. Regardless of how ethical and moral a person is, it is hard to ignore that increased income comes from increased business, and that usually means repeat business. Large businesses and large firms are at an inherent
advantage in arbitration for that reason.

Plus, it seems that Courts increasingly ignore the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution which guarantees a jury trial to those in civil cases. The Seventh Amendment is ignored all of the time in federal court, in summary judgment decisions, in decisions on remittitur and in arbitration enforcement against people who usually don't even realize that they have entered into an arbitration agreement and the implications of that agreement. There is a reason the founding fathers believed so strongly in disputes being resolved by trial by a jury of ones peers. The Seventh Amendment is part of the Bill Of Rights, yet it is so frequently ignored or disregarded. We hear a lot of discussion about the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, yet no discussion regarding the fundamental American right tova jury trial in a civil case.

A poor African-American employee who has been harassed or fired because of his or her race may be at the mercy of a lawyer/arbitrator repeatedly hired by the company that fired him. That was not the intent of founding fathers who guaranteed those with civil claims the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers. I hope that the big business of arbitration is substituted by the Bill Of Rights during my career. This trend toward arbitration is frightening.

Proud to Be A Missourian: Gov. Nixon's Speech on SB 188

2011-04-29T16:56:00.000-05:00

Today, Governor Nixon brought tears to my ideas, as he vetoed SB 188. Here is his speech:

April 29, 2011

Gov. Nixon vetoes Senate Bill 188

Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here at this historic old courthouse, at this historic moment for Missouri.

It’s good to look out and see an audience that reflects the true diversity of our state.

We stand on hallowed ground, in the footsteps of Dred Scott, whose unsuccessful pursuit of freedom began here in 1846. Eleven long years later, after many trips to the courthouse, the decision of the highest court in the land, denying him his freedom, became a clarion call to end slavery.

As history teaches us, the path of justice is a rough and winding road. Abolition. Emancipation. Reformation. All three took root and blossomed forth from the bitter soil of partisanship and prejudice.

Today, much progress has been made in courthouses across this land, in the pursuit of civil rights and justice for all people. But much remains to be done.

A broad coalition of people of good will and good faith has gathered here today as we continue on our journey.

You are the people who have marched, and sacrificed and stood up for the mistreated… the forgotten… the forsaken … and made progress.

You are the people who fought to throw open doorways and tear down barriers so that people with disabilities could live full and independent lives.

How I wish that Max Starkloff and Jim Tuscher, two giants in the fight for disability rights, were still with us. They accomplished so much in their lifetimes:

Access to sidewalks, buildings and public transportation;
Access to housing;
Access to education and communication.
We fight on today, so thousands more people with disabilities can take the “next big step” … into the workplace, where their skills and talents can shine.

You are the people who changed public opinion and private dreams, so that little girls could reach the same goals as little boys, and become surgeons and fighter pilots, supreme court judges and CEOs.

We fight on today, in the spirit of Sue Shear and Harriet Woods, to shatter glass ceilings.

You are the people who fought for equality in education, housing and hiring, inspired by champions of social justice like Minnie Liddell, Norman Seay and Frankie Freeman.

We fight on today for economic justice for all.

We stand together today, to defend the principles that will forever guide the conscience of our state and our nation: that all people have certain unalienable rights…and that all people are entitled to equal protection under the law.

These principles are at the core of the Missouri Human Rights Act, which has come under attack.

On paper, the Missouri Human Rights Act says that it is unlawful to discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, or disability.

But it is more than words on paper.

It is a living covenant … and a call to action.

It calls us to treat all people with dignity and respect.

It calls us to root out discrimination wherever it festers in our state.

It calls us to stand up and speak out, so that whenever the powerful victimize the powerless, justice will surely follow.

It calls us to defend those who have suffered the humiliation and reversals of discrimination, so that they might find redress in our courts of law.

We must answer the call.

That is why -- today -- I intend to veto Senate Bill 188.

Senate Bill 188 would undermine key provisions of the Missouri Human Rights Act, rolling back decades of progress in protecting civil rights.

The bill would make it harder to prove discrimination in the workplace, and would throw new hurdles in the path of those whose rights have been violated.

That is unacceptable.

It is not who we are.

And it stops here.

Missouri is a state that welcomes all people, and believes that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.

That means we have an obligation to put a stop to discrimination and dismantle barriers of prejudice wherever they exist -- in the workplace, in housing or in the public square.

It is no wonder, then, that this bill has drawn fire from this broad coalition of people here today, including:

the Anti-Defamation League;
the American Cancer Society;
the AARP;
the NAACP;
Paraquad;
the AFL-CIO;
the League of Women Voters;
the legislative Black Caucus;
the Missouri Association for the Deaf;
PROMO;
the National Alliance on Mental Illness;
Missouri Centers for Independent Living;
Missouri NOW;
the Urban League;
Missouri Association for Social Welfare;
the Whole Person;
our communities of faith;
and many, many more.
Each of us may see the face of discrimination from a different vantage point. But its ugliness is unmistakable in any light…from any angle.

Making it easier to discriminate against people with disabilities or cancer, against women, older workers and minorities, against those of different faiths and ethnicities, will not help us create jobs or be more competitive in a global economy.

The stakes – and the opportunities - have never been greater.

Because we live in a world where the boundaries of time, distance and culture are collapsing at the touch of a finger. Technology allows us to bear witness to the triumphs and tragedies of the human condition - from tsunamis to revolutions - in real time.

We will create new opportunities, and solve mankind’s most pressing problems, as allies.

And true allies are those who can see beyond the surface of what makes people different, to reveal the substance of what makes people the same.

The more we learn to understand and respect one another, the more practiced we become at treating everyone with compassion and dignity, the better citizens of the world we will become.

To thrive in a global economy and uphold these values that we share, Missouri must be a state that continues to move forward – not backward - when it comes to civil rights and equal opportunity.

For decades, the Missouri Human Rights Act has proved its strength - as both sword and shield - protecting the rights of people like Natalie and Tim.

Natalie had worked for her employer for six years when she was told there was a cutback. Her job had been eliminated. She had been given good job evaluations, raises and bonuses. She was in her 50s, with a child still in college. Her employer told her it had nothing to do with her performance – just economics.

But shortly after letting her go, her employer replaced her with a 24-year-old worker with less experience and fewer qualifications. She sued her employer under the Missouri Human Rights Act, and the case was successfully resolved.

Tim is a man who is developmentally disabled. For nearly 18 years he held the same job: washing dishes at a hotel. Tim lived with his mom, a busy registered nurse. His earnings helped keep their household afloat, and paid for his medical care.

He was named employee of the month twice, got regular pay raises for good performance, and was never disciplined for poor work.

But that all changed when he got a new boss. The new boss started writing Tim up for things Tim didn’t understand… and couldn’t read. Eventually, Tim was fired.

So Tim and his mom, who now had to work two jobs, appealed to the court that Tim had been discriminated against because of his disability. The new boss tried to get the lawsuit dismissed. But under the Missouri Human Rights Act, Tim was protected from unfair treatment.

Protecting human rights is not a matter of politics.

It is a matter of principle.

That is why today I am vetoing Senate Bill 188.

With just ten days left in this legislative session, there are those who will be putting all their energy and effort into overturning my action.

We must lock arms and go forward from this place to block those efforts. This is the time to make your voices heard in the halls of the Capitol.

We must work together to impress upon all Missourians, the importance of protecting human rights and human dignity.

We will not cede one inch of ground it has taken decades to gain.

Because in that time, we have come to see that the civil rights of all, are inextricably bound to the rights of the few.

The path of justice is a rough and winding road.

Our journey is not over.

We will not turn back now.

We will not rest while racial slurs poison the workplace.

We will not rest while faith is the target of bigotry.

We will not rest while people with disabilities are exploited and excluded.

We will go forward – together - to accomplish the unfinished work of our state and our nation.

Related to this page
Press release: Gov. Nixon vetoes Senate Bill 188

Faith, Flaws, and Gandhi

2011-04-24T16:39:00.001-05:00

Easter is a very interesting holiday for me, a non-Christian. Easter is the most holy day in the Christian religion, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, probably the most noble human in history. My son calls Jesus the first hippy, for his teachings including his directive to "turn the other cheek." the religion of my youth called for "an eye for an eye." Jesus helped the poor and the forgotten. He was a peaceful rebel who gave his life for the greater good.

I much prefer the way Americans celebrate Easter over the Christmas is observed. For Easter, Christians traditionally go to church and honor Jesus. Christmas is much more commercial and has become a retail extravaganza where every American, whether Christian or not, is expected to "celebrate" by buying things. Everyone takes a holiday from work or school on Christmas, regardless of his or her beliefs. Easter is on Sunday, a traditional non-working day, and believers go to church.

I am Jewish by birth, and I believe that Jesus' teachings are profound. I do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah nor that we will ever have a real Messiah. Jesus is a hero to me. If we all adhered to his teachings, the world would be a much better place, where humans cared and took care of each other without judgment and without the motivation of greed or power.

But, the world is filled with the greedy and the power-hungry. We humans are profoundly flawed. Sometimes, I am profoundly disheartened by how flawed we all are and how hard it is for those without power to be treated fairly. And I think the root of my disillusion stems from my realization of how flawed I am, how, at times, I am motivated by greed, or power, or
fame.

Jesus appears to have been perfect, with no flaws. I don't know if he really was, but that's how the story goes. Who would not state that Jesus, as portrayed through history and the Bible, is not a hero to be admired and emulated. I admire other heroes, including Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and my grandmother. I know that humans are flawed, but I look to the traits I admire in these people and ignore the rest.

Today I researched Gandhi, probably the person whom I revere the most. I really have not read much about Gandhi, outside of his quotes that resonate with me. Gandhi's quote which most resonates with my law practice is "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." He was the pioneer of non-violent dissent, mobilizing a nation to wrest British control of India. I saw the two-part movie with Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. He fasted for causes, he said profound things, he was not afraid to die and he changed a nation.

So, today, for the first time, I decided to research Gandhi's life on the Internet. It was just a passing curiosity during an idle time today and I was not prepared for what I found. Gandhi, to my naive chagrin, was not the perfect soul I had imagined. When he was a young lawyer in South Africa fighting for the civil rights of his fellow Indian expatriates, he wrote extensively about the "inferiority" of the native Africans. I knew, from the movie, that Gandhi forsook sexual pleasures as a way to strengthen his moral strength. What I did not know was that Gandhi, apparently to cure his sexual cravings, slept naked with young girls. Ths discovery caused one of his stenographers to resign from Gandhi's service in disgust. Gandhi believed that Jews in Hitler's world should have non-violently rushed to the gas chambers and refused to leave Germany in protest to the Nazis. If my grandmother had donr that, I would not ever have existed. Gandhi was not perfect.

I know I am profoundly flawed, but I irrationally thought Gandhi was perfect. I have accepted that Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and my grandmother Oma were human. I accepted that Gerry Spence, whom I had admired for years, is flawed. I had not, however, ever even considered that Gandhi was less than perfect. In a way, Gandhi represented my Jesus.

I must resign myself to the knowledge that we are all flawed and I know my goal should be to accept people with all of their flaws. There is no daddy figure out there who can solve all of the world's problems.

Feel Like a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Thank You Tennessee Williams)

2011-04-18T00:33:00.002-05:00

It is hard sometimes to have a job where you have little idea of what the future will hold. I don't know how my client's cases are going to turn out. My goal is to provide comfort and closure, hopefully with a sense of satisfaction and purpose. I want my clients to look back at their case and feel that going through the process was worthwhile. I hope they get justice.

When I started as a lawyer, I was idealistic and thought that most people get justice in the end. I am not so sure of at now. I hope that most people get justice, but I feel increasing pressure to fight injustice. Sometimes, when I hear about or encounter greed, bigotry or pride, it seems as though the battles become interminable and insurmountable. I fight, figuratively, all the time. I wonder if I am up to the task against lawyers and corporations with unlimited resources and I grow weary.

Plus, I usually cannot predict the outcome of a case. I do not know how a trial will pan out, under he best of circumstances. I take contingent fee cases, since my clients are not big corporations and cannot afford to pay hourly billing. In some ways, I am a professional gambler, providing little income assurance to my family and dependents.

Sometimes, I question why I have chosen such a hard job. But, deep down I know why. Our cases can, and oftentimes do, make a difference. At the very least, we may be able to bring back the happy smiles our clients freely gave before the mistreatment. We can bring back our client's faith in the justice system and restore their hopes. Sometimes we make an even greater difference, like helping to bring down an arrogant and ineffective mayor. Sometimes the job is glorious, with adrenalin highs and sound sleep. More often, I am fearful of what might happen if I miss some fact, misread some juror, or simply do not successfully related to my client and the jurors. And then there is e frustration of the length of fighting these fights, sometimes taking 7 to 10 years. Oftentimes, after these extended wars, the resolution is sweet, but not before some of our clients have been forced to file for bankruptcy.

Obviously, the outcome of cases is constantly changing, as is the rule of law. Being a trial lawyers burns out many a fine lawyer. The stress of fighting with unknown consequences, putting your client's well-being and your own livelihood on the line creates fear. For most lawyers, the risk-taking behavior necessary to be a trial lawyer takes too much of a toll on an advocate.

I went with the son to see the movie, "The Conspirator," about Mary Sarrat and her trial as a confederate conspirator for the plot to shoot Lincoln and the vice-president and secretary of state. The case was tried by a military tribunal to deprive those accused of the full spectrum of their rights under the law. I felt that old burn that comes when in a trial where I feel the judge's rulings are wrong or I cannot relate to the jury. Sometimes I tire so of the fight.

I am getting ready for trial now and frustrated on several other cases. I know I should just take one day at a time and be spontaneous. Just one time when my client, who is courageously depending on me asks what I think will happen, I wish I could tell him or her what to expect and just let it go. I can't because i don't know. This job is a weird way to spend my life. Sometimes, I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof, and when that happens the best thing to do is just breath.

Righteous Rebellion

2011-04-10T13:49:00.000-05:00

After practicing law for 28 years, I am heartened that I hear many clients making the same statement, "I really want to prevent this (harassment, discrimination, retaliation) from happening to someone else." It is that shared resolve so common among my clients that humbles me and makes me proud to represent them. Sometimes, after hearing the rhetoric of the Tea Partiers, after seeing Big Business impose it's agenda of greed in state legislatures and in Congress, after fighting companies for years at a time to simply get justice for an injured client, I wonder if I am helping my clients make a difference.

Today, I read my Facebook page and saw a posting from Eric Vernon, a friend and fellow Kansas City lawyer. He posted an article from Yes Magazine, which I find to be profound. In this article, the author talks about people who courageously make a difference. Perhaps there is hope.

I am frustrated now because I have a client who is kind, caring and good, and gravely injured because of the carelessness of an international corporation which is under-insured, which may have procured the insurance through fraud, with principals who evade justice by liquidating companies and setting up others. This company is the epitome of greed. Each insurance company, defendant and defense attorney is evading responsibility for this wonderful man's grievous injuries. I still believe that most people are good and just and that justice will prevail, but it may be several years and I grow frustrated.

Then I hear and read about the shenanigans in Congress, where some members are hoping to
enrich the coffers of the wealthy on the backs of the poor. I grow frustrated with the
Missouri Legislature and the attempts to restrict human rights. I grow impatient and want a peaceful righteous rebellion to combat the greed inherent in many corporate cultures.

It is hard to be patient. I try to be empathetic and I fail. But, even with all of the evil in the world, in places like Darfur, Rwanda, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, I must believe in the fairness and goodness of people and I must be patient. Gandhi once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Thank goodness for courageous people such a my clients who fight the dirty drops in the ocean.

Through the Eyes of A Child

2011-04-07T18:01:00.002-05:00

My husband and I both love children. Our two kids are grown, and we have no grandchildren, just grand-dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love those dogs. But, it is nice being around human kids, too, so we both volunteer at local schools. Mike helps out at the kindergarten class taught by our wonderful spinning teacher, Angela, when she is not spinning or leading yoga. I have a 6th grade Youth Friend, a girl with whom I have lunch around once a week.

My friend is great. She reminds me of what it is like to be a kid. She is energetic, honest, in your face, and fun. She struggles with math, has arguments with her friends, and is just a kid. I saw her this week. I bring my iPad, because she likes to play games on it. Sometimes she goes to music sites, and, like a responsible youth friend, I tell her no R rated lyrics. She looks sheepish, and clicks to the G rated songs.

This week I showed her that I had downloaded Angry Birds. We played that awhile and then she, and I, got bored. She looked at another app I had downloaded. It's just an app with pretty light shapes with colors. I have always liked pretty, shiny things, but I don't spend much time with the app. My friend got on it. She was entranced.

She directed me where to place my fingers so that we could see the lights twirl in swirling
motions. She showed me how if we tapped the screen, different brilliant colors erupted in
bursts of light. We placed our fingers in different places on the screen and watched how the colored streams of lights bounced off each other and were drawn to places as if they were magnetized. We had fun! More fun with lights and colors than I ever thought possible, and I have also thought lights and colors were fun. My friend taught me new ways to see and move the colors and create beautiful images.

I always fancied myself as a fan of sparkle and glitz, but never have I appreciated the colors and lights like I did on Wednesday. It was fun and we were in the moment. I learned a lot from my friend. She's cool.

What it Takes to Write a Blog

2011-04-05T21:39:00.002-05:00

I have been thinking about what qualities it takes to publish a blog. Most people don't , not yet. Bloggers have certain traits, that I suspect bloggers share in common:

1. A love of writing;
2. A desire to have others notice what you read;
3. The belief that you have something important or entertaining to say; and
4. AN EGO.

I include myself in the last category, unfortunately. There is something cool about writing and knowing other people read what you write. I hope I have something of significance to say. I hope I honor my clients. I try to pretend that I don't have an ego, but I do.

What is ego? I don't mean in the Freud sense. I think that people, like me, who draw attention to thmselves do it for a variety of reasons, but high among those reasons is the hope for approval from others. A big ego is really just insecurity, a need to be heard, or read. That may be what propels others into politics. Maybe not. The American psyche is a difficult thing to understand and owning up to one's flaws is even harder. We are all flawed. I loved flawed people. Thank God I am really flawed. Long live flawed people - sometimes from them comes greatness. Unfortunately, that is not the case of me, the author of this blog. But, it is fun to write and have others read anyway.

Foray into Fiction - What do you think?

2011-04-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

“The jury has reached a verdict.” I look up at the courtroom deputy, a woman of about forty with coal-black,, obviously dyed hair. In her wrinkled yellow blouse, she walked to me and smirks. Maybe she isn’t really smirking at me. I don’t know her, maybe she just looks that way at everyone. (Please, please, please, let this be my imagination! Don’t be so paranoid.) My chest tightens as I respond, “Okay.” She turns around and rushes back through the courtroom door, her scuffed pumps clicking as I watch her retreat. I arise to find my client, Mary, and notice that my hands quiver and my knees feel weak. I inhale deeply and walk down the hall where Mary sits with her mother.
“We need to get back to the courtroom. They have a verdict.” I try to walk at a steady pace toward the imposing courtroom doors. I don’t want my client to see that I am nervous. Bad form. She and her mother walk behind me, Mary grabbing her mother’s arm, as I swing the heavy wooden door open and hold it for them. People are gathering. I open the gate to go to the counsel table, with Mary behind me. Mary’s frumpy mother, Alice, dressed in polyester slacks and a blouse, lumbers over to the spectator pews.
The counsel table is fairly cleared, since I have a compulsion to neaten things up while waiting for a jury, not a normal inclination on my part. The only time I can recall the need to straighten up is while waiting for a jury. Weird. I search under the table in a file box for a pad and pencil and find them neatly by the exhibits. As I set the pad on the table, I steady myself. I look at Mary and try to smile. Mary looks scared and right now I don’t want to comfort her. That’s why I had her bring her mother. I just want this moment to end. I feel dread, and I can’t shake the feeling.
The judge, looking somewhat disheveled enters the courtroom through the door from his chambers, straightening his long, black robe. “Let the jury in.” The deputy moves to the door leading to the back hallway and slowly opens it. The jurors are lined up behind the door, ready to be seated. I look away. I don’t want to see their faces. I don’t want to know if they are looking at me or my client. Frankly, I wish I were unconscious, or anywhere but here.
Everyone seems to move in slow motion and my heart pounds. The judge bellows, “Have you reached a verdict?” A middle-aged man in a tie in the second row, holding papers, responds, “We have, Your Honor.” The courtroom deputy moves toward the man, her arm outstretched. Everything is moving in slow motion. It reminds me of when I was in a car wreck and saw the other car running the light and heading toward me and I could not move in time. I felt paralyzed. Slow motion. She takes the papers to the judge.
The judge examines each page. It’s almost as if I can see his lips move. Hurry up, dammit! My heart cannot take this much stress. I avoid turning to look at Mary. I don’t want to be strong for her right now. Just read the damn verdict!
“On the claim of Mary Gutierrez against Morris Trucking Company for sex discrimination, we the jurors find in favor of . . .” Here, the judge pauses. I don’t know why they do that. Too much television courtroom drama. Read it, dammit. The judge finally states, “Morris Trucking Company.”
The cannonball tears into my chest and I unsuccessfully try to steady myself. Instead, I physically recoil. I hope no one saw that. I take a deep breath and turn to Mary, her eyes filled with tears. “I am sorry,” I whisper, hoping my voice does not betray how devastated I feel. What else is there to say? Sorry, I fucked up that cross-examination, sorry you didn’t tell me of your affair with your co-worker, sorry I am just not a good enough lawyer. Sorry. I hate feeling sorry. And angry. Here comes the anger. I hate feeling anger. Push that back down.
The defense counsel, all three of them, are high-fiving each other with the human resources director of their client. I wonder who will be buying their drinks tonight. God, I don’t want to shake their hands. He’s coming over, shit! Rage is building. Stem it, now!
“You tried a good case,” the asshole four-eyed bald, ugly excuse for a human being says with his right arm extended. “Congratulations,” weakly escapes my lips as I look at my shoes. What a wimp I am. Mary is right behind me. He turns to Mary, “It was nice meeting you. I am sorry about the circumstances.” He extends his arm to her, she looks at it and turns away. What do you expect, asshole. You fire her ass because she complains about her boss grabbing her ass, and you fucking get away with it. I make myself smile at him and turn away to talk to Mary.
“Mary, we can appeal. We can talk about what we can do next.”
“I don’t want to think about that now.” She starts to cry. “Thank you for representing me. You did a good job.” No, I didn’t. Don’t tell me that. I sucked. I failed you. “Thank you,” I respond. I want to get out of here. I need to leave.
I gather up the boxes and place them on the dolly. Mary starts to help. “That’s okay, I can get it.” Her mother opens the gate to come and help.
A look of pain flashes across her face. I feel horrible, now I’ve made her feel bad. I need to get out of here. “I’m leaving, Mary. I will call you next week.” I give her one of those patting embraces, the kind of hug you give when you feel uncomfortable. I can’t help it. I need to get out of here. As I exit the courthouse door, I feel as though I can finally breathe for the first time in a week. I inhale deeply and leave.
It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when I was enthusiastic, when I believed I could change the world. I thought I could make a difference, at least I deluded myself into thinking I was making a difference. I was a child of the Sixties, for crying out loud. Civil rights mattered, protesting the Vietnam War mattered. Nothing today seems to matter much. I need a drink.
CHAPTER 2
I drive back to the office. Thankfully, everyone has gone for the day. My desk is a mess, piled with unopened mail. There are piles of papers and files all over the glass table. It is overwhelming. I roll the boxes into the office and leave them inside the door. I turn out the lights and make my way over to the couch and collapse. Now I wish I could cry, just to get the emotional release, but no tears come. No relief. I need to divert my thoughts. I don’t want to obsess about the trial, nor about the unpaid bills. It’s too much. I don’t want to call anyone or talk to anyone. I don’t want to go home. I want to not exist. I lay here not knowing what to do. The panic begins to seep into my brain and then quickly sweeps all over my prone body. I bolt up. The panic will pass, I know it will pass. Please, let it pass. I don’t want to think about the rent, or the mortgage or the college bills. Right now, I need to escape. But, I don’t. I drive home.
I push the button inside my car to open the garage door, knowing that Ava, my dog, my little dog pound mutt, will hear the door lifting. Oh, to have the life of a dog, at least a modern day dog. I would gladly be neutered or spayed in exchange for a carefree existence with free food and shelter and people who care about me, but expect very little from me.
I have always been the one to take care of others, ever since my parents’ divorce when I was twelve. My brothers were younger and depended on me, and I didn’t let them down. As long as they needed me, I felt loved and important. Derek is now an architect in L.A., and I see him every year or so. He never married and lives the good life, sports cars, international vacations, a beautiful house. Not the same brother who, at age six, would grab my leg to prevent me from going out to play without him. Back then, I was his world. At least Eli lives closer. He is just one year younger than me and lives in Omaha. He and his wife Bev run a sporting goods store. I don’t think Bev likes me much. Bev, who openly declares she hates lawyers, always adding, “Except you, of course,” has not aged well. She is down-right frumpy and nasty. I personally think their store would do better if Bev would get off her fat ass and exercise and lost some weight. It’s poor marketing to have a sporting goods saleswoman looking like she spends half of her time in the kitchen or in front of a television. I think Eli gives in to her just to keep the peace. I am afraid that Eli is not very happy. Intellectually, I know that I am not responsible for his unhappiness, but I hesitate to admit I feel guilty about him, like if I had been a better sister/mother, he would be content. I really miss him Eli, especially our long talks as teenagers and young adults. Eli and I had all of the same teachers in school, I just had them first. We were both in the accelerated classes, but we were two very different students and even different children. Eli was shy and quiet and excelled in Math and Science. I was the loud-mouth poet. When we were kids, I tried to protect Eli from bullies, but I guess I didn’t protect him from a bully wife. I am afraid Eli chose Bev because she reminds him of me, and I really do not want to think about that.
I always do this, when I feel bad, I start to think about all of the bad things in my life. Sometimes, I just work myself up into a panicky dither over as little a disappointment as a gain of two pounds. Losing a trial warrants a much greater hysterical reaction than a mere weight gain. If I’m not careful, I could end on the edge of a cliff tonight, if only in my imagination.
As I open the door from the garage to the kitchen, there is Ava, wagging her auburn tail and running in circles because she is so happy to see me. I love Ava because she loves me unconditionally. It wouldn’t matter if I was a bag lady, Ava would love me just the same. I am glad that Hannah, my daughter, who is now 24 years old, begged me to adopt Ava eight years ago after Hannah volunteered at the animal shelter in her “I like animals better than people” period. Although, Anna is living in her own apartment and in graduate school, faithful Ava remains.
“Hi, baby!” I exclaim as Anna, wildly encircles me enraptured by my mere presence. I rub my hands all over her fur, “Here’s Mommy’s baby! Come here, baby! Mommy needs a hug,” and I grab the 65 pound dog and encircle her in my arms as she licks me with her long wet tongue. This feels good, although I know the feeling is fleeting.
“Joan, are you home?” my husband Steve calls out. I grunt. I know I should be nicer to him, but I am not in the mood to be “nice’ and here finally is a way for me to vent my frustration, although I don’t want to consider the long-term consequences of using Steve as a punching bag.
I walk into the kitchen, a large room that could be beautiful if I refinished the cabinets and replaced the cheap green flooring and out-dated counter tops. The room needs a complete scrub, but I don’t want to think about that.
“How is the trial going?” Steve calls from the family room where a noisy basketball game is blaring from the television. I hear the obnoxious “AAAAAAAH” sound the time clock makes and the cacophonous crowd cheering and my head begins to hurt.
“Can you please turn that crap down! I can’t even think.”
“What happened with the trial?”
I look at Steve and say, “We lost.”
“You lost?”
“What? Do you think I am lying? I said we lost.” Damn, I am such a bitch. Just like Bev. I walk to the bedroom, as Steve follows in his tee-shirt and jeans. At least he has a shirt on today. It drives our son Max crazy when Steve walks around the house shirtless, with the slightest beer belly coated in silver strands of hair hanging over his belt.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I really don’t want to talk about the trial right now. I just need some time.” I lay down on the bed which Steve had made that morning. The room is blue because I was in my “blue” period twenty years ago when I decorated the bedroom. I like sage green now, but don’t have the energy nor the means to redecorate. Steve mumbles okay and walks out of the room as I slump on the bed.
Being alone was probably a bad idea. Laying on this bed, unprotected by distractions, is dangerous. My mind goes to the many improvements needed to the house. I need a maid, too. Well, we still have a healthy mortgage on the house because of all of the refinancing we have done to keep the firm afloat during the last 25 years. There is little equity, if any, in this house. That leads me to my real panic. The firm is having such a horrible year, with this loss and others, and, for the first time in a long time, we’re behind in our bills. I assumed the Gutierrez case would settle before trial, but I had not anticipated a stingy defendant and a stubborn client. Now she has nothing. She is not the only one with nothing. Forty percent of that settlement was supposed to be mine. If I keep thinking about this, I am going to induce a panic attack.
The phone in the bedroom rings, and I freeze. What if it’s another bill collector? What do I tell them? I am not going to answer. Let the credit card companies sue me. I imagine the embarrassment when my colleagues notice the lawsuits. Well, it could be worse, I tell myself. No one’s sick. My heart begins to pound and I feel jumpy. I grab the keys to my car and walk out of the bedroom.
Steve looks at me quizzically and says, “Where are YOU going?”
“I am tense and need to go out for awhile. Maybe I will find a movie.”
“Do you want to talk?”
After thirty-three years of marriage, I can find nothing to say. “No, I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I leave, drive around and come home and go to bed. Chapter 3
(Go through 1970s and 1960s)
I remember when I was thirteen years old and everyday the major television stations, then all we had was network tv, reported campus riots protesting Vietnam. It was 1966 and I paid little attention to the news, especially since my mother had announced she was remarrying and I felt personal dread that seemed so much more important than what was going on in the world. It seemed logical to me that if these college kids did not agree with their college’s policies, they should just transfer. Life was pretty much black and white, good and evil. There were cowboys (good) and Indians (bad). John Wayne fought the bad guys in the movies, and he was one of us, one of the good guys, I did not have moral dilemmas, I was a kid. When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, I was fifteen and had little conception at that time of the man’s importance nor of the upheaval of traditional white middle class life in the Midwest. On the day of Dr. King’s assassination, school was canceled and I hoped to be able to ride the bus downtown and go clothes shopping. Little did I understand that there were race riots and it was not safe to ride the bus. It was two years before it dawned on me that there were more important problems in the world than those of my family’s.
But when the realization came, it hit me hard. As I got closer to college age myself, I began to identify with the protestors, both against the Vietnam War and against racial bigotry and discrimination. I became aware of the world around me, even as my mother’s, and my, world at home was disintegrating. As my mother survived the beatings by my gentile, redneck stepfather and finally succeeded in extricating us from her marriage, I began to recognize real injustice in the world, both at home and abroad. I knew what it felt like not to fit in. In fact, my mother and my grandmother fled Nazi Germany to escape religious persecution, which would have ultimately led to their demise had they not left. My mother had not fit in in Germany, she did not fit in with the semi-affluent Jewish crowd in the Midwest of the United States, and she did not fit in the Bible Belt in Middle America. I did not fit in either. I was Jewish in a Christian land, my father gone, my mother being abused, and I was chubby, the kiss of death for society’s acceptance of an adolescent girl. The late 1960s and early 1970s was a good time for misfits, me among them.
Being a misfit is what led me to this job, always fighting, always the misfit, always in turmoil. No fat cat lawyer career for me, no sir. Beating the establishment in a case almost made me feel accepted, sort of. But living in a constant state of battle creates battle fatigue, even for those of us who have never handled a weapon more sophisticated than our tongues. Chapter 4
It’s been six months since I lost the Mary Gutierrez case. She and I decided not to appeal, because we would probably lose. At least that is what I told her. We probably would lose, but that used to not stop me. I had a really good record in the Court of Appeals until President Bush was elected and revamped our judicial system with his appointments. It’s almost impossible for a plaintiff to win an appeal in federal court now. I used to fight and win a lot more. I was the warrior for those courageous souls who fought against the big corporations or the bullies in power. Now, I am so afraid myself. I could have gone into a more lucrative area, but I have never been practical.
I am nervous about the appointment I have this afternoon. I am much more likely to take on a tough case if I meet with the prospective client in person. It is hard to reject someone with whom you have spent time. I think I am depressed, and that realization depresses me. It paralyzes me, really. I am not functioning well, but I still have a lot of responsibilities.

A Side of Plaintiff's Lawyers About Which No One Talks

2011-03-24T23:05:00.019-05:00

Lawyers get a bad rap, and oftentimes it is deserved. There are lawyers out there who have a hard time connecting with their clients. Their primary goal in practicing law is either to make money or to massage their egos, or more likely, to do both. I imagine that those are some of the lawyers who complain about how hard it is to be a lawyer and every other lawyer is a shark that wants to hunt you. What an unsatisfying way to make a living. And, in the end, if the goal is revering the almighty dollar, what a sad, shallow existence.

Perhaps part of my motivation in writing this is because I have not yet found the case with the Golden Goose. Perhaps my words come from a sense of envy. Maybe a little. Especially when we have had a dry period, defendants going out of business to avoid paying a judgment or declaring a bogus yet legal bankruptcy to avoid a trial date. Both issues have arisen this past year. Yet, I can say I love what I do and I have had a spectacular life. I feel much satisfaction in understanding and caring about my clients and in working hard for them. Sometimes I can actually see that my client is enriched by bravely going forward to help herself and others. That is satisfying.

I had lunch today with a lawyer I did not know. In our conversation, he told me about a case he pursued for a poor man who had been injured by a mammoth company. This lawyer loves his client and took 72 depositions pursuing the case. The judge ordered a master for depositions, since the case became contentious and the master's fee was $70,000, in addition to the other expenses. The lawyer hired 4 experts,to the 1 expert hired by the defendants. As trial approached, the lawyer and his wife mortgaged their house, maxed out their credit cards, sold their furniture and jewelry, to finance the case. If the trial did not go well, the lawyer
and his wife planned to file for bankruptcy one month after the trial, so that the defendants wouldn't know they had caused his financial demise. Fortunately, he never had to file for bankruptcy, but he and his wife were ready to make that sacrifice for the case.

If I needed a lawyer, I would want one like my lunch companion. When he talked about his client, he spoke with love. He, and obviously his wonderful wife, care. There is no greater satisfaction as a lawyer than making a positive difference in the lives of clients whom you have grown to love. I think I will go see if I can find some more jewelry to hock to keep afloat until I get paid. It is worth it to have a few cash-flow problems in exchange for being blessed by being able to love this wonderful work - representing courageous people who demand their civil rights. I may mot be rich, but I am living a glorious life.

Courage in Politics: Doing the Right Thing Even If It Is Hard

2011-03-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

This particular blog is intended for the legislators considering SB 188 and HB 205. I imagine that people don't run for public office unless they have a desire to seek the public good. It is inn the context of seeking the public good that I write this.

There is one very satisfying aspect of representing people in employment discrimination and whistle-blower cases, representing a person who has found his or her voice, a person who taps into the braver part of his or her personality. Many people have beefs about something at work, but it is only a select few who we represent. It is only a select few who have been wronged legally and have the fortitude to go forward. We represent people who have real cases for illegal discrimination and whistleblowing. The ones we choose to represent have courage because it is hard to buck the status quo, to complain to or about ones boss, to rock the boat. I have always appreciated how courageous our clients are because going forward in a case like this is not easy. Discrimination and whistleblower claims are special because people who display the fortitude to go forward oftentimes go forward because they don't want what happened to them to happen to someone else. Discrimination and whistleblower cases help society; they help each one of us. If it had not been for the courage of Rosa Parks, who knows where the Civil Rights movement would have gone. If Dr. King had not taken up for Mrs. Parks, this might be a different society. If someone had come forward to report Bernie Madoff, American society would have been better.

That leads me to SB 188, which limits the rights of people to go forward and bring cases of discrimination and whistleblowing. The opposition claims, "We aren't eliminating these cases, we are just making them conform to federal standards." However, that statement is not true. Many courageous people will not be heard if this law were passed. There are three parts of the bill which are troublesome - the elimination of individual liability, caps as low as $50,000, and passing a written whistleblower law that curtails the common law.

As an example of what this bill will do, I want to tell you about a couple of cases I have had. I represented two women at a small not-for-profit business who reported that their boss was stealing from the company and downloading pornography to his computer. This business had fewer than 6 employees and was run by a board of directors. The boss was using the company credit card to purchase Christmas gifts for his family, buy electronics, etc. One woman had been with the company for 26 years, the other for 18 years. Their terminations were emotionally devastating to both women, as they had put their hearts and souls into their work. The first complainer was fired, the second was forced out. The board of directors, all physicians, condoned the conduct and refused to take action except to authorize our clients terminations. We had to sue the executive director individually. The board of directors took no action against the executive director until after the second trial. Finally, years later, he was fired. By then, there was a judgment of $350,000 against the company and $200,000 against the executive director. It was not until the second case settled in the middle of trial for $500,000 that the board took any action. My old boss used to say, "People do the right thing if you make them." The case got publicity, membership in the association which was the company faltered. The company almost went under, but it did not. When the membership learned of what the board had condoned, they were upset. The problem was management and the board and what they had condoned. Because of the lawsuits, the problems were fixed. The executive director was fired, the board began to undertake their fiduciary duty and the company was saved. If their had been a $50,000 cap on compensatory damages, which is what the new bills provides, this case probably would not have seen the light of day. The litigation took years. There is no provision for attorneys fees. I fear our clients would have thrown in the towel. The company was made better because of the lawsuit.

Likewise, I have represented women and girls in sexual harassment cases. There are not near as many sexual harassment cases today because of the brave women who brought cases before and helped companies realize that sexual harassment training is essential. Now, sexual harassment occurs in fast food restaurants with young girls. They are young and naive. They could be anyone's daughter. Without the ability to name individual defendants, these companies fold and the owners open under a different entity's name. Women are traumatized by sexual assaults and with this bill, women and girls will have little recourse. The companies fold and open under a different name. The only way to get accountability is to keep the individuals in as defendants.

I know our jury system is not perfect, but it is the best system in the world. Missouri businesses are important, but not at the expense of our civil rights. Plus, I know of not one company that has decided to locate in another state because of Missouri discrimination laws. I am asking each of the Legislators, when deciding how to vote on these bills, to dig deep and vote your conscience. It is hard to buck the system, especially when there is pressure to vote one way. This issue is important. Please be proud of your vote.

The Rise and Fall of a Mayor: An Illustration of the Importance of the MHRA

2011-03-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

This is the story of how one woman brave enough to fight with Missouri discrimination laws on her side kept her boss a one term mayor. Ruth Bates filed a lawsuit for harassment, race discrimination and retaliation against her boss, the mayor of Kansas City, his wife and the city. Without her courage and without the teeth of the Missouri Human Rights Act, Mayor Funkhouser probably would have been reelected, since every first term mayor in Kansas City has been reelected for the past 90 years or so.

The federal discrimination statute, Title VII, did not get teeth until 1991, when Congress amended the law to allow for jury trials and provided that a jury could award compensatory and punitive damages. Missouri's human rights law got teeth in 2003, when the Missouri Supreme Court decided that Missouri employees had a constitutional right to a jury trial in discrimination cases. State ex rel Diehl v. O'Malley, 95 S.W.3d 82 (Mo. 2003). Even though Title VII and the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA) prohibited unlawful discrimination in the 1960's, it was not until recent times that either of these statutes have had meat. Since 1991 sexual harassment has practically been eradicated in the workplace, employers have discrimination policies, equality in society has improved.

The MHRA provides that individuals can be sued and that punitive and compensatory damages are unlimited against employers, including government employers. These parts of the statute are currently under attack in the Missouri Legislature. This story shows the importance of enforcing the Missouri statute as it now stands.

Ruth Bates is a quiet, hard-working college-educated woman living in Kansas City, Missouri. Before the mayoral elections in 2007, she receives a phone call from Mark Funkhouser asking her to help him get elected as mayor. Ruth knows Funkhouser because he worked for the city with her husband and their children had been friends. She agrees and works hard on the campaign and asks for and receives a job in the Mayor's office. Unbeknownst to Ruth, when she hires in to work at the mayor's office, she is earning less than one half the salary of any of the male employees hired from the campaign to work in the office. She also discovers that the mayor's wife, who has the mouth of a sailor, is the de facto supervisor of the office. Ruth is African-American and the mayor's wife, on multiple occasions, calls Ruth, "Mammy," and makes crude sexual remarks. Ruth complains of the pay disparity to her actual supervisor, files an EEOC charge, and is ultimately fired from the Mayor's office and told she can be a clerk in the water department. Ruth files a lawsuit for retaliation and discrimination.

The problem with suing an elected official is that there is no one in the government who is the official's boss, except the voters. Generally, voters don't have access to what an elected official is really like and whether or not the elected official breaks discrimination laws. Without discrimination lawsuits, and an informed and active press, an employee who has suffered discrimination has little recourse against an elected official. In Ruth's lawsuit, we (I was her lawyer) sued not only the City of Kansas City, but also the mayor himself and his wife. Under the proposed amendments to the statute, neither the mayor nor his wife would be in any way personally liable for their actions.

Ruth's initial goal before filing a lawsuit was to get fair pay in light of the salaries of the men, and to get the sexual and racial comments to stop. Ruth did not want to work with the mayor's wife. There is a Missouri constitutional provision prohibiting nepotism. But, this illustrates the dilemma of having constitutional provisions or statutes which are not enforced. The city council passed a volunteer ordinance, which was declared unconstitutional. However, no one would raise the nepotism issue who had the ability to do so (e.g. prosecutor). Ruth asked for very little money, just for a raise and to have the mayor leave his wife at home. The mayor stated he would not leave his wife at home, so the case was not settled.

Ruth tried informally to talk to the mayor's wife to try to make the mayor's office a place she could work. The meeting became very contentious. It was clear to Ruth her only alternative for justice was to file a lawsuit. We asked the EEOC for a right to sue letter, which is required to file a lawsuit, and began to prepare the lawsuit in Missouri court. But, even before we can file the lawsuit, the mayor fires Ruth from the mayor's office.

I filed the lawsuit. This lawsuit was different than any other lawsuit I have ever filed. The Mayor had no boss and no one to tell him to comply with the law. He and his wife were angry to be a part of a lawsuit. The press got hold of the petition and published it in the paper. Almost every deposition was published by the Kansas City Star. The real bosses of the mayor, the voters, were being educated about what was going on in the mayor's office.

Ruth Bates was never one to seek attention or publicity. She shies away from the press. It is hard on a private person to have so much notoriety. It takes a great deal of courage to go forward and Ruth and I had no idea what Ruth was to encounter. The depositions are a matter of public record. In my opinion, the depositions did not go well for the mayor and his wife. I negotiated with the lawyer representing the mayor's wife, who had an insurance company that was paying for the defense, and settled with her for $45,000. She went on record stating how horrified she was with the insurance company because she claimed she had done nothing wrong.

The City is obligated under its charter to pay for its exposure and the exposure of the City. The City's lawyer approached me about settlement and we agreed on an additional $135,000. Ruth was satisfied, because she stood up for herself and others and wanted to get on with her life. All we needed was the approval of the City Council. Normally, this was an easy process. Not with this Mayor. The Mayor had so antagonized the City Council, that they would not approve the settlement because they were angry at what he was putting the City through. The City Council, in a three hour televised open council meeting told the mayor that if he was so adamant he and his wife had done nothing wrong, they wanted a trial. The Mayor repeatedly entreated the Council to agree to the settlement.

I was frustrated that it looked like Ruth was being used as a political pawn. The Mayor's individual lawyer, who was paid by City taxpayers, came to me and said that the Mayor could pay $35,000 out of his own budget and Ruth could receive a suitable job within the City and we could still proceed against the City. My frustration with the politics of the City was nothing to compare to what happened next.

As soon as the Mayor thought he was personally off the hook, he showed his true colors. The Mayor issued a vile and defamatory press release against Ruth, stating she had said horrendous things about the Mayor's opponent, that she had really wanted to borrow money from the mayor, etc. Ruth was crushed by this retaliation. The Mayor did not stop there, though. He then, along with his lawyer, called a press conference covered by all local news stations and the newspaper stating horrendously false things about Ruth. The Mayor's hubris and vengefulness was his downfall. Rather than having the effect the Mayor had hoped, the public, i.e., voters, rallied behind Ruth. There was no settlement with the Mayor, no job in City Hall for Ruth.

We prepared for trial. On the eve of trial, the Mayor finally produced items from his computer which we had been asking for for months. One item was particularly illuminating. The Mayor's wife had decided to write a book about their time in the Mayor's office. In that manuscript, which read like a diary, the Mayor's wife poured her hatred of Ruth and other employees in the Mayor's office. This manuscript was published in the Kansas City Star. In fact, the document gave rise to another lawsuit by another employee who was fired by the Mayor. That lawsuit was settled days before the primary.

Armed with the depositions, the documents, and the manuscripts, Ruth was ready to go to trial. The day before jury selection was to begin, the City Council approved an offer to Ruth of $550,000. This combined with the $45,000 received from the Mayor's wife, amounted to $595,000. Ruth Bates initially would have settled for less than $20,000, a pay increase, and for peace at work.

The Mayor and his wife have consistently declared they did not do anything wrong. In February 2011 the Mayor ran for reelection. He didn't survive the primary. For the last 80 or 90 years, Kansas Citians have always loved their mayors. Every mayor, until this recent election, was voted in for a second term. Not this mayor. The mayor's "bosses," the electorate, spoke. Still the Mayor and his wife believe they have not done anything wrong.Mayor interview 2/11 with Chris Hernandez

Why is this important now? The Missouri Legislature has bills before it, HB 205 and SB 188, which will cripple the MHRA. Even though civil rights laws have been on the books for over 50 years, they did not become effective until they got teeth. In 2003, the MHRA got teeth when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that citizens had the right to jury trials under the statute. Now, the proposed amendments, want to do away with individual liability, take away punitive damages against governments, and limit damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages to anywhere between $50,000 to $300,000. If these amendments had been in effect, Ruth Bates would not have got justice. Perhaps, the voters would have reelected Mayor Funkhouser. The result would not have been good for the citizens of Kansas City.

New Job Opportunity - Puppy Mills.

2011-03-10T23:05:00.002-06:00

List: nela_aff_kc Sent by: Bratcher, Lynne J Search

I posted this on my Show-Me Fairness blog;

You know the saying, "When God closes one door, he opens a window. The Missouri Senate passed the untenable discrimination bill today. I fear the time when racial slurs and epithets can fly freely in the workplace; where women and girls are sexual fodder for their older more powerful bosses; and when older workers suddenly are turned into Soylent Green, and there is nothing I can do to help. SB 188 passed the Senate today.

But, no worries! When someone gives me lemons, I will make lemonade. Fortunately, the Senate did not restrict its efforts to negate voter issues only to employment law. Even though the public voted just last election to eradicate puppy mills in Missouri, the much more intelligent and wiser members of the State Senate decided to unravel the voters' wishes. It looks like puppy mills are back!!!! I gotta find me some mangy old dogs to sell. This is a blessing in disguise. The puppies don't require much food, space or cleanliness - that's right- LOW OVERHEAD. And who says that not every cloud has a silver lining?

Anyone in need of a skinny, undernourished, dog with kennel cough and fleas? Low, low prices!!!

Reprinted from Sho-Me Fairness.

Missouri at a Crossroads: HB 205 and SB 188 - Do Legislators Really Want to Mess With a 50 Year Old Civil Rights Law?

2011-02-27T11:18:00.003-06:00

Living in the state of Missouri has always made me proud. We're the "Show-Me State," home of Harry Truman, the man who integrated the military, among many other honorable decisions. Our discrimination laws have been fair, letting Missouri juries filled with Missouri citizens who have the Show-Me wisdom decide not only whether a worker has suffered from unlawful discrimination, but also what the monetary compensation should be to try to make that worker whole.

And Missouri juries get it right most of the time, using their innate intelligence and common sense. Plaintiffs lose something like 40% of the time. Punitive damages are awarded in rare cases only. Missouri judges follow a law that was passed almost 50 years ago during the Civil Rights movement. As the song from"Oklahoma" goes, "Everything's up to date in Kansas City ..." (and St. Louis, and Springfield, and Columbia and everywhere else in Missouri.)

Now, some in the Missouri legislature want to strip Missouri workers of some of this state's hard fought civil rights. The proposed changes do the following:

1. Throw Missouri citizens into federal courts because judges in the federal courts have consistently thrown cases out of court. By eliminating individual liability in the law, non-Missouri corporations, who benefit from the change, can force all lawsuits into federal courts headquartered in Kansas City or St. Louis, providing no local control for Missouri citizens.

2. Require caps on damages modeled after caps in federal courts that were set and have not been adjusted since 1991, some twenty years ago.

3. Gut workers' ability to bring necessary whistleblower cases by subjecting them to the caps and requiring unreasonable proof. This law is proposed and backed by one particular company because it's lawyers are upset that a verdict was rendered against the company some eight years ago.

It's hard to talk about these changes in the abstract, so I'll try to illustrate the impact these changes would have on one of my clients.

My client is a 17 year old girl who at age 16 went to work at a restaurant to help save money for her dream to attend art college. She did not know what danger she was walking into when she accepted the job. Her supervisor was a serial sexual molester. The owner of the restaurant knew that the supervisor had raped a girl who was previously employed, but kept the molester supervising young women. My client, young and naive, knew nothing of her supervisor's past problems. When he sexually molested my client, my client did not know what to do or to whom to turn. She did what most young girls do, nothing - because she was so afraid of losing her job and that she would be blamed as somehow enticing this pervert. Finally, when it got to be too much for her to bear, she told the owner's daughter, who said, "Oh, he's done this before." When the bosses found out, they told my client not to tell anyone. Ultimately, several months down the road, she did tell her parents. It was not until my client's parents found out that anything was really done.

My client's parents took their daughter to the police station and this supervisor ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor battery, with a suspended imposition of sentence. No registering as a sexual offender, no jail time, and his record is totally cleared as if he was never found guilty as long as he gets through his probation .

In the meantime, my client has suffered as a victims of sexual assault do. If this law passes, she will be limited in damages to $50,000 to repay her for the attacks because of the size of the company; she will not be able to sue the man who molested her for sexual harassment since he is an individual; and she may have the entire case thrown out of court because of peculiar twists in federal law.

Is this how Missouri really wants to treat it's citizens? I know businesses do not like to get sued. No one likes being sued. But, the citizens of Missouri have the intelligence and common sense to decide when someone has been done wrong. Our jury system is the underpinning of our democracy. In Missouri, we need not distrust our citizens to do the right thing.

New Orleans - a city of contradictions

2011-02-21T09:51:00.000-06:00

I am in the New Orleans airport waiting for my plane to take me home. I have been at a wonderful seminar on Psychodrama for Lawyers, put on by my friends Joane Garcia-Colson, Fredilyn Sison and Mary Peckham. It was an innovative and creative experience. However, I want to talk about what I saw in New Orleans while we were there.

This is the first time I have been back to New Orleans since Katrina. The French Quarter is filled with revelers, people celebrating and letting loose. Wherever you walk down Bourbon Street, music fills the air. I am imagine some people engage in behavior that they later regret, and sometimes hardly remember. In two candy stores, women bickered over who was next in line, making snide comments to other candy buyers. The streets are filled with people, some sober, some not, some pushing baby carriages.

However, on Sunday, Joane, Fredi, Mary and I have an experience that I will not soon forget. Joane wants beignets, so we wait while she stands in line with scores of others. After she gets the fried treats, we decide to walk along the Mississippi River toward our hotel. It is a little chilly, with the wind blowing. We are bombarded with smells, most of which are unpleasant. Homeless-looking men sit on benches, playing musical instruments with guitar and horn cases open at their feet for donations. The music is beautiful, but most people, including us, do not stop.

As we walk along the sidewalk, past a Holocaust memorial, a man, shabbily dressed, runs up to us, shouting, "Help! Help! Please give me a phone. She's having a seizure and I need to call 911!" People are ignoring him.

I look over to where he had run from and a short, squat African-American women is trying to leave the sidewalk, as she sways and stumbles and sits. Across from her is an older man, named Jesse, shabbily dressed with a long white beard and yellow mustache, drinking a large can of beer.

Joane immediately responds, "I'll call 911." She pulls out her phone and starts talking into the receiver, "We need an ambulance here at Riverside Park by the Holocaust Museum. No, the Holocaust Museum. Holocaust. H-O-L-O-C-A-U-S-T. By the aquarium. In Riverside Park. By the river. In the park. Near the aquarium. Holocaust museum. I don't know the address. . . In Riverside Park."

In the meantime, the man who accosted us goes back to the bench where his friend is. "Tell them her name is Marsha and she is 52 years old. She is having a seizure. She is not taking her Dilantin."

He grabs Marsha and holds her down on his lap. "Marsha, I am not letting you go. You need to go to the hospital. You are my best friend, Marsha. I am going to take care of you. I know what I am doing. I was in the 82nd Airborne. I am not letting you go. You are my best friend and I love you."

Marsha, an African-American woman dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, struggles to free herself. "I d-d-d-don't want to go to the hospital. They hurt me." She holds up her left arm, where there is a large bump. "Th- th-ey couldn't get the IV in."

The man holds Marsha securely. "Marsha, you have to go to the hospital. You made me promise that if you had a seizure that lasted three minutes, that I would get you to the hospital. This seizure was more than three minutes. You are my best friend and I am going to take you to the hospital."

Jesse chimes in, "Marsha, you need to go to the hospital."

A tourist couple tells us that they will go to the end of the street and flag down the ambulance. A man in a golf cart drives up, and looks at the the scene and tells the homeless people, "You all are going to have to leave."

We shout at the man, "She's having a seizure, she's sick. We called an ambulance."

The man in the golf car looks at us, obviously tourists, and it dawns on him this situation is different, "Oh, oh, okay. Is this the woman who's sick?"

We wait. I am afraid to leave because I am fear that the homeless woman will be blown off by the paramedics. Marsha is still struggling to free herself from her friend. When she talks, the right side of her mouth is drooping. The man, a white man in is 40s wearing a ball cap with a fleur de lis over his shaggy dishwater brown hair holds Marsha tight. I can't help but notice how blue his eyes are and how, under different circumstances, he might be a handsome man, this war veteran who lives in the park.

The paramedics arrive. To us untrained tourists, it doesn't look like Marsha is having a seizure, it looks like a stroke since the right side of her face is drooping. The man tells the paramedics that Marsha is not on her medication and Marsha struggles to free herself.

The man again Marsha, "I am not going to leave you. You are my best friend. I will make the paramedics take me with you."

Marsha relents and they strap her to the gurney as Marsha surrenders. The man follows close behind, holding his belongings in a green recyclable bag. "I won't leave you, Marsha." And they disappear into the ambulance.

I , and my friends, have been standing on the bench making sure that Marsha gets the attention in the park that she needs. Jesse remains seated, looking like a homeless Santa Claus and engages Joane in conversation. I turn around and see the sculpture of a Menorah behind us, to signify the Jews killed in the Holocaust. The scene is overwhelming and I begin to weep.

3 SISTERS!!!! and Psychodrama

2011-02-12T13:50:00.001-06:00

I am so excited that I am going to be on the staff of the 3 Sisters seminar next week in New Orleans! The seminar is about the use of psychodrama as a trial lawyer. The 3 Sisters, Joane, Fredi and Mary are all certified psychodramatists. I am also a certified practitioner The guru/mentor of psychodrama, at least for me, John Nolte, will also be there.

I was first exposed to psychodrama in 1994 when I attended the Trial Lawyers College. That summer changed my life. I was in John Nolte's group at the Trial Lawyers College. I watched as a group of strangers had the courage to become vulnerable in front of each other. In psychodrama, instead of describing events of one's life, they are put into action. The method is extraordinarily powerful, as a tool for trial and prep, and as a way to discover oneself. My exposure to psychodrama, initially through the Trial Lawyers College, jump started me onto a path of self-discovery, both professionally and personally.

Through the years, as a lawyer, I began to take risks that broadened my horizons and helped me succeed for my clients. I left the firm I was working at and started my own, with my law school friend Marie. When a judge seemed to be biased against me or my client, I assertively confronted the judge and his attitude changed. I don't think I would have had the courage to do that before 1994. I became a much better trial lawyer. I got my personal life in order. I may have made these changes had it not been for psychodrama. Who knows? But one thing I am sure of, psychodrama was the impetus.

When the time came, after the 3 Sisters left the Trial Lawyers College, I eventually resigned from the TLC staff. I left mainly because I perceived unfair treatment of one of my friends. I also left, because I felt that I had become stagnant. I did not feel that I was growing creatively. I will forever be grateful for what I learned through the Trial Lawyers College, but it was time for me to leave. There are many people who are innovative and creative on the TLC staff. It is a very good program and I recommend it unhesitatingly to others. My friend Rafe Foreman, one of the greatest trial lawyers I have ever seen in action and a fabulous teacher, is moving to Kansas City to take over as a professor at my law school to make their trial advocacy program one of the best in the country. And, I bet he will do it, too.

Now back to 3 Sisters. The 3 Sisters are taking what they learned over the past decade and continually improving upon the past. These three women are three of the most innovative, brilliant and compassionate people I know. They wrote a book, Trial in Action, about psychodrama for trial lawyers. The book is superb. I am so excited because of the innovation of these women and the chance I am going to have next week to be a part of the magic. I can't wait. If you are interested in finding out more about the 3 Sisters, check out their website, the3sisters.org.

The Next Civil Rights Movement - GLBT (and it's about time)

2011-02-05T00:17:00.000-06:00

I predict that within a few short years all over America we will finally protect gays, lesbians, bi-sexual and transgender people from discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and eventually marriage. And, it's about time.

When I was an adolescent, gays were called "queers" and they rarely were open about their sexual orientation. I had a cousin that evereyone whispered was "queer" and people giggled. In high school, tough guys (probably with concerns about their own sexuality) bragged about "rolling the "faggots" at Liberty Memorial. By then, the late 1960's and early 1970's, the civil rights movement had begun, but it did not apply to anyone in the GLBT community. Nope, they were still weird, still scary and deserving of ridicule.

I look back at that time and wonder, what caused everyone such fear? Was it that kernel of attraction, or maybe that boulder of attraction the bully felt towered someone of the same sex? Was it the fear of ostracism by family, friends, or religious zealots? Was it the uncomfortable feeling that flirting would not get you what you wanted, that you might be rejected by someone of the opposite sex? Fear, fear of something different and unfamiliar may have driven this homophobia.

Whatever it was, people of my generation and older treated gays and lesbians despicably. They, we, were afraid. We were taught by our parents to fear something so different, or maybe not so different, maybe sometimes intriguing. It was messed up.

Then something revolutionary happened. My generation had children. Many of our children were dumbstruck by the attitudes of their parents to the gay and lesbian community. GLBT people were courageous and came out. They loved themselves and demanded to be respected. And views of society as a whole began to shift and grow.

That is not to say that gays and lesbians are fully accepted and free from discriminatory treatment. It is legal in most states to discriminate against gays and lesbians in most states, including Missouri. In fact, the ways some people treat gays and lesbians is sometimes despicably demeaning and degrading and we need our discrimination laws to included our gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender brothers and sisters. It's long past time. I am tired of rejecting potential clients who are treated so abominably while waiting for the law to catch up with decency. On occasion, I have found creative interpretations of the law by using city ordinances to fashion a viable cause or action. We should not have to be creative to protect our brothers and sisters from injustice.

Please write your legislators, both state and federal, to put a stop to this despicable disparity. It's time to stand for justice. Gandhi once stated, "First they ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they fight you; then you win.". It is time that we as a society make it unpopular to discriminate. We have been through the first three phases of Gandhi's paradigm. Now it's time ot win.

Don't Let Legislatures and The Judiciary Strip Us of Our Constitutional Rights!

2011-01-31T23:30:00.000-06:00

I am sick about hearing about tort "reform." even President Obama talks about the need for medical malpractice reform. What will really happen if lawsuits just went away? Will society be better off? Are lawyers and their greedy clients the problem?

Would there be seat belts in cars if no one had sued because a loved one was killed while ejected from a car and needlessly killed? Would some demented bosses be allowed to fondle and require their secretaries to give them sex if courageous women had not brought sexual harassment lawsuits? Would it just be considered "bad form" or rude if some white employees hang nooses from the ceiling in the break room to intimidate African Americans if fed up and outraged people of color had not had the courage to insist on their rights to be free from discrimination in court? I could recite hundreds, if not thousands of examples of positive social change as a result of lawsuits.

Should we let large corporations and insurance companies run roughshod over our legislatures, shower politicians with money and incentives so that they, the unliving "people" (or so the Supreme Court claims) can make their shareholders richer and more powerful while those with no money get poorer and poorer.

Is this country really just about money and power because we have a "capitalistic" society? I thought the Bill of Rights was supposed to mean something. Everyday, our judiciary and our Congress whittle away the Seventh Amendment rights of Americans, and no one even notices. The Seventh Amendment entitles Americans to jury trials. It is one of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, seemingly as important as our First Amendment right to free speech and the constantly debated Second Amendment right to bear arms. But, no one talks about the Seventh Amendment. And while no one is paying attention, we are losing our Seventh Amendment rights through concealed arbitration agreements, judges granting summary judgment or remittitur, legislatures placing caps on damages. Big business does not trust American citizens to look out for their interest. Big business thinks people, if given the power as jurors will most likely to the right and fair thing. And big business does not want a fair, even playing field.

Those of you reading this, I implore you to contact your legislators, whether state or federal and find out their views on so called "tort reform"' which is a misnomer. What these people, under the influence of big business advocate is injustice and unfairness. We have a right to have disputes tried by a jury of our peers for a reason. The jury system is the most fair and just. Make sure you let your representatives know that it's not away for them to take away your rights, no matter how much money big business pays them in campaign contributions. It's time for us to step up and insist on our rights. They can't just tear our right to a jury from us, while no one is paying attention. You must do something.

How To Be A Great Lawyer, Especially a Great Anti-Discrimination Lawyer

2011-01-25T23:11:00.000-06:00

People start law school for many reasons. I am going to address the species of lawyer called trial lawyer, specifically plaintiffs' trial lawyers, especially those of us who are paid usually by contingent fees. I will break down the different motivators that produce trial lawyers and how some of those end up representing others in discrimination and civil rights cases.

I believe there are many, many reasons people go to law school and what their satisfaction as a lawyer will be:

1. Daddy or mommy was a lawyer - if that's the only reason, not great prospects for long range career satisfaction.

2. Afraid to leave school - prognosis for satisfaction is same as 1 above.

3. Lawyers are rich (which is usually not true) - money can't make you happy forever.

4. Ego and prestige - trIal lawyers oftentimes are more egotistical. This may be enough to make some lawyers happy. It's a rather shallow existence, though.

5. Intellectual and creative stimulation - this might be enough for some.

6. The possibility of helping someone find his or her own power. This is the basis of satisfaction as a trial lawyer.

7. Realizing the potential, through trials and representing clients, of changing stereotypes and improving society. This is the most rewarding aspect of being a trial lawyer and can sustain the lawyer for many, many years.

So, what are the characteristics of a successful civil rights' plaintiff's lawyer (and by "success" I don't mean money)

A. The lawyer must know him or her self, be able to know what motivates him or her.

B. Empathy is a must. I won't explain all of the reasons here. Read the 3 Sisters book, Trial in Action or attend one of their seminars to improve your empathy and self-knowledge.

C. Learn to love your client, learn who he or she is. Know his or her wants and dreams.

D. Prepare for everything, but be spontaneous - spontaneity is only possible with preparation.

E. Empathize with jurors and even opposing parties.

F. Try your case from your heart. Sure you need to know the rules, but sincerity is what you
need to win.

G. Don't give up. Go to Plan B, appeal, keep at it, keep fighting.

If you follow this recipe, you can change the world, one case at a time.

The 3 Sisters - Trial in Action

2011-01-17T16:10:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to be invited on the faculty of the next 3 Sisters trial seminar, Trial in Action, in New Orleans from February 17 - 20, 2011. If you don't know who the 3 Sisters are, they are three brilliant, talented and caring lawyers, whose practices span most facets of law, criminal, civil, family and even trial consulting. These inspirational women, Joane Garcia-Colson, Fredilyn Sison, and Mary Peckham, have devised an effective and inspiration seminar series to make lawyers more effective, fulfilled and powerful, not only in the practice of law, but also in life, by using the principles of psychodrama and story-telling. Not only have they devised this remarkable seminar series, they are the recent authors of a book by the same name as the seminar, Trial in Action, which is a hit.

I am so fortunate to know and be friends with these amazing lawyers from different backgrounds and walks of life. Mary has a successful firm in Denver, Fredi is a federal public defender and Joane is a trial lawyer and consultant. These women are so inspirational and their talent seems limitless. Knowing them has not only made me a better lawyer, but also a better person.

If you want to improve your trial skills, check them out. I can guarantee you, you will find so much more. The3sisters.org.

The Importance of Whistleblowers

2011-01-02T18:39:00.000-06:00

Watch 60 Minutes on CBS on January 2, 2011. It shows the pharmaceutical company Glaxo paying a $750,000,000 criminal fine for mixing mis-labeled drugs that could kill people. The Glaxo manager who blew the whistle was fired. Can we as a nation afford to endanger our citizens by protecting these companies? Please watch this episode and consider the consequences, Missouri Legislature, before you give a pass to corporations engaged in unlawful and dangerous conduct. Do we really want to put people at risk? I desperately hope not.

The End of 2010

2010-12-31T13:44:00.000-06:00

Well, 2010 is almost over. We are ready for a new start. I decided to write a top ten list of things I would like to see in the upcoming year, or hopefully in the upcoming decade, at least:

1. It is unlawful in the state of Missouri to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation or preference;

2. It is unlawful in the state of Missouri to discriminate against employees over the age of 70 (yes, employers in Missouri can currently discriminate against people over 70);

3. The Missouri Legislature has the good sense to protect the rights of Missourians and reject the proposed amendments to Missouri human rights laws that benefit unscrupulous corporations;

4. The good citizens of Kansas City, Missouri refuse to re-elect Mark Funkhouser and elect someone who has the best interest of the city at heart;

5. The Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl;

6. The Kansas City Royals get better, hopefully with a new owner, and stay in Kansas City;

7. We bring home our troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq;

8. We recognize the importance of education in this country and offer free public colleges to all;

9. We pay our teachers the same as we pay our doctors and lawyers and have the best teachers in the world for our children;

10. We treat each other with dignity and respect and love our fellow creatures on this earth.

5.

Keeping Writing

2010-11-07T00:38:00.000-05:00

It's hard to keep up with a blog when your daughter decides to get married in ten weeks! I need to work to be able to pay for this wedding, which takes time and energy away from blogging. I hope to be writing more frequently soon.

Partners

2010-10-13T16:01:00.000-05:00

I am very fortunate. I practice law with two of the best lawyers I know, and fortunately, they are my closest friends. We are a partnership of three non-traditional lawyers. Non-traditional because we are all trial lawyers and we are all also mothers and wives. Few, if any, firms like ours existed when I was a child, at least not to my knowledge. Our firm is coming heading toward our sixteenth anniversary.

All of the lawyers in our firm work cooperatively. We have little ego; what egotistical behavior there is is usual comes from me. We all try cases, we all write briefs, we all argue before Courts of Appeals. When one of us has a case going to trial, another of us pitches in as second-chair. Sometimes, more often than not, the remaining lawyer takes the laboring oar on motions and jury instructions. Today, we helped Kristi get ready for her Court of Appeals argument scheduled tomorrow. Thankfully, this time our client is the respondent.

When Marie and I started this firm, we did not know what to expect. I decided to leave my previous firm and go out on my own and called, Marie, my friend and law school classmate just to tell someone. I was surprised with her response, "Can I join you?" I did not know if we could make it. We have. Kristi joined us the following year, still in law school, recommended by my mother, who was Kristi's co-worker selling tickets for basketball and theatre events. The three of us have survived ups and downs and have changed and grown. Four of our kids have been through or are in college, two have been born, and now one is getting married. We take care of each other, our clients, and our families.

We are also fortunate to have the finest staff in all of Kansas City. They have been with us for many years. I don't know where we would be without them, especially Ann who has been with me more than 25 years.

Sometimes, it just feels good to think about who makes this firm possible so that we can represent the courageous people that we represent.

Cancer and Existentialism

2010-09-12T23:52:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a strange weekend for me. It has been about a year since what my son callS "Mom's Existential Crisis At the World War I Museum." This past Friday evening started with a multi- network television program targeting the curing of cancer. I started thinking about how cancer, and death, has affected so many people I care about

This past year, cancer has affected more people I know and care about, including clients, friends, and relatives, than any year I remember. Early this year the husband/ client of another client called me to tell me that my dear, brave client had succumbed to breast cancer. Even though it was more than fifteen years before that I had represented the pair of scientists, I still heard from them even though they had left the area. The wife would tell me about her breast cancer research and I admired her determination. Ironically, it was breast cancer that was her doom. I did not expect her to die. I still grieve when I think of her and how well she treated my then eight year old daughter. They fussed over my little girl ( who is now 25) and my daughter basked in their attention. My client was devoted to her research and boundvand determinedvto find inroads into breast cancer's cure. In the end, it was not she who defeated the cancer, but the cancer that smote this brilliant, delicate woman.

My own husband's physician discovered atypical moles on his face and chest, which turned out to be skin cancer, but fortunately not melanoma. His cancer was simply cut away and he is fine, with recurring dermatologist visits and my daughter insistence that he endure another colonoscopy. However, other friends are not so fortunate. I have written about my brave clients, a married couple, who both suffer serious life- threatening cancer. They continue to inspire and awe me with their courage and commitment to each other. I learned one of my colleagues locally recently discovered she has breast cancer and she will be undergoing chemotherapy for six months while her partners who love her cover her cases.

One of my lawyer friends in another city whom I have known for many years recently discovered he, too, has a serious form of cancer. He is undergoing treatment in a well-renown hospital. I sent him an email. I was heartened by his upbeat response and his gratefulness to his
Wife and partner. All of these friends and clients exhibit courage in the face of death
This weekend i watched all episodes so far of the Showtime series "The Big C," about a woman with stage 4 melanoma who cannot face telling her family that she is dying. Couple these shows with the HBO Special Movie on Dr. Kevorkian and end of life issues keep invading my consciousness.

This leads me to my own "existential crisis" at the World War I museum last year. On the walls of this museum are statistics of how many soldiers were killed fighting this war over nationalism. My ancestors fought for the Central powers, since my relatives were, at that time in either Germany or Poland. My grandfather received an Iron Cross that I gave to my son. It's hard to get into the "justice" of the war when my ancestors fought on the losing side. It became clear to me that one purpose of war is to "cull the herds" of humans, since we really have no predators except ourselves.

I stood in the hall of the museum and thought, "What is the purpose of all of this? What is the purpose of life? We all are born and we die. How are we diffent from insects?
Life seemed so meaningless. As you may suspect, I am not particularly religious.

Within the next few weeks, I read some of Eckhart Tolle's book about living in the moment. I ready "The Art of Happiness" by his Holiness the Dalai Lama. These books reaffirmed my faith in the goodness of people and the importance of trying to lead a giving life. However, it was not until I learned of these friends and clients stricken by cancer and saw the good they continued to do for themselves, their families, and for society that I was convinced that life can have meaning, that we can make a difference. I feel sadness when I think these special, courageous people are suffering, but I have learned so much about human dignity and the sanctity of human life.

I only hope that when my times comes, and it could at any time, that I can muster the courage that I have seen in these fine, wonderful people. I thank each and every one of you and pray for the best.

Joke Issue

2010-08-26T16:28:00.000-05:00

I decided to write a new post, because, quite frankly, my last two entries have been depressing me. My daughter is much better. She discontinued a medication she was on and she is feeling much better. Thank goodness.

Practicing law is serious business. In discrimination cases, emotions run high. Sometimes, you just need a break. I have one client who sends me humorous accounts of very serious matters, and I really appreciate his emails. Sometimes it becomes necessary, for spiritual, physical and psychological reasons, to laugh. I love to laugh. I love people who make me laugh. I love situations that make me laugh. I love movies that make me laugh out loud, embarrassing timid souls who are shocked by my guffaws in movie theaters (spoiler alert) for example - The Other Guys when Samuel L. Jackson and The Rock jump off the building.

So, I am going to share one of my favorite jokes, probably first told to me by John Nolte:

"When I die, I want to die peacefully in my sleep, the way my grandfather died. I do not want to die screaming and in pain like his passengers."

If you are reading this and are so inclined, please share your favorite joke. I love puns. I would prefer no potty humor or raunchy jokes. Please, make me laugh.

Life

2010-08-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

I sit here, in the emergency room going in the fifth hour of our wait, still not back in an examination room, waiting for my daughter to be seen. It's our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary. Emergency rooms are not new to us, but it's been over a year since we have been here for her devastating migraine pain. This is not a migraine, though. She has worked hard and got those mainly under control, with the help of the incredible neurologist who works at this hospital. This time she is here because of intensifying abdominal pain and nausea. She has already been to her internist, who told her to come to the emergency room. Hopefully, we will learn the source of this problem sooner rather than later and she can move forward on her plans, and begin to accomplish those dreams. She and here boyfriend want to marry and move to Florida. She wants to become a psychiatric nurse, or an ER nurse, I am sure not in small part because of her frequent visits these past two years to the emergency room. Or she may become a therapist using dogs and other pets for therapy. She loves her dogs. She has two degrees, one in political science and one in psychology, but ever since she was plagued by the constant debilitating migraine pain, her life has been on hold. When I was her age, I had completed my bachelor's degree, had been married four years, and was pregnant with our son. Her life is on hold, for now. I hope just for now. She has so many dreams and it hurts me to watch the pain stop her.

I know my daughter has headache pain almost constantly. I am amazed at how she has found the courage to move on, in the face of the pain. I can tell when she has a headache just by looking in her eyes. I no longer ask, though, because she doesn't want to talk about it, that just makes her think about it. She moves through the pain and plans for the future. In many ways, she is my hero. I have never told her this. Maybe I will tell her tonight.

Life is not always fair. I feel good being at this hospital because they have helped my daughter so much and a former client of mine, a truly wonderful woman, is the triage nurse here. Seeing this nurse calms me.

This hospital reminds me of another client. He is probably the bravest man I have ever met. He comes to this hospital for treatment. He has a terminal brain tumor. His equally brave
wife is also a patient of this hospital. Once the matter I represented her husband regarding was resolved and they planned to lead the best life possible, she was diagnosed with a rare and serious form of cancer. She has been treated here, but her treatment has not been so successful. The last time I saw the two of them, they were holding hands as they walked toward me. They have been blessed with a wonderful marriage and the kind of love about which movies are made. I pray that they have many years left together. I know they are making the best of what they have.

We are finally back in an examination room. I pray my daughter gets some relief. This was not the way my husband and I envisioned spending our 36th wedding anniversary. At least we are here together, with our daughter.

Why I Left the Trial Lawyers' College

2010-08-03T23:51:00.004-05:00

Why I Left TLC

   I envisioned starting this piece with a line from Mark Antony's famous speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "I come to praise TLC, not to bury it." In reality, Antony not only buried Brutus, but rallied the citizens to rebel against him. My purpose is not to persuade, but just to explain why I left. There probably are not that many people who know that I resigned from the Trial Lawyer College staff and fewer who know why I did so.

   Why am I writing this now? I can think of two reasons. The summer session of TLC just ended and I read about it on facebook. Quite frankly, I miss the beauty and inspiration of the ranch and I miss my friends. The last few nights I have been having unpleasant dreams about my departure from TLC. I even dreamed that I was begging to return. That is something that in reality I have no desire to do. However, my leaving TLC at times is very painful.

   I participated in TLC from the first class in 1994. TLC blew me away. Especially the psychodrama. I came to the ranch in more pain than I could admit to myself. Through psychodrama, through the years, not only did I work through my pain, but I began to really understand who I am. The more I knew and loved myself, the better I knew and loved my clients. I became a better person and a better lawyer. I credit John Nolte, one of the psychodramatists at the ranch, for giving me the courage to explore me and who I was and how I got there. Becoming a better lawyer was incidental to my personal growth. However, I grew as a lawyer exponentially through my struggles as a human. I will be forever grateful to the Trial Lawyers College for starting me on this path.

   Through this self-realization and self-actualization, i increasingly found that my views on what was right for me and my clients differed sometimes from what I was teaching and witnessed being taught at TLC. Trial lawyers oftentimes have big egos. Winning is important, but many times I wondered if we talked about winning for us as opposed to winning for our clients. The more I grew, the more I knew that the true satisfaction in being a trial lawyer comes from serving our clients who desperately need our voices. Being a trial lawyer, for me, must be about my clients. It feels hollow and empty to talk about win/loss records instead of how our clients are fulfilled or our quest to even the playing field. I became clear about why I practice law and what I want to accomplish. I trust myself in court. That does not mean I am invincible, just that I know who I am and what I want to accomplish. The most important evolution for me is not only understanding, I mean truly understanding my clients. I have come to love most of my clients. Practicing law this way is not only effective, but also fulfilling.

  Now back to the Trial Lawyers College. Through the years, as is common in institutions, discord and dissent start to erode the foundation on which the institute is built. Obviously, TLC remains a very effective and innovative way to help trial lawyers and their clients. But, it appeared to me that the role of psychodrama was going to change. When John Nolte was forced off the board and ultimately left TLC, that was probably the turning point for me. When I heard that the concentration was going to be on what I thought looked like a "trick"- finding the "betrayal" in the story, I was dismayed. It sounded to me as much a device as first-person opening statements for every trial. It began to sound phony.

   I won't lie and say that the decision to eliminate the board liaison was not a blow to me personally. However, in the long run, that decision made sense. What did not make sense to me was excluding one of the most innovative teachers from staff, Fredilyn Sison, for reasons I don't understand. I just could not stomach such hurtful conduct to such a sweet, caring soul.

   Finally, I am going to verbalize one of the features of TLC that always bothered me. It was not until Fredi's exclusion that I gathered the courage to leave. TLC is a very sexist place, or at least it was. I have high regard for Anne Valentine and Cyndy Short. I hope, with their oversight, women will fare better. I finally decided that at age 57, after 27 years as a lawyer, I did not have to smile and let the men take over. I have had my own firm for many years and i got tired of feeling like the testosterone was impenetrable.

   Don't get me wrong. TLC can be and often is a magical place. I learned so much from my experiences there, and I love so many of the people still associated with TLC. I would recommend TLC unhesitatingly to young lawyers. But, I am proud of myself for recognizing when it was time for me to move on.

Three Keys To Being Happy

2010-07-23T12:23:00.000-05:00

Here is what I think makes a happy person:

1. Living in the moment. This means not worrying about the past, not second-guessing decisions, not worrying if you can get that brief done or will get paid on that case, nor worrying about what illness or event will end your life. Living in the moment means listening fully and completely to what others are saying. Forgetting about yourself (more on that later). Living in the moment means being aware of the beauty of your surroundings and melodies in your life.

2. Forgetting about yourself. The times I have been depressed, insecure or stressed, I become very self-involved. I am never happy when I am self-involved. I am never happy when I am insecure. To forget about yourself, you must be able to love yourself and give yourself a break. Every time you do something for someone else with no regard to receiving anything in return, you forget about your self. Every time you ignore a nasty comment or dirty look, all the while knowing that it reflects on the person giving the look or making the comment and not on you, you can be happy.

3, Listening to and understanding others from the other person's point of view. Of course, to truly listen to others is to live in the moment and to forget about yourself. When you listen to someone from his or her point of view, you gain a deeper understanding of that person and of the human condition. When you let yourself get into the hide of others, the world becomes a kinder, gentler place. You become less judgmental and more forgiving and loving.

These are three principles that make a person happier, but these characteristics also make lawyers better lawyers, and humans more effective. I have to keep reminding myself of this, since it sure is easy for me to become insecure, self-centered and selfish. But, for now, I will just enjoy the view from my window overlooking the Power and Light District and be thankful for this day.

Remembering Oma

2010-07-07T11:58:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, my husband and I drove to the gym to participate in cycle class, one of the things that has kept us partially sane during the past three years. Mike parked the car and I got out and saw something that immediately sent me back to my youth. It was a bush, or rather a series of bushes, planted in the rows between the parking spots. I don't know the names of these bushes, but I have enjoyed them many times before. They are green and leafy, and this time of the year they sport the most delicate tiny pink blossoms, each blossom no more than a quarter of an inch in diameter. These delicate blossoms are surrounded by little leaf-like sprouts that give the small blossoms a star-like quality. I used to pick those blossoms in my grandmother, my Oma's, backyard.
   Oma, had a beautiful flower garden behind her small ranch-style home. She did all of the planting and weeding herself. She and my step-grandfather, who we called "Uncle Sam," built a concrete patio and surrounded it with a short brick wall. They placed pots of petunia on the wall. But, the flowers that I loved were the lilies of the valley planted on the side of the house. These flowers were so delicate. They were simple, a stalk curved like a candy cane with random tiny white blossoms that looked like bells all up and down the stalk. They were small, and unique, and perfect.
   Oma had not been born to be a gardener. At that time she was a seamstress, a member of the Ladies' Garment Workers Union. She sewed sleeves onto coats. That wasn't her first job in the United States. When she first arrived with my six year old mother, my grandfather, and my great-grandmother in tow, she worked as a maid. I remember her telling me about the first time she made gelatin and it was not hardening so she added cornstarch. By the time the gelatin had set, she could have fashioned that jell-o into bricks.
   It took me many years to realize that Oma was my real-life hero. She forced her family to escape Nazi Germany at the end of 1938, right before Kristallnacht. Many other relatives perished in concentration camps.
Oma learned English before she left to aid in our family's assimilation. She, as many Germans are prone to do, worked hard. She worked very hard. Oma sewed matching dresses for my sister and I. She was always busy.
   Every summer, Oma and Uncle Sam took my sister, my brother and me to the Lake of the Ozarks. I remembered how exquisitely excited I would get each and every time I first laid eyes on the water of the lake. We swam and fished and had a grand old time. Those are the only out-of-town vacations we had when I was a child. Uncle Sam took me fishing in Loose Park, the place which was ultimately the site of my wedding many years later. There was a time that fishing was allowed in the urban park with the lake by Wornall, a pretty heavily traveled thoroughfare. I (Uncle Sam, really) caught a catfish from the pond when I was seven. We took it home to Oma' house and put it in a tub. Of course it died, since the water was filled with chlorine, but we knew nothing about the chlorine hazard and watched the fish swim until its untimely demise.
   I learned a lot from Oma and Uncle Sam. When Uncle Sam died from lung cancer (damn you cigarettes) Oma was devastated. She loved that man more than she loved life itself. She grieved, but she knew that her life must go on and what she made of the rest of it lay in her hands. At age 63, my grandmother went back to school, to become an L.P.N. Oma had secretly wanted to be a nurse her whole life. She was the oldest student in the class, but I am sure no student studied harder than she. She passed the classes and aced the test and was hired by a local hospital. Oma was working on the floor of Research Hospital when Harry Truman was brought to that hospital to die. Nursing was Oma's passion, but the hospital had a rule that nurses could not be over 70 years old. At 70, Oma had to leave. She worked at some part-time nursing jobs, but it wasn't the same for her as working in a hospital. Within a few years, she died.
   I think of this amazing woman often. She called me Lynnilla and used similar suffices for my siblings. She was steady and safe and always there for us. I remember the sun streaming into her living room through the picture window with the eastern exposure, making everything glow a hopeful yellow color. When you saw that sunlight and were bathed in its warmth at Oma's house, the day was going to be okay.
   Oma was, and still is, my hero. I hope everyone is fortunate enough to have a person in his or her life who inspires them to be their best. Oma did that for me.
   Everytime I see one of those bushes with the exquisitely tiny pink flower/stars, or I find a delicate lily of the family, I think of my grandmother and home.

The Real Reason Some People Are Upset And We Have The Tea Party

2010-06-15T00:24:00.000-05:00

Not many people voluntarily relinquish power and control of a society. Here, in the United States! We are undergoing a shift in power. We have an African-American President. Soon Caucasians will be in the minority. Women are gaining political power. It is always disconcerting to those in power when that power is at risk.

This phenomenon has occurred many times in history. Gandhi said, "First they ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they fight you; then you win." We are at stage three, "then they fight you . . .". We will have a more just and equal society, it's just that not everyone is happy about that.

The Future of Equality

2010-06-11T11:22:00.000-05:00

I am very optimistic about our country's future. When I was a young girl, there were race riots in Kansas City after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. Those riots woke me up and began my focus on civil rights. I don't remember when Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, but her act of courage has greatly affected me. There are still many problems to overcome to have true racial equality in this country, but things are getting better. Race discrimination is more covert. I don't hear racial epithets in common parlance as I did in my youth.

I became a lawyer in 1983, and did a few civil rights cases. Things dramatically changed in 1991 when Congress expanded Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Back then, I began handling the most horrendous sexual harassment cases. Some employers were groping and fondling their subordinates in the workplace, co-workers in traditionally male jobs were sexually intimidating female co-workers, offers of promotions in exchange for sex occurred. I tried my first sexual harassment case to a jury in 1994, where the manager had not only propositioned my client, but also grabbed between her legs. Since then, I have tried many sexual harassment cases with the most vile and outrageous facts. Juries responded to sexual harassment cases in a big way, and companies began to see the value in stopping sexual harassment cases in the workplace. As my old boss used to say, people will do the right thing if you make them. In the early 1990's, I predicted that sexual harassment cases would die out in ten years. That didn't happen, but things are much better than they were twenty years ago.

Discrimination is far from a memory, though. In our office, we are handling several race discrimination, national origin discrimination and sexual harassment cases. We have a long way to go to achieve equality of opportunity for all races. Age discrimination, in this economy, has exploded. In fact, age discrimination is extremely rampant now. In the last two jury trials our firm has had which were for age discrimination, I pointed out that it was acceptable in our last Presidential election to lambast McCain for his age. It is not acceptable in this country to hurl epithets against any group except older people. The jury responded. The way we treat our elders is atrocious.

But, I am ever optimistic. I see a new age, just around the corner, where it is unlawful to discriminate in employment based on sexual orientation. Kansas City has such an ordinance, even though Missouri and the federal government do not. Congress is killing that strange policy, "Don't ask, don't tell." I predict we are close to legislation which has as its purpose to even the playing field regardless of sexual orientation. I am optimistic because it was acceptable to ridicule gays and lesbians in my youth, while my children would be appalled at that behavior.

I am beginning to be optimistic in another area that I thought would never change - wage disparity. Women earn between 76% to 80% of men. Women are promoted less than men and traditionally female jobs are paid less than traditionally male jobs, regardless of skill level and complexity. There is a pending class action case against Wal-Mart, with a potential class of 1.5 million people. Maybe, just maybe, we will finally come to realize that paying women less than Caucasian men is not okay. Women make up 52% of the population and almost half of the workforce. This is major! And, if women can eventually get equal pay treatment, then so can African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Perhaps, we are on the path to true equality in treatment of all our citizens. Perhaps, when talking about a family in poverty, Americans will not just accept that household be a "single mom" as a valid explanation.

One day, maybe sometime soon, maybe in my lifetime, people will be "judged by the content of their character, and not be the color of their skin" nor by the age of their body, nor their gender nor their sexual orientation. This will only happen if there are enough brave souls out their willing to buck the system by using our legal system and suing discriminatory employers. Our judicial system is working. It's exciting to think what the future can bring.

What is Courage?

2010-05-31T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today is Memorial Day which is the day legally set aside for people in this country to remember those who fought and died for this country. What makes it important that we remember those who died before us, the noble, and sometimes the not so noble? What makes someone a "hero?" How does one live with courage so that he or she can be remembered as a noble "soldier?"

For me, what epitomizes courage is the protagonist in the classic "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane. It is a classic about the Civil War which covers only two days of the war. On the first day, the protagonist in the book was scared and ran. He acted like a normal scared person confronted by overwhelming personal danger. But the book does not stop with day one. On day two, he comes back, facing the danger from which he fled and he stands and fights. When I read the book, way into my adulthood, I loved it. That is real courage, fighting the natural urge for self-protection to do what one feels is right. No need for perfection. We can redeem our souls. I love redemption.

It is obvious courage to give up one's life for what one believes. I wish I could understand why our nation keeps asking our young people to sacrifice their lives. Many times, I would rather we kept our brave men and women at home and not ask for the ultimate sacrifice for what I suspect to be purely economic reasons such as protecting our dependence on foreign oil. I think, as the ones who are not at risk of dying in these sometimes silly wars, we should not be asking our young ones, our sons and daughters, our youngsters, to die to keep us rich. But our children and youths continue to make the ultimate sacrifice, usually with great honor and dignity.

I think for most of us, those too old or not confronted with the choice to go to battle, their can still be great courage. It is the kind of courage we want from our leaders, yet see it all to rarely. This kind of courage is not the kind of courage that makes for a typical politician. This courage is the kind that few among us demonstrate. It is the courage to do that which is unpopular, that which may open one to ridicule, or worse. It takes courage to buck the masses, to risk everyday ridicule. For a politician it takes courage to follow ones own convictions regardless of opinion polls. For the everyday person, it takes courage to not join in and ridicule of the unpopular, to risk public ridicule, to risk loneliness. That is the way that most of us can be courageous.

To act with courage is hard. If it is easy to fight, it takes no courage to do so. Courage is when one fights for ideals when it is easier not to fight. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, all displayed real courage. Everyday people display courage when they risk being shunned or ridiculed and stand up for what they believe. To be courageous one has to first be able to stand up for oneself. Just as someone who lacks self-love cannot love others, one who lacks the courage to protect oneself, cannot protect others.

I am proud to represent everyday people who show courage by bucking the system, by standing against injustice, even though it is hard and even though it is unpopular. That is why I started this blog, to honor those everyday people who fight, in their own way, everyday for what is right. That is uncommon courage.

People Who Have the Courage to Buck the System

2010-05-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

I feel honored to represent people who buck the system, whistleblowers, victims of illegal retaliation, etc. It takes a lot of courage to buck the system. We are social animals. People act differently in groups than they act when alone. We all want to fit in. But, sometimes we can't, or decide that we won't. Whistleblowers can appear to be misfits, because it is hard for people who really want to fit in to buck the power, the social or employment situation in which he or she finds him or herself.

In my experience in representing the people who have the courage to buck the system, my clients have to endure more than rejection from their former group. It seems that it is human nature to vilify the person who has the courage to differ. My clients suffer from the humiliation of lies and rumors spread about them. For instance, I have represented women in sexual harassment cases where the employer claims they engaged in sex at work, that they "asked for it," that they were the real harassers. In my own life, I have been part of an organization where those in power wrongfully accused my friends of trying to wrest power and overtake the organization to justify their treatment of those who differed with the ones in power. These situations were lies, but the people perpetrating the lies wanted them to be true, to justify their actions. Lies get spread this way.

Group dynamics are illustrate strange phenomena in human behavior. Being the descendant of Jewish German refugees from Nazi Germany, I have always been interested in group dynamics. How can a leader, an employer, the cool kids in high school, get others to engage in behavior as a group that would appall them if they had rationally engaged in such behavior individually? We so want to belong, that humans are capable of doing horrible things if the group sanctions them. That is what happened in Nazi Germany, in Rwanda, in the Spanish Inquisition. I wonder what I would have done if I were in the majority in one of these situations. I hope that I would have the courage to fight the status quo. Most people do not. If we had not had people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, where would we be as a society?

Here's to those who have the courage to do what is unpopular, to buck the leaders, to speak the truth. We need people with such courage. I am proud that I have the honor to represent some of the people who show this great courage. I hope that, if tested, I could count myself as one among them.

Grace and Courage - Part I- 10 Special People

2010-05-18T00:30:00.000-05:00

I have had a writers block these past few weeks, deciding who and what I would like to write about. The purpose of my starting this blog was to recognize the courage and fortitude of my clients, both past and present. I am reticent to name names, though, because of attorney-client privileges. However, I want to honor some of the people who have influenced me by their acts of grace, courage and kindness, not just clients. Some are just people whose paths have crossed mine in my life, others are clients. I am just going to list ten of those people that come to my mind tonight. This is not an all-encompassing list and I hope to have many more in the future. Here is tonight's top 10, in no particular order.

1. Anni Halle - my grandmother who has been dead since 1985. She had the fortitude to mobilize her family, my mother, grandfather and great-grandmother to flee Nazi Germany in 1938, days before Cristallnacht. If it weren't for her courage, I would never have existed. And, after she worked as a maid and then in a factory for most of her life, she went to school at the age of 63 to become a nurse. I wish I had told her that she was my hero before she died. I hope she knew.

2. Judge Frances Tydinngco-Gatewood - the presiding federal judge on the territory of Guam and my law school classmate and moot court partner, and friend. Frances is one of the kindest, most caring, most loving people I have ever met. I may not see her for 20 years, but when I see her again, her warmth and kindness still washes over me. I see photos of her and can't help but smile. Elevation to the federal bench has not changed her one whit. She is kind, caring and wonderful Frances.

3. My clients dealing with brain and uterine cancer. A tough pill for a devoted and loving married couple. I watch their love and devotion for each other and know that even with their dreadful diseases they are truly blessed by having each other. It has been such an honor representing them.

4. My brother - Bob Jaben. He is filled with good humor, and brotherly devilishness to his older sister. No matter what issue may arise, he is steady and strong.

5. My wonderful client whose sexual harassment case I tried years ago. She was abused and harassed by co-workers, and fought a very powerful union. The jury gave her $650,000, which the court of appeals took away. Through this experience, she and her husband have established a church and they are pastors. She is kind, gentle, and good-humored. She brings out the best in people.

6. Commissioner Molly Merrigan - I really don't know Commissioner Merrigan well. I was appointed to a very difficult juvenile case with heart-wrenching issues. The case caused me several sleepless nights. I don't feel comfortable talking about the specifics of the case. However, in a case that I thought could ruin many people's lives, Commissioner Merrigan in her kind, soft-spoken way came up with a creative solution that will probably save those kids.

7. My client involved in a horrendous accident resulting in catastrophic injuries. He was very young. He shows me how to live as normal of a life as possible with dignity. He is a kind and loving man, who can still live his life without anger and bitterness.

8. Barack Obama - I just think he is really, really cool. Enough said.

9. My client who is a nurse. As a result of the events of her case, the life she knew was destroyed, both personally and professionally. She is a leader and believes in principles. She is one of the most honorable people I have ever met. Even with all of the hardships, she bounces back and takes care of others, as good nurses do.

10. My husband. He is kind and loving. He acts with dignity during difficult times. He treats most everyone with respect. He is a good man.

That felt good. There are many, many more people whom I respect. I hope to write more articles about those people who have positively impacted me. Watch for them in the future.

How To Fix the Kansas City Royals - and its application to employment issues

2010-05-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

For many years now, the Kansas City Royals have been terrible. My husband is a loyal fan of the Royals, and so I am drawn in to this annual drama. This year, after reading, "The Power of Nice" and "How to Win Friends and Influence People," I believe I have the solution for making the Royals a great team again - fire the owner.

The Royals are owned by David Glass, the former CEO of Wal-Mart. And, quite frankly, Glass runs this operation as if it were Wal-Mart, where employees are sometimes considered commodities, acquired at "Roll-Back" prices. Baseball teams need to be run as if they were small, family-owned businesses with owners who care about employees and customers alike.

The Royals were great when Ewing Kauffman was alive and owned them. Kauffman loved his baseball team and it showed. Would he have ever traded George Brett, even if it were financially advantageous? Of course not. Ewing Kauffman treated the Royals and Kansas City as if we were all part of his family. No Wal-Mart mentality there.

So, once we fire David Glass, who should we hire as owner? Why Warren Buffett, of course. Warren Buffett does not believe in firing employees, according to the author of "The Power of Nice." He knows how to treat people. He must be kind, since he donated at least a billion dollars to the Gates Foundation. He lives in Omaha, where the Royals have a farm team. He's rich enough, and I think we Kansas Citians could love him as a father as we did Ewing Kauffman.

So, if there is anyone reading this blog who knows Warren Buffett, please ask him to make an offer to David Glass which Glass could not refuse. Oh, and make sure Mr. Buffett agrees to keep the Royals in Kansas City.

Thank you very much.

Movin' On Up, to the First Chair - The Fate of Women Trial Lawyers

2010-04-18T21:15:00.001-05:00

There are many fine trial lawyers who are women. More women are trial lawyers. Many more than when I started in practice. But, we need more women willing to go to trial. This blog is for those who have not made it to the first chair, perhaps not even to the second chair. This is for the woman who is afraid, like the rest of us, and who wonders if there is something wrong, if she is just too scared. This blog is for the "everywoman" lawyer who wants the best for her client but fears she is not good enough, not strong enough, not tough enough.

I never thought I would quote Franklin Roosevelt, but his statement, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" is apt, not only in life, but especially in trial. We usually imagine things much worse than what really happens in everyday life. Fear of failure is much worse than failure. Fear of anything is worse than just about anything you can be afraid of. We are all afraid at times. Even the biggest, strongest, toughest male lawyer gets scared in trial. We need to just do, even if we are afraid.

In my opinion, a trial lawyer needs to be able to do the following;

1. Listen. Listen wholeheartedly and completely without thinking or experiencing anything else. Listen and be present.

2. Care. Care for your client. Figure out what you love about your client. Figure out what irks you about your client and what that trait reminds you of in you and why it irks you so.

3. Understand. Understand your opponents, both parties and lawyers, and why they are doing what they are doing. Understand your client. Understand the jury.

Most lawyers, most people, can listen, care and understand. Most people could try a case We, as lawyers, complicate things and forget our real purpose. We make it seem too hard, too complicated, too fraught with traps. Lawyers complicate simple things. We need to simplify. Life is more simple than we make it.

We make going to trial seem complicated because it is so frightening. Women trial lawyers are oftentimes perfectionists. It is frightening to not appear perfect, to appear to be fallible. We didn't get to this place by appearing weak and for me, appearing weak is my greatest fear, Embrace your fear.

In a previous post, I claimed that women are better trial lawyers than men. That was a joke. It's not true. The truth is that being an effective trial lawyer has nothing to do with gender. In the past, women have been too willing to take a subservient role, though. Why is that? It is easier to appear to be perfect if we don't risk the perception of imperfection. Going to trial invites the risk of the perception of imperfection.

This is a plea to women who care, who feel strongly, who have a sense of justice. Go to trial, champion your client's cause. Risk failure, risk rejection. It is scary, it is hard. However, you don't need to be the most articulate, beautiful or intelligent person in the room. But, you do have to be sincere, care, and be spontaneous. Whom of you cannot do that? I suspect there is not a one.

Age Discrimination in A Youth-Oriented Society

2010-04-02T15:55:00.001-05:00

I just finished trying an age discrimination case with my law partner, Kristi. I notice that as I age, I have a greater fondness for age discrimination cases. Hmmmm. Coincidence? I think not.

Of all the protected categories in discrimination law, age is the one that will affect the largest number of us through the mere passage of time.  Age discrimination is different than other forms of insidious discrimination. It creeps up on a person. Racial and sexual harassment act as cannonballs thrust into the victim's gut. Those forms of discrimination are rarely subtle. Our society teaches us to repel and oppose unwanted sexual acts and to condemn racial epithets. Not so with ageist actions and comments. I think many in our society accepts and condone age discrimination. Look at the recent Presidential election. This past election, as with all Presidential elections, was fodder for late night talk show hosts. Both Obama and McCain were the subject of jokes. What struck me, however, was that even though both candidates were in "protected categories" under discrimination laws, Obama as an African-American and McCain as an older person, only McCain was the butt of discriminatory jokes. I am glad that it is not socially or politically acceptable to ridicule President Obama based on his race. That probably would not have been the case 50 years ago. Our society has made some progress in the area of race discrimination, thankfully. But, why is acceptable to characterize McCain as old and decrepid? Doesn't this just perpetuate the stereotype that older people are not as effective as younger people?

In our recent trial, our client, Kathy, our client, was 53 years old when she was fired. She worked for a company that owned assisted living facilities and she was the executive director of one. The employer had a young CEO, age 30, who professed that this company was a "young company" and they needed young and energetic employees. It is ironic that this business prospers from the payments from older people. The regional administrator took the CEO's comments literally when she fired Kathy. Kathy, who was so dedicated to the residents in her facility that she and her husband spent Christmas and Thanksgiving with them, was merely tossed aside. When this happens to most folks, they just take it. Most folks don't have the gumption to fight back. Filing a lawsuit is hard work and requires someone with the fortitude and determination to withstand hurtful and vicious attacks on their character. Being a plaintiff in a discrimination case is not for the weak of heart. It was hard on Kathy, but she is strong. She withstood the trial, received a nice verdict, and is hunkering down for the inevitable appeal.

Why is it socially acceptable to ridicule older people? We are long past the day when someone could excuse racist comments by claiming, "It was just a joke." Yet, go to buy a birthday card and a significant array of cards with age jokes fill the display. What is the stereotype of old people - that they are slow, forgetful, set in their ways, obstinate. Are these characteristics of older people? Sometimes. Just as women are sometimes more emotional than men and African-Americans are sometimes better athletes than Caucasians. The problem is that when we use a broad brush to stereotype a group, individual qualities and strengths are ignored.

Kathy, our client, was one of the most compassionate, nurturing, and caring people I have ever met. She was a responsible and committed employee. Not only did she take care of all of her residents, but many of her family members rely on her. She is the go-to person. Kathy was terminated from the "young company" that wanted young and energetic workers. If she hadn't been fired, she would be working there to this day, giving the job her all as she always had. The "young and energetic" CEO is long since gone from the company, as is every other decision-maker concerning Kathy's termination. That's the irony of the situation.

Perhaps we need to rethink what is important in America in this day and age of mass lay-offs and treating employees as commodities. If we value honor, loyalty and respect, perhaps we should recognize that the way corporate America treats our citizens is appalling. We need to stop this nonsense. Someday, most of us will be old. We have the power.

A Plea to Missouri Legislators - Don't Backtrack on Civil Rights

2010-03-11T09:47:00.000-06:00

I was a child of the late sixties and early seventies and that era shaped who I am today. My family fled Nazi Germany, but not all of my German and Polish-Jewish relatives got out in time. Many perished in concentration camps. During my high school and college years, the American Civil Rights Movement began. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed when I was 11 and even then, I was proud.

Growing up in Missouri, I knew we had a checkered past in civil rights. Plessy v. Ferguson, started as a case about Missouri. The University of Missouri law school did not admit African-Americans. When I was young, I heard lots of people use the "N" word. My mother remembers separate drinking fountains. I remember job listings in newspapers under the headings "Male" and "Female."

Missouri, since its early missteps, has been on the forefront of civil rights, passing civil rights laws even before the federal government had. I have always been proud of my state. But now the rights of individuals are being threatened. Some Missouri legislators are trying to roll back the clock to a time when minorities, the disabled and women were second class citizens. They are trying to amend Missouri employment laws to make it virtually impossible for a person who has suffered discrimination or retaliation to stand up against corporations.

We have come a long way from the early days when discrimination was officially condoned and sanctioned, but there is still much work to be done. Sexual harassment is not nearly as common as it was when I started practicing law. But, I still have cases where women were groped and fondled in the workplace. I still have cases where employees were called the "N" word. I still have many cases where employees were terminated for complaining about discrimination or about a company violating safety laws.

My clients are not litigious, not in light of what they go through to protect themselves and others. My clients are heroic. I suspect for everyone one client with the fortitude to come forth, there are multitudes too timid and scared to rock the boat. Without the courage of these brave souls who stand up in the face of injustice where might America be? And we still have a long way to go. Women are paid 76cents for every $1.00 a man makes. Minorities are not promoted in some companies, people are harassed because of their sex or their race. When I go to trial and my client prevails, we feel good not just because we have won the case, but because my client knows he or she has made a difference. Because of people such as my clients, this country, this state is a better, fairer place. A child can now dream of becoming president, no matter what race or gender he or she is.

Some Missouri legislators want to roll back the clock and take away our citizens' civil rights. They want to require claimants to have to prove a heightened burden of proof, higher than in any other type of case, that discrimination or retaliation has occurred, given license to employers to make up bogus reasons and get by with it. Some Missouri legislators want to protect the sexual harassers and individuals engaged in the harassing behavior. Some Missouri legislators want to deter whistle-blowers from coming forward by requiring them to, in essence, become a lawyer to determine the legal ramifications of what they complain about before they come forward to report fraud, malfeasance or worse. These are scare tactics to deprive Missouri citizens of their civil rights and to punish them for rocking the boat when the boat desperately needs to be rocked.

If you are reading this, please contact your state representative and senator to vote against this legislation. The Senate bill is bill 852. Passage of this bill threatens the very nature of our democratic process and the civil rights our country so treasures. Please, take a stand.

Coming Soon

2010-03-09T23:11:00.000-06:00

I have things I would like to write about on my blog, but currently lack the time to write. I am getting ready for trial. Look for future blogs on the problem with Mo Senate Bill 852 attempting to overhaul Missouri employment law. Also look for a blog on empathy, and its importance for trial lawyers and for people in general.

The Irresponsibility of Firing Employees

2010-02-19T11:12:00.000-06:00

When I was a little girl, adults got jobs and stayed with companies until they retired. I sound like an old curmudgeon, but, back then, people had loyalty. Employers were loyal to their employees and employees were loyal to employers. Of course, back then, women had to choose jobs from the "Female" listings in the newspaper want ads and forget anyone of color getting any job of responsibility. I guess my rose-colored glasses are turning a little brown. However, back then there was not a culture that employees were commodities and the victims of lay-offs were collateral damage.

What is wrong with a system that allows employers to eviscerate its workforce not because the employer is on the brink of bankruptcy, but because the management of the employer sees a way to make even more profit. The toll on those souls whose livelihood has been ripped from their grasp, whose dreams have been decimated and whose dignity has been cast asunder is monumental. However, there are ripple effects which the management of employers fail to consider. One of my relatives is working at a company undergoing a wave of "lay-offs." So far this relative is safe, but she does not feel safe. The next round of lay-offs is around the corner. Thus far, the company has targeted its older, "mid-management" workforce. Who knows if this is a ploy to thin the ranks of the older, perhaps slower, most loyal employees. The employer does not consider the emotional impact of those left behind, the disillusion, fear and anger. Morale is at an all time low at this company. The company's profits went down a little, but it certainly is not on the verge of collapse.

I recently read an article in Newsweek talking about how mass lay-offs hurt businesses. After 9/11, all airlines except Southwest laid off employees. Southwest has grown by leaps and bounds and is now the biggest airline in the country. Perhaps, just perhaps, when an employer acts in a compassionate manner, cares about loyalty, cares about its employees, there is a positive business effect.

Corporations have a personality, just as countries, states and cities do. A group of people take on personality-like characteristics. With people, those who do for others, care for others without worrying about what is in it for them, are the happiest. Perhaps that is true for corporations, who are rewarded not in terms of happiness, but in serving civilization and thereby thriving. I try not to deal with businesses which treat their employees badly. Doing the right thing, treating employees with dignity and respect, has its own reward.

Perhaps this topic is on my mind because I am representing a client who was fired after being diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer. The employer knew of the cancer and knew my client was undergoing chemotherapy. My client was the sole support for the client's family. What this employer did makes me sick and I am angry.

Let's all reward those companies, by doing business with them, based on how they treat their employees, their customers and on how they act as citizens of the world. We know the Supreme Court now says that corporations are people under the law and have first amendment rights. Let's make them act responsibly, and if they don't, hit them where it hurts, in the pocket book. Just as how we don't befriend nasty people, lets not do business with nasty companies.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be Rachel Maddow

2010-02-04T22:52:00.001-06:00

I love Rachel Maddow. She is opinionated, yet respectful. She is an advocate without emasculaing (or efeminating - I just made up that word.) She is my hero. I wish all lawyers could be like Rachel Maddow. She is an individual, unintimidated, uncompromising, yet she treats others with respect. Plus, her hairstyle is very cute.

Being a Lawyer - It's Not About Me

2010-01-22T10:00:00.001-06:00

  When I was a young lawyer, I was thrust into the battles of trial preparation - depositions - with little training. I was young then and it seemed like I was "fresh meat"for the old lions of the trial bar. I was not into being devoured, so I developed a strategy for my self-preservation. I concentrated on the way I walked and sat. I made chit-chat with the opposing counsel, smiled a lot, sat in a comfortable, nonchalant pose and acted like I was unafraid. A weird thing happened, when I acted unafraid, I started to feel unafraid. Just like the song says, "Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect. And whistle a happy tune, and no one can suspect, I'm afraid." It worked. I started feeling the same way my body language reflected.
   I no longer need to play-act, but through the years, as a trial lawyer, there is one principle that has served me well. Whatever the other side pulls, it is not a reflection on me, but on them. What I mean is that I strive to take NOTHING personally. It's not about me. If the other lawyer is nasty to me, he or she must be insecure or have some issue. If the other lawyer yells, that means I am winning. I don't yell, that's a sign of weakness, that I have lost my cool and allowed something get to me personally. I represent a person and need to protect that person. I can handle myself and need no protection.
   This past week I was in depositions with an attorney whom plaintiffs' lawyers in this area disdain. He is rude, cold and uncaring. He was that way with the two witnesses whose depositions he took this week. This lawyer proudly exclaimed that he only defended cases with catastrophic injuries or deaths. What a sad way to make a living. He was nasty in the depositions, and I objected when he tried to trick or cajole the witness.
   Man, did the lawyer get ticked. So what. It was not about me. I protected my witness, through legal objections, but really just to made sure there was a level playing field so that this lawyer could not intimidate the witness to get favorable testimony by twisting words. I didn't take his harangues personally, because it was not about me. Sure, he wants to get an advantage in the case, and I prevented that. But, what makes this guy tick is beyond me. Maybe his father was mean to him, maybe he was rejected as a child, maybe his mother favored one of his siblings, I don't know. But, knowing his attacks weren't about me helped. And even if he hates me, even if I remind him of an ex-wife or mean teacher, that does not matter. I don't care and that is so freeing. I am free to represent my client.
   One of the many things Gerry Spence says that I wholeheartedly agree with is that we must know who we are to be good trial lawyers. I have spent years trying to understand me. What a liberating experience this is as a lawyer and as a person. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel bad about yourself unless you let them." I believe that.
   In my experience, to be a good and effective lawyer, one must not let his or her ego get in the way. It is not about us. That is probably the lesson that has taken me the longest to learn.

Whistle-blowing - To Thine Own Self Be True

2010-01-17T11:49:00.000-06:00

  For most of us, what we do for a living affects so much of how we feel about life. If you sell out at work, do things to get ahead and betray co-workers, it takes its toll on your soul. I don't know any CEO's of gigantic corporations, but my prejudiced view is that many of those on top did things to others to climb the ladder that changed who they were. I believe it's human nature to rationalize what we do so that we do not own up to the consequences of our actions.
   People compromising values happens not only in the workplace, but in all types of social settings. We are social beings and how we interact with each other can present challenges. People act differently in groups than individually. Would there have been the slaughter in Rwanda if it were not for mass hysteria? I am constantly reminded of how important it is for me to have the support of other human beings. I have done things in my life of which I am not proud to "get along" or to advance myself in a group. Life is like high school for many of us, who want to be part of the cool kids or be in the popular group. My mother, who is approaching 80 years old, and I talk about how evenly elderly woman can be "mean girls." That is why it is so refreshing when a true rebel, a true whistleblower, comes along.
   It is really hard to stand up to authority and speak out. Whistleblowers oftentimes risk everything, not just their jobs, but also their friends, and sometimes their families. It takes a lot of courage to speak up. As I write this, I think of one of my clients, a woman who is dear to me because she risked and lost so much. This woman was a leader, and she sacrificed so much. I am not going to mention her name, or even give her a pseudonym, because to do so seems like it would trivialize or cheapen what she did.
   My client is a nurse. She, like all of the nurses I know, went into nursing because she wanted to tend to and care for others. A good nurse is not only smart, caring and efficient, but a good nurse is also a stickler for details. My client was a very good nurse. My client really cared about her patients. My client cared about her friends. Her friends were nurses, too. The friends really cared about their patients, too. Unfortunately, the hospital where they all worked did not care so much about their patients.
   After very contentious litigation, tens of depositions, scores of sleepless nights, the case was resolved. However, the story did not end there for my client. Her husband worked for the same company that she did. Her marriage of over twenty years deteriorated and failed, leading to a divorce even more contentious than the lawsuit. She vacated her lovely home and left it to her husband. In just over two years, my client lost the job she loved, the home she loved and the marriage she thought was secure. Did she help her co-workers and the patients of the hospital? Undoubtedly. But at what personal cost?
  I hope the story does not end here. I hope that my client gets some real justice for her. She has the love of her children and her former co-workers, but I hope it does not stop there. One of my other clients is working at another area hospital where I visited with my daughter who suffers from debilitating headaches. My client was my daughter's nurse and she was wonderful. My daughter's care was superb and our nurse, my former client, told her co-workers that we were like family to her. I felt very good about that.
   Next year, at the annual celebration concerning the case, I hope to see my first client flourishing. This year it was hard because I did not know how badly the divorce and ensuing litigation had been. This woman is a hero. I hope next year she can know that. It is not easy to be the one to stand up and say, "No more." I hope my client realizes the good she has done and can someday look back on this episode of her life without the pain in her heart.

Not All Toymakers Are Willy Wonka

2010-01-06T14:56:00.000-06:00

I am working on a products liability case against a Chinese manufacturer. Since the case is pending, I will not go into too much detail. However, this mega-toy manufacturer, with its American cohort, manufactured a product and totally ignored American safety laws. Our client was gravely injured. It's the kind of case that haunts a parent's dreams. Yet, when the American wing of this mega-bucks Chinese company was successfully sued for trademark infringement, the American company up and liquidated the company and transferred all assets to some other phony, baloney shell company, all the while protecting the fat-cat American who is profiting from being the front for this unscrupulous mega-rich foreign company.

Many years ago, there was a Saturday Night Live skit where Dan Aykroyd played an unscrupulous toy manufacturer. He was interviewed by Candace Bergen, promoting his company's new toy, "Bag of Glass," a bag full of broken glass. At least potential buyers could see the product for what it was, dangerous. Our client was unsuspecting and not so fortunate.

How can we make this foreign company stop hurting people? I don't know and I am frustrated.

The Strengths of Women Trial Lawyers

2009-12-20T15:38:00.001-06:00

   Every once in awhile, I watch a movie about men in war, or men in sports, and the captain, or coach, is upset with the men and makes a statement to the men like, "What do you think you are doing, ladies?" . This statement is supposed to be a put-down. I have wondered not only why this statement is an insult,but also why I see no one objecting to this common "insult."
   Biologically, men and women commonly share different characteristics. Several years ago, my husband and I went on a safari in Tanzania and we observed natural wildlife. In the lion communities, males and females have very different functions. Lions travel in prides, with several females and youths, and one male. The function of the females are to kill the food and raise and nurture the offspring. The function of the male is essentially to procreate. Procreation is obviously very important. But so is eating and nurturing the young. In the lion "kingdom," the females engage in most of the violent activity, killing the prey for subsistence. The males kill only rarely; killing other rival males, either older or more infirm male lions to take a pride, or younger male lions or male cubs to prevent those other males from taking the pride from the dominant male. The females kill all the time to feed the young, the male and themselves. The females protect their young. The males protect themselves. What the males do is important in establishing an order to further the existence of the species. What the females do is the day to day necessary work to exist. The females are more fierce more often than the males. In the grand scheme, both the females and males are fierce in furtherance of the existence of the species. Yet, the females are solely responsible for the lions' day to day nuts and bolts existence.
   Mothers are thought to be nurturing and caring. Women are considered to be more "emotional" than men. These are great characteristics. Mothers fiercely protect there offspring. Also, an admirable quality. Women have always had to fight for a greater good, the good of their children. The majority of whistleblowers I have represented are women. That is not surprising. Whistleblowers speak out to protect the common good, even though they are at risk, personally.
   We generally think of trial lawyers as men. However, women lawyers are naturals as plaintiffs' trial lawyers. Who better to fight for someone with less power? Society pegs trial lawyers as bombastic and egotistical, out for themselves. And there is a rush in winning a nice jury verdict and trial law does attract the most self-aggrandizing in society. But that is not what our legal system is about. Women are naturals as protectors of the less powerful in society. Females fight for those in their charge. We need more women representing plaintiffs.

Listening

2009-12-10T09:54:00.000-06:00

  For the past couple of years, I have tried to listen more. I am not always successful. At the Trial Lawyers College, the psychodramatists have coined the phrase, "Listening With The Third Ear." I think what that really means is that listening is more than hearing. The "third ear" is really a combination of the mind and heart. To truly listen to someone is to empathize, to understand. In order to understand someone, we have to reverse roles, or understand in what context he or she makes a statement. A statement is not merely what is said, but in what context it is made. When a person talks, oftentimes they are sharing their perception of an event through their eyes of the world.
   It is hard to listen with the third ear. It takes all of one's attention and focus. It's like meditation because you must be in the moment, in the here and now. You cannot listen and multi-task. You must totally focus on the speaker. As Joshua Karton says, most communication is non-verbal. Listening involves not just hearing, but also seeing and perceiving, and feeling.
   When you truly listen to a friend or loved one, it can be an act of love because when you listen, you give up yourself to the other person. It is all about them, not you. Your ego cannot get in the way; in fact one's ego cannot even exist if you are truly listening.
   This last year, I have tried to revamp how I handle cases. I want to listen more than talk. As I said in the first paragraph, I am not always successful. Sometimes my ego or my insecure feelings interfere. I have found that I am at my best when I don't care if I am at my best, when I am listening and in the moment.
   For instance, in preparing for depositions, I read everything in the case. I may jot down notes. I may have some questions in mind. But in the deposition itself, I want to listen, to learn. I want the answers to my questions, but the answers lead to areas I did not know even existed before the deposition. I go where the witness takes me. I try to listen without judgment.
   I know when someone is truly listening to me and interested in what I say. Witnesses know when we listen to them. I feel honored when someone cares about how I feel. My clients have told me that they feel the same way.
   The most important person, outside of those in my personal life, is my client. If I cannot empathize with her or him, there is a problem and that problem stems from me. Something in my life experience is getting in the way. I need to deal with what is inhibiting me and preventing me from listening to and understanding my client.
   What I have found when I really focus and listen, I learn things that were not in my preconceived script. For instance, in one deposition, the witness told me he was not angry with my client for complaining about sexual harassment, but there was this "tone" in his voice. I listened not to his words, but to what he was communicating. I prodded, "Well, if not ticked, then what?" He opened up that he was disappointed that she had come to him because it would put a "muzzle" on the workplace because he liked to "joke" with women, too. That admission was important to the case, and it let me understand where he, and the company was coming from, how they did not understand the purpose of their policy because they let their insecure feelings get in the way.
   I am not saying that listening is a tool to trick adverse witnesses, but that it is a way to understand many of the multitudinous layers of a story. Lawyers often ignore others in their quest to be kings. The "downside" of empathy is that it is impossible to hate someone with whom you empathize. In lawsuits, do we need to hate the other side? Can we muster righteous indignation without hatred? Yes, we can.
   A by-product of my quest to listen to others is that it makes me feel good to honor others. When I feel good about myself, I am less insecure and I do a better job for my client. I am less likely to see conduct as an affront, even if intended as an affront, since I try to understand where that person was coming from who tried to hurt me or my client. Usually, the other person, or lawyer, is lashing out from fear. To understand this is power. Listening to others is an act of giving, to the other and to oneself.

Relationships and Being a Trial Lawyer

2009-12-05T14:53:00.001-06:00

  When I first started practicing law, 26 years ago, I read a book about how female lawyers could be in the game with the men. Several of the women said that they had decided to forgo families and essentially be "married" to their careers. At the time I thought, are they crazy? How can you sustain interest in the law when you have nothing else? At the time, my son was four, I had been married for nine years and I wanted another child. I decided to practice law my way, taking my kids to depositions and on out of town trips, including them whenever I could. It seemed to me life is what you make it. It wasn't an issue of having it all, it was an issue of knowing what was important. That's not to say I didn't make mistakes from time to time, but in the end (or hopefully, closer to the middle), I am who I am because of my relationships and my experiences with others. I wonder what happened to those women who "lived" the law; if they got burned out, if they developed meaningful relationships, if they fell satisfied. I hope they found what they sought.
   I bring this up because I have been thinking about relationships. I was on the staff of the second week of the Graduate Seminar at the Trial Lawyers College back in August. Fredi Sison was in charge of the curriculum and she developed an exercise that was quickly named "Discovering the Characters." We explored a case and the relationships between the important people in the Plaintiff's life. I thought, and think, the exercise was brilliant. Our relationships tell so much about us and who we are. In movies and books, I gravitate to stories where there is more character, rather than plot, development. I want to identify with other people. I think most of us do.
   I have also been thinking about one of my former clients and how I could identify with her. We settled her case the day before trial. I remember her talking to us about her kids. Two were in college and one had moved away. When she talked about her kids, she lit up. She spoke to each of her children several times a day. When we met her kids, they shared humorous stories about our client. Every Saturday morning, when they were home, they tried to arise before their mom, because Saturday was her cleaning day and she would go on a rampage. My client's son, in a teasing tone to his mother, said she was like a quarterback getting psyched for the big game. The easy way in which my client and her kids traded good-natured barbs reminded me of my own smart-mouthed, sweet children. I fell in love with my client that morning. She became so real and someone with whom I could identify.
   We are the product of our relationships, whether good or bad; regardless of whether we rebel against those relationships or accept them. I believe Fredi's exercise is beneficial not only in preparing for trial, but also in living life. Thanks, Fredi.

Thanksgiving - I am thankful for my brave clients.

2009-11-24T22:56:00.003-06:00

I love Thanksgiving, and it's not all about the food - especially since I do most of the cooking. I enjoy Thanksgiving because of the enrichment my family and friends provide to my life. But, for this article, I want to thank and be grateful for my clients and how they have enriched my life.

There's Ruth Bates, who taught me what true courage and perseverance was. She felt within her what was right or just and followed her gut. She acted with dignity and courage in the face of media barrages and intrusions. Ruth handled herself with dignity, while the opponent could have taken lessons in decorum and self-esteem from her. Plus, I had the joy of getting to know her and her wonderful family and how they came together in Ruth's hour of need. There is not enough that I can say about Ruth Bates. Who says you can't fight city hall.

There's Terri Wallace, who after 7 years, finally made justice happen. Through two appeals and one jury trial, Terri persevered and prevailed. She did not set a 7 year goal, but when she saw that 7 years is what it would take to receive justice, she didn't balk or lay down. Heroes come from humble beginnings.

To the Campbell family, who hopefully will get some closure after the brutal killing of their father. I particularly respect Debbie, who made her peace personally with the officer who killed her husband. That took great courage and taught me a valuable lesson in forgiveness. The girls are doing so well now.

To my former brave clients, who have given me strength through the years (this is not a comprehensive list) -

Of course, Serita Wright, one of the bravest women I know; Nancy Watson, who started it all for me, James Brock, who displayed incredible courage; Marlene Hickerson and Shirley Stroud, who showed what it meant to believe in moral values; Vera Sims, who refused to allow herself be treated like a piece of meat, and to the many others through the years who have helped so many, and particularly who have kept my hope for society's future alive. To the brave and true nurses.

And there are the clients whose cases are pending - Christie Helm, who had the courage to tell the truth about a judge, and others I shouldn't name until we are finished with the case.

I went to the Holocaust museum and bought myself a tee-shirt with a quote from Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: Indeed it's the only thing that has."

I am deeply indebted to all of these brave people who are willing to bare their souls in the name of justice, in the quest to eliminate discrimination and dishonesty in America's workplace. And as the saying now goes, "How the workplace goes, so goes the U.S., and someday the world."

Thanks again to all of my clients. You probably don't realize what difference you have made in my life.

Even Though I Blasted Men In My Earlier Post, They Have Redeeming Qualities

2009-11-18T23:08:00.001-06:00

A couple of posts ago, I compared qualities of male and female lawyers. Some think I blasted men. This is my disclaimer, if not an apology. I believe what is said in the previous post is generally true and I admit to generalizing. But that is not why I am writing. Overall, men are good to have around. I like men. Dare I say, I love some men (like my husband, brothers and son and nephews, ya da ya da). It's just that male lawyers can learn a lot from female lawyers (and I must admit female lawyers can learn to be a little braver from their male counterparts). The end.

Thank God for the Nurses

2009-11-16T23:38:00.001-06:00

I love nurses. I have loved nurses for many years. This past week, I went to the party of some of my former nurse clients. They were celebrating the day of their unceremonious firing and subsequent successful lawsuit. It was wonderful seeing them after several years. I love those nurses. Nurses are special.

When my grandfather died, my grandmother decided to pursue her life long dream, to be a nurse. She enrolled in nursing school at the age of 63. She had retired from her job as a factory worker sewing on sleeves on women's coats and had planned to travel the world with my grandfather. Their first trip after Oma, my grandmother, retired was to Israel. Israel was the destination in the late 1960s of all European Jews who had emigrated from Europe around the time of World War II. My grandmother had taken her family (including my mother) and fled Nazi Germany in 1938. She first worked as a housekeeper after she arrived in Kansas City, and worked her way up to the Betty Rose coat factory, where she joined the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union and took the bus every day to the factory to sew on coat sleeves until she retired around 1967. Oma and Uncle Sam (my step-grandfather) had planned for many years to go to Israel. Uncle Sam bought a beautiful smoky topaz ring for Oma while in Israel. I am wearing it on my finger as I type this blog.

My grandparents' retirement plans were not to be. Upon returning from Israel, Uncle Sam went to his doctor because he was feeling weak and tired. He had lung cancer. By November 1968, he was dead. And my grandmother decided to go to nursing school. While Oma never really recovered from my grandfather's death, the one redeeming thing in her life was that she was a nurse. Through all of the years in the factory, she had always wanted to be a nurse and, by the end of her life, she made her dream come true. In so many ways, my grandmother was my hero. In her unassuming way, she was the risk taker in the family.

This leads me to what I want to write about and that is the profession of nursing. Through the last few years as a trial lawyer, I have represented many nurses. I have kept nurses on many juries. I have the greatest respect for the profession of nursing. People who decide to go into the nursing profession by and large do so because they care about helping people. Nurses are smart, work hard, are sometimes unappreciated and don't get the respect that doctors receive. When you go to a hospital, you spend much more time with nurses than with doctors. Nurses take care of you. Nurses are the mothers and fathers of the health care profession.

I have represented nurses who were sexually harassed in horrible ways by the doctors they worked for and I have represented nurses who spoke out against dangerous medical conditions in health care facilities and were fired. In a whistleblower case against a not-for-profit case, it was the nurses on the jury who spoke out against the illegal conduct of the employer. Qualities necessary to make a good nurse include the willingness and ability to question authority and the drive to seek perfection. Some may call this latter trait obsessive compulsive disorder, but as far as I am concerned, give me an OCD nurse any day of the week.

My daughter has been struggling with migraines and who is it that gives her the care she needs to function? The doctors help, but the CARE is provided for by the nurses. Nurses don't seek recognition or glamour, they just do their job with intelligence and caring in 12 hour shifts.

Here's to the nurses! Especially the ones who speak up so that we are all safer. Thank goodness the nurses who were my clients had the courage they have to make this world a better place. Thank God for nurses.

Women Trial Lawyers - As Good or Better Than Men

2009-11-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

I have been a civil trial lawyer for 26 years and there are not many more women trying plaintiffs' case than there were 26 years ago. Why is this? I have a friend, a highly skilled and accomplished female trial lawyer who was beat out for a prestigious position to a man even though she was better qualified. Why? Gerry Spence opined in my presence that it would be hard for women to be trial lawyers because we are not natural fighters or warriors. I told him that he was wrong because we women fight all the time - we fight for our children, we fight for ourselves, we fight for justice. It's just that we aren't as loud. I don't think we need to be.

Is it true that women are ill-equipped to fight in the rough and tumble world of trial work? I say NO!!!! Resoundingly NO!!!!! What I am going to write about are my own opinions and observations only. I believe that women have the capacity to far outshine their male trial lawyer counterparts. But, women have not excelled in traditionally recognized ways. I think there are a couple of reasons for that.

First of all, women, by and large, have much smaller egos than their male counterparts. For instance, I second chaired a case with my partner and we won. We belong to a local lawyers group that meets monthly. Although our all female firm tries many cases with results as good as the male firms, I cannot remember one time when a meeting was devoted to stories about one of our cases. There is another woman in the organization and I know that the same thing has happened to her. However, with the male trial lawyers, not only do they have meetings devoted to them when they win, I remember attending a meeting where one of the male lawyers spent the whole time talking about what great strategies he had and things he had done in trial in a case that he LOST. The long and short of it is that male trial lawyers brag more than women trial lawyers. I will explain how this lack of ego and bragging in women can make them better trial lawyers than the men.

Second, women are less likely to take risks that men are. I mean less likely to risk going to trial, to risk acting as first chair, to risk making a mistake in front of others,to risk losing money, and to risk asking for money from a jury. Women need to take more risks.

Third, because there are fewer women trying plaintiffs' civil cases, we look to males as models for what a trial lawyer is. Yes, they fight. Yes, they talk a lot. Yes, they brag. Out of those three traits, the only male trait that is really effective is that they fight. The other two traits are detrimental to representing clients. However, since we have male role models, people, espouse that you have to act like a "man" to be a successful trial lawyer. That is poppycock. I will tell you why,

Men are more ego-centric and are more likely to make the trial about themselves. "I won this trial." "The jury gave ME..." While female lawyers are more willing to focus on the client. Women are more likely to be nurturers. Nurturers protect and nourish their clients. And by "protect," I mean fight for their client. Women don't have to be the focus, and sometimes men, who want to be the focus step all over their female counterparts to get attention. Mind you, these are stereotypes and generalizationsw and not all male trial lawyers are like this. In fact, I have tried several cases with men, most notably with Rafe Foreman, who did not demonstrate the male egoic traits I have ascribed to male trial lawyers. When a trial lawyer makes the case really about himself, he has lost sight of his job.

These are the typical female traits which allow women the potential to be superior trial lawyers:

1. Ability to LISTEN instead of talking all the time. In my opinion, many trials have been lost because the lawyer failed to listen and was hell-bent on being the star of the show. Women are better listeners. Better listeners are better story-tellers.

2. Women have more EMPATHY. Empathy, or the ability to place oneself in the shoes of another and understand them is a critical trait for people, not just trial lawyers. Kindness, caring and understanding all come from empathy.

3. LACK OF OVER-ACTIVE EGO allows women to be in the moment, be real and spontaneous. All traits helpful in life as well as in trial.

4. Because of women's EMPATHY, LACK OF EGO, AND LISTENING ABILITIES, women are more trustworthy. Sincerity, honesty and trustworthiness (along with preparedness, etc.) are the keys to persuasion. Women have the innate ability, that some women suppress, to be sincere and trustworthy and focus on their clients. Those are building blocks for great trial lawyers.

The only beneficial trait I see less in women than men is the desire to take risks. Women are simply going to have to jump off the cliff and try cases. Once this happens, I predict that society's view of effective trial lawyers will change and women will be venerated. Women are as smart as men. Women prepare as hard as men. Women are oftentimes more believed than men,. The lawyer who is believed and has the jury's trust is the one the jury will want to win.

So, I think women lawyers need to try cases, but not just copy the styles of men. Women need to be confident enough to be themselves and not to adopt the annoying egoistic qualities of some of the male trial lawyers. I hope that we are starting a movement where women take their rightful role as trial lawyers. Women are well suited for the job.

Health Care Bill in the House

2009-11-08T22:21:00.001-06:00

This past week, I met my sister in D.C. to visit my son. My sister and I had planned to get away, to a spa or some other girlie thing, but Joyce suggested visiting Aaron and I was happy. For a former political science major, seeing my American History/politics-obsessed son, this trip was fun with little time for relaxation. Aaron was in charge in showing us his town, and we were busy, busy, busy.

The last day, Saturday, we started out getting breakfast close to the National Archives and viewed President Obama's motorcade with the President on his way to the House of Representatives to lobby for votes for the health care bill. We went to the Archives, and then to the National Portrait Gallery, and then went to a movie, before the coup de gras.

Aaron's friend works for a Congressman, and he got gallery tickets for us to watch the debate on health care. By the time we got to the office building, it was 7:00 p.m. After a quick private tour of an empty Senate side of the Capitol, we went to the House chamber. Wow. When we got there, they were debating the abortion amendment, then the Republican bill and then the voting began. The tension mounted during the next four hour. It reminded me of a basketball game. A Democratic would get up and advocate, and then a Republican counterpart would counter. They'd shoot, perhaps score, and then the other team got the ball.

After the abortion amendment passed and the Republican substitute for the health care bill failed, the Republicans threw in an unexpected monkey wrench. They slipped in a new amendment requiring tort reform. I sat through the Republicans arguments about how trial lawyers are worse than the devil and should be shot on sight. Perhaps this is somewhat hyperbolic, but not much. After articulate and convincing arguments against the amendment by Democrats, especially by a Plaintiff's lawyer from Iowa, while Republicans were heckling, "He's a trial lawyer, a trial lawyer!!! (as if he were an axe murderer), " the amendment failed.

Then the vote on the bill was called. I had heard that the vote would be close and it was unknown how it would come out. All 435 members of the House were there. They voted electronically, and the votes were shown on a score board not unlike the kind used in basketball. The numbers rolled constantly. We knew the magic number was 218, over a 50% majority. The votes slowed, with the Yeas at 213 and the Nays only one or two votes behind. Slowly the numbers increased, 214, 215, 216 . . . it was like the last few seconds of a sports match. Then, 217, and seconds went by seeming like minutes. Finally - 218!!!!!!!!! The Gallery, or most of us in the Gallery, erupted, cheering and clapping, echoing the cheering and applause on the Democratic side of the floor. The acting speaker admonished the crowd in the Gallery, us, to be silent. Still the 15 minute voting time had not officially expired. When the time clock read 10, the Democratic Representatives began to chant, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" Again, the chamber erupted in cheering and applause. As Speaker Pelosi walked to the podium to announce the vote, chills went through my spine. What a rush!

Novel Writing

2009-11-01T19:35:00.002-06:00

My niece, Arrianna, has inspired me to write a novel - National Novel Writing Month (nanowritno.org). We will see how this goes.

Being an Honorable Person - 6 Easy Rules

2009-10-27T15:02:00.003-05:00

I am going to take a little departure from talking about cases. I have and have had many courageous clients. It's the nature of my business that someone who wants to bring a discrimination case must have a modicum of courage. These are not the types of cases for the faint of heart. Today, though, I have been thinking about honor. It is the courageous, honorable clients whom are the ones I love.

What is it that makes a person honorable? An honorable person is one who is deserving of respect. And who deserves respect? Most of us, including me, have acted in dishonorable ways. Dishonorable acts include lying, cheating, stealing, betraying, manipulating. It's easy to be negative. What does it take to be a truly honorable person, worthy of the respect of others:

1. Speaking the truth even when it is unpopular, while avoiding needless unkind words;
2. Being loyal even when it is tempting to be disloyal;
3. Having empathy, especially with one's opponents and people with whom one has little in common;
4. Giving with no expectation of receiving anything in return except the joy of giving:
5. Standing up for what one believes in even when it is unpopular to do so;
6. Truly being able to forgive others for just about anything.

I know this is a simple list, but it seems fairly comprehensive to me. When someone needlessly hurts someone else or strives for personal power or personal wealth above all else, it is always a reflection of some underlying conflict in that person. Unfortunately, people who are hurt by others oftentimes go out and hurt even more people. Angry people hurt others, while oftentimes not meaning to do so.

So, how does this relate to the practice of law? The practice of law is a microcosm of the act of living. We have developed a set of rules with which to operate so that we don't destroy each other. Law is eminently logical and practical. People aren't. It is possible to fiercely promote what one believes in or to defend one's person and principals without annihilating the opponent. The fiercest advocate can be the gentlest person. It is not easy to be honorable, but honorable people do not expect perfection. They are ready to forgive transgressions. Living honorably is the key to being peaceful and content. Not ironically, the best advocate is the one that acts with honor.

Courage to be Different

2009-10-23T23:29:00.000-05:00

I am back to writing about clients. I want to write by a young woman who was, in her own way, a maverick. Diane (not her real name) was a young widow with two small children she needed to support. Diane had never finished high school and her job prospects were poor. She knew it was incumbent upon her to put food in the mouths of her children. She could not type and she had no high school education. Diane decided to do something different, to get a job in a typically male field, because those fields paid more money.

Diane applied for, and got, a job in a warehouse driving a forklift. Few women worked in the warehouse and no other women in that warehouse were young and beautiful besides Diane. Diane thought she had the protection of a union that protected the men, but she was wrong. There was no one in that warehouse to protect Diane.

When Diane started working in the warehouse, she was a novelty and most of the men did not like that she worked there. The men made crude comments about her body, asked her for sex, tried to touch her and generally made her life hell. When Diane complained to her supervisor, her complaints fell on deaf ears. The men brought a blow-up doll into the office and wrote things about Diane on the doll. One day Diane was unloading a truck when she found a sketch of a naked woman with her legs spread eagle, with Diane's name written about the sketch. Diane was humiliated. When she complained, one of the older workers pretended as if he was going to run Diane down with his forklift. Her life at work was a living hell and she had to quit.

When we prepared for trial, the defense attempted to present a witness, a former boyfriend of Diane's, who wanted to claim that Diane and he had had sex in the aisles at work. The judge would not let the defendant offer that evidence. It was not true. Diane had broken up with this guy when she caught him hitting her child.

During the defense of the case, the opposing cancel tried to claim Diane was a money grubber because she had received a wrongful death settlement for the death of her husband. The judge kept it out. The defense also told the jury that, hey, this wasn't a law office, this was a warehouse, what did she expect? Apparently,
that did not set well with the jury and they rendered a verdict for Diane.

Diane's case reminded me of how hard it is for someone to bring a case like this. The employer wants to tear the plaintiff's reputation and character down. It can take it's toll. Diane appeared to lose weight during the week of trial. She appeared tired, with dark circles under her eyes. The trial was hard on her. I hope she felt vindicated, she should. But, no one deserves the denigration and disrespect that plaintiff's are subjected to in sexual harassment cases.

This case was in 1996. We generally no longer see sexual harassment cases with as egregious conduct as was used in Diane's case. Perhaps Diane had something to do with that, in a small way, by bring this case. I hope so. She did win and recover a decent money judgment, but money is a poor substitute for dignity and respect. I hope Diane knows she made a difference.

Sadness and Courage

2009-10-22T00:09:00.001-05:00

When I started this blog, I was resolved not to write much about me, but to write about the courage, trials and tribulations of my clients. I am breaking that rule just into the first month of this blog. There have been events in my life related to friendships and the practice of law that have brought me sadness. Things are changing in an organization in which I have been heavily involved for a long time. For all I know, these changes could be wonderful and all this worry and sadness is for naught. However, the changes have made me profoundly sad.

It occurs to me that I need to look at these changes in perspective. I represent people with life-threatening illnesses and injuries, people who have their livelihoods stolen from them in a moment. I represent people whose real fears are that they cannot go on or that they will not have the resources to provide support for their family members. My clients have been faced with these challenges and they squarely face them and prevail. They fight and maintain their dignity during the most trying times. They have real courage. Perhaps, courage consists of facing frightening challenges and not giving up. Also, it takes courage to place things in their proper perspective. A histrionic person repels me. I admire my clients who deal with their problems with quiet dignity and reflection and it is they whom I hope to emulate.

So why am I so sad when my problems are so relatively minor? I am in an organization which I love and I love many of the people in the organization. With this shake up, my place in the organization is different. Of course, the truth is that this shakeup isn't about me. Ego is such a destructive force. I am scared because I have depended on folks in the organization for my support. I share basic beliefs about life, politics, and the practice of law with these people, most of whom are such wonderful people. I have learned so much about the practice of law and about myself from this organization. I am a better person and a better lawyer, but things are changing. This change scares me because I don't know where it will lead. I am worried I will or have lost dear friends. I worry that the creativity and spontaneity that sparked this group will be extinguished. Only time will tell.

One of the advantages of being a partner in my own law firm is that I cannot be fired. I am not rejected, since I am one of the owners. I am sure I am in this position by design. I don't like having someone else having the power to determine my fate. Perhaps this is just an issue of feeling helpless because I don't have the power in this situation. How ego-centric is that?

Only time will tell what will happen with this organization. But I can learn from this now. Many of my clients have held jobs for many, many years and made their work part of their identity before they were terminated from their jobs. My injured and ill clients have little or no control of their physical destiny. I have family members with health problems, and they must go on. This is a lesson in patience and courage, and, dare I say it, trust, trust that things will work out some way and I will deal with it even if it is not the way I want things to work out. I need to live in the moment. I have no control over the past or the future. All I have is now. I think I will go gaze out the window at the vivdly colored trees. They are here now and if I don't look at them now, I might miss them.

Fighting Against Powerful People

2009-10-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

I love representing nurses. Most nurses go to nursing school because they have a desire to help others. They don't have big egos, or they would have gone to medical school. Many of the nurses I have represented are every bit as intelligent as the doctors they work for, but they want to be in the trenches. They want to be comforting the patients. These nurses are not content to glance at a patient and bark orders. They comfort and nurture their patients. They have a passion, a calling, to care for others.

I represented a nurse we will call Sherry (not her real name). Sherry has years of nursing experience. She had worked in a hospital and in clinics. When I represented her, she was working in a doctors' office. Sherry is a very pretty woman, with a warm smile and a caring heart. She was assigned to work for a doctor, a male, who apparently felt Sherry was his for the taking. When Sherry would bend over to get supplies, he would grind his groin into her backside. This doctor tried to lure Sherry into his office. On the one time he was able to do so, he fondled and kissed Sherry until she was able to wrest away from him.

Sherry worked for a large corporation which owned the hospital and the many doctors' offices. Sherry was afraid to complain, though, because the doctor was one of her bosses. The supervisor of the nurses was a woman who spent a day a week in the office, so she told the nurses that the receptionist was the supervisor's "eyes and ears." Sherry told the receptionist what was happening. Nothing happened.

When Sherry came to me, she was at her wit's end. When we brought the case, I thought the harassment was evident. The lawyer representing the corporation asked me to come to the hospital for a settlement conference, along with the doctor's lawyer. Once I got there, the doctor's lawyer but a video in a VCR and started playing a videotape of my client have sex with a former boyfriend who had never worked with her. I was outraged. They were trying to intimidate Sherry by showing the tape the lawyer had bought from the former boyfriend for $100. Obviously, we did not settle the case then.

Sherry was willing to fight. I went to the judge and we got the tape excluded from evidence. I took many depositions. In employment cases, it is hard to find current employees who will corroborate the plaintiff's story, since the current employee's job is at stake. Sherry was so beloved by her co-workers, they came out in droves, corroborating Sherry's story. At the end of the discovery, the defendants filed a motion to throw the case out because Sherry had reported the harassment to the receptionist and not to the supervisor. The federal judge in charge of the case threw the case out.

Sherry was willing to fight. We filed an appeal in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the judge who threw the case out was overturned. We were back and headed to court for a trial.

As trial drew near, we resolved the case. I can't relay how. Mind you, both the doctor and the hospital were defendants. The doctor left the clinic. I am proud of Sherry and amazed by her fortitude. Sherry fought the doctor, the hospital, the sleazy lawyer who got the video, and the trial judge, all of the way to the Court of Appeals, and won.

She took her money and with part of it took a much needed vacation to Venezuela. Sherry stayed in nursing and studied for and received licensure as a Registered Nurse. She was a fighter, not a whiner nor a complainer. People with power sometimes think they can take advantage of those less fortunate. In Sherry's case, she proved them wrong.

Overcoming Personal Danger

2009-10-09T00:38:00.001-05:00

I like to write on this blog late at night. It is relaxing. I like to remember the great people I have represented. Tonight, I want to tell you about a woman I met and represented shortly after I became a lawyer. I will call her Shoshana (I just saw Inglorious Basterds). Shoshana was married to Art (not real names). Art was a cop. Art beat Shoshana. It was hard for Shoshana to get any help done when Art beat her, because his cop buddies didn't do anything to protect Shoshana.

Art did mean things to Shoshana's son, such as making him eat regurgitated food for punishment. Art beat Shoshana a lot. Shoshana fled to a shelter on several occasions. She finally decided to get a divorce and she got a protective order.

One evening, Shoshana was driving in her car with her son and daughter in the back when she spied Art following her. Shoshana drove to the police station, honked the horn and told the sergeant that she had a restraining order against Art, about which she had told the police. This was the police station where Art worked, but the sergeant assured Shoshana that he would detain Art.

Shoshana drove home, but Art arrived there first. He ordered the kids to their rooms, ripped out the phones from the jacks, locked the dead bolts on the doors, and started beating Shoshana. His anger intensified, he made Shoshana have sex with him. Then he got a knife and started stabbing Shoshana, but the knife handle broke. Art got up to get another knife. As he did so, Shoshana bolted up and flung herself through the plate glass window in the living room. Art followed. Shoshana, on the ground, looked up at Art. It was as if Art woke up from a nap. He looked at Shoshana, he looked at the knife in his hand, and he ran to his car and drove off, wearing only his underwear. Shoshana came to find out that Art drove to his brother's house, where he put his service pistol to his head and blew his brains out.

Shoshana came to some lawyers, with whom I ultimately got involved, to sue the police department. It was a civil rights case and I was just out of law school. We took depositions. Shoshana and the kids lived in the battered woman's shelter. The city filed a summary judgment motion and the federal trial court threw the case out. For the second time in my life, I wrote a brief and went to the Court of Appeals, this one in Denver, to argue the case for reversal. I was scared, but didn't want Shoshana to know. The judges asked interesting questions, and lo and behold, they reversed the trial court (my first win in appellate court.)

The case was remanded for trial and we began trial. In the middle of the trial the case settled for enough money for Shoshana to buy a home for her kids. They were happy, and I lost track of Shoshana.

Fast forward 15 - 20 years, I get a card from Shoshana, with her beautiful family. She called and we talked. Her small daughter was grown up and a beauty queen. Her son was in college. Shoshana was a banker and married to a kind and loving man. I had wondered what had happened to Shoshana, and quite frankly I had been worried. It didn't seem as if she had much support when we tried the case. It felt good to see her happy with a happy family.

Living in a physically abusive relationship is so detrimental not only to the person in danger, but also to the kids who witness that type of behavior. It seems that abusive behavior can be passed down from generation to generation. Shoshana broke the cycle. I am not sure how she did it - I imagine the shelter helped. I cannot imagine the amount of determination and fortitude it would take to break that cycle. She is amazing.

The Courageous Stoic

2009-10-04T23:09:00.004-05:00

Earlier in my career as a trial lawyer, I thought all of my clients had to express their emotional distress in emotional ways in order to get damages from a jury. The problem is, we don't all express our emotions in the same ways. In my family, my daughter and I are more openly emotional, while my son and husband are more restrained. In my experience, men express emotions differently then women. Sometimes I think it is harder for men. Women cry while men hold in their emotions.

My partner Kristi and I represented a man in an age and retaliation discrimination case and I needed help to see his pain. I hired John Nolte, a psychodramatist, to help me and I had an agenda. I wanted my client to emote. It took me awhile, with John's assistance, to see that my agenda was misguided.

My client, I'll call him Phil (not his real name) was in his late 50s. He had worked as the general manager of a business for ten years when he was brought into the office and fired. He then had to exhaust the money he had saved for retirement to start his own business. At the time Phil was fired, his boss told him that it was nothing personal and he had done a good job, it was an economic decision. However, when Phil asked for a letter with the reasons for his termination, the employer claimed, for the first time, that Phil was a sexual harasser, was lazy, yada yada yada. Phil appeared to take this in stride.

Phil was a very interesting man. He was a jokester, never appearing to take things seriously. Sometimes, Phil would make off the cuff comments that we found to be offensive, jokes that I didn't think were funny. I let him know and he stopped. Phil was "a good ol' boy," who had a good heart. He was devoted to Kristi and I and constantly gave us positive feedback. But, "good ol' boys" don't whine and complain. It's not in their nature. They are the strong, silent types when they are hurting. The phrase "Don't let them see you sweat," was coined with people like Phil in mind. But, Phil was really hurting.

I hired Nolte to help with re-enacts with Phil, but John Nolte helped with so much more. Nolte gave me ideas for opening statement. He told me to set the scene and reenact Phil going into his boss' office and what Phil was really thinking and feeling when he got fired. I did that and I was drawn into Phil's world, the world of the tough guy in pain. And Phil could see that I understood what he was going through.

The defense made a point that the other younger employee who was vulgar and awful and who was fired but then rehired because he begged for his job back. In closing argument, I explained to the jury that Phil did not beg for his job back, that Phil had too much pride to beg. That wasn't who he was. Phil was proud. I could tell immediately from Phil's muted grin that I got him, I knew him, and Phil was pleased. He wouldn't plead or beg, he would not degrade himself. He had too much character and pride.

The jury rendered a verdict for the defendant on the age discrimination case, but gave Phil a good sum for emotional distress and punitive damages on the retaliation case because of the letter Phil got claiming he was a sexual harasser. Phil was pleased. He gave us a gigantic Honey-baked ham that Christmas.

The defendant appealed the case, a federal case, to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and, of course, the verdict was reduced. Phil didn't seem to mind. He was gracious and kind to Kristi and me, told us what a great job we did and I think he meant it. Phil was a class act. I don't know if he still tells the ethnic jokes I found offensive. I hope we learned from each other. I know I learned a lot about dignity from him.

Courage and Overcoming Self-Doubt

2009-10-01T23:47:00.003-05:00

These last few days, I have been thinking about my clients to decide which one I want to write about next. This has been gratifying and makes me realize how much I love my job. I have also come to realize how much I admire nurses. I don't mean in the way that nurses are the "power" behind the doctors, like the "little woman" behind "every successful man." I mean I value nurses probably more than doctors in their own right. I have represented many nurses and have had several on juries. Most nurses do the demanding, stressful jobs they do because they feel they have a calling. Most nurses have the highest ideals and want to heal people. They are not egomaniacs. They are competent professionals with a driving desire to heal. I have loved every nurse I have ever represented.

I have represented nurse/whistleblowers, nurse victims of sexual harassment and a nurse who was a victim of disability discrimination. The latter nurse is the one about which I write tonight. In 1991, Congress passed a law which was sponsored by Republican Missouri Senator Jack Danforth and signed by the first President George Bush to protect employees with disabilities, known as the Americans With Disabilities Act. I tried one of the first of these cases in Springfield, Missouri for this skilled and diligent operating room nurse who happened to have multiple sclerosis.

I will call her Corie. Corie was diagnosed with remitting/recurring MS while in her 40s. She had been a nurse for many years before that. Most of the time Corie was asymptomatic. She avoided places where the temperature was high and occasionally had to take time off when she suffered from tremors.

Corie's life long dream had been to be a Registered Nurse and she loved the operating room. For Corie, the OR is where the action was. She knew her job and she was good. Nursing in an office was boring to her. Corie had been through husbands, and personal problems, but the constant in her life was nursing. After she was diagnosed with MS, she continued nursing in the OR. She was not disabled, according to the legal standard. She could perform the essential functions of her job without accommodation and her major life activities were unaffected.

However, somehow Corie's condition was brought to the attention of her supervisor. Without ever observing Corie doing her work and with little knowledge of the disease, the supervisor determined that Corie was hampered by MS, was confused and could not move quickly enough. She and the hospital wrote up Corie, indicating that Corie was incapable of performing her job in the OR. Corie was devastated, and scared. She began to doubt herself, was her work affected?

Corie was relegated to a supply closet to take charge of the inventory, a job that did not require nursing qualifications. The job was temporary and Corie's supervisor told Corie that once the tasks in the supply closet were completed, Corie would need to find another job on her own in the hospital. Corie was humiliated and chose to quit rather than work in the "dummy" room (the hospital claimed it called the room that because a dumbwaiter was in the room, but I have my doubts).

Corie went to the EEOC and they referred her to me. By the time I met with Corie, she had been out of work for five years. She had applied at a couple of grocery stores for work, but not for any nursing work. I was puzzled. By the time my partner Kristi Kingston and I started trial, Corie had been out of work for seven years and we could not claim lost wages, because she did not even look for a job. In the meantime, Corie and her husband split up.

As we approached trial, I became apprehensive. I was worried about Corie's failure to seek work, but I think something more insidious was really going on. All my life I have harbored prejudices against sick people. I think it stems from a fear that I am supposed to take care of sick people and I don't want that responsibility. I was worried that perhaps Corie's MS might cause her to screw up in the OR and potentially injure a patient, even though her neurologist cleared her to go back to her old job. Plus, I don't like malingerers and I could not understand why Corie was not working anywhere.

We had a mediation and the defendant offered a paltry sum. I was afraid of losing the trial and I tried to convince Corie to take the settlement. Fortunately, for Corie and for me, she refused. I was so insistent that I made Corie cry. I later apologized. Sometimes I think I know everything and I don't.

We went to trial and Corie was wonderful. Her caring nature and love of her job emanated from her soul. She was born to be a nurse and the hospital took that away from her. No one on the jury was concerned about her working in the ER. They saw Corie for who she was, even though I hadn't.

This was a particularly difficult time for Corie, separated from her husband and caring for her aging parents. She got through the trial and she got a decent verdict. Of course, the defendant appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the Court ruled in our favor, after granting remittitur (arghhh, that means they reduced the size of the verdict - it seems they always do that).

After the case was finally over, a wonderful thing happened. Corie looked for work as a nurse. I had not realized how much the hospital's actions had shaken Corie's confidence and she was, probably unconsciously, waiting for someone to tell her she was okay and that she was a good nurse. In essence, Corie regained her confidence after hearing what the jury had to say. She got a job as a nurse and she worked hard. Her MS had not got worse. She was more than capable of practicing nursing.

I learned a lot of lessons in Corie's case. I learned to listen to my client. I had not listened to her when she rejected the mediation offer and believed I knew better than her. I was wrong. I also learned, as the psychodramatist John Nolte says, to listen "with the third ear." I had not understood why Corie did not look for a job. I had not been paying close enough attention to who she was and what made her tick. She felt insecure and scared because of what the hospital had done to her. Immediately after the verdict, Corie had the confidence to find work as a nurse. And I relearned a lesson I already knew - when defense lawyers tell you that no one really wins after a trial, that is mullarkie. Corie won not only money, she won back her life.

Courage in the Face of Victory and Defeat

2009-10-01T00:32:00.004-05:00

I wish I could tell you that every one of my client's won in his or her struggles, but that just isn't the case. That is the hard part for my clients, and for me. There are no guarantees, there is no certainty. This would be hard enough, exposing one's innermost feelings to a group of strangers, even if one were assured that something positive would come at the end. But there are no assurances in law. I liken my job to being a professional gambler. Nothing's certain.

It is one of these uncertain cases which I want to talk about. I want to tell you of my wonderful client and the risks she took in one of my first sexual harassment cases tried to a jury. In fact it was the second one, and I was to try the third just one week later. It was in 1994, right after I returned from the Trial Lawyers College and my new friend from the college, Ken Goldberg, graciously agreed to try this hotly contested case with me. Jury trials in sexual harassment cases were new. The law had just changed. And this case was different than most.

My client was one of the strongest, bravest, most honest people I have ever known. She is one of my friends on Facebook to this day, so I hesitate to state her real name. I will change this if she reads this and wants me to reveal her identity, I will do so. Let's call her, Angela, because she is angelic.

Angela worked in a business that was male-dominated and performed a job usually done by men. She is beautiful and strong. She was happily married with four children and she was devoted to the Lord. As a woman, she was different than most of the men who performed the manual work. In fact, she was a member of a labor union. Most of the time, labor unions are godsends, but this local was not. The title of the union uses the word "brotherhood" and it truly was for brothers and not sisters.

Angela drove a truck and another truck driver repeatedly asked her out on dates. Angela politely told the man that she was happily married and not interested. He persisted, and started making sexual comments. Angela had enough and tried to file a union grievance to get him to stop. That's when the trouble started. The steward did not want to take her grievance, but Angela insisted. As a result of the grievance, the driver was fired by the company and appealed. The union steward, who was also Angela's union steward, started a campaign. As drivers came in, union members would have other members write down lies about Angela, that she used vulgar language, asked for sex, etc. This hurt Angela, who by then had started doing some preaching at a church. There was to be a hearing called a "Two State Hearing" where union and management members listen to evidence and decide the fate of the disciplined employee.

On the day of the hearing, Angela got in her car to drive up by the airport to testify. When she had driven about ten miles, her tires blew out. They had been slit. Luckily, Angela was safe and hitched a ride to the hearing where she testified. At the hearing, there was a stack of written nasty statements by union members who were friends of the harasser, most of whom could not even identify Angela by sight insinuating that Angela had asked for it. The driver got his job back.

Angela came to me and we filed a lawsuit for defamation and for sexual harassment against the Union. The company had done all they could, but their hands were tied by the grievance hearing. The union attorney was mad. Many times he threatened me on camera and said he would be filing a malicious prosecution action against me. The statute of limitations has run and I was never sued. The union offered nothing and we went to trial.

We tried the case in state court and it took two weeks. Angela is so honest and decent, the jury fell in love with her. Never before had she been defamed like this. Never before had anyone treated her so demeaningly and disrespectfully. Although she is a strong woman, she could not help but sob on the stand.

The jury awarded Angela $250,000 for emotional distress and $400,000 for punitive damages against the union. We had over $200,000 to be awarded in attorneys fees. The case made the front page of USA Today. Ironically, at the time of trial, the driver had been fired because he had sexually harassed (grabbed the breasts of) a customer and the union could not bail him out yet again where customers were involved.

The union appealed and for reasons I do not care to remember, ,the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and did not grant us a new trial. Angela lost and that was that. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case. It was gut-wrenching.

At some time after that, I spoke at a lawyers seminar about sexual harassment cases, and Angela agreed to talk to the audience about her experience as a a plaintiff. She talked about how hard it was to have lawyers pry into her most private life, but she did it anyway because going forward was the right thing to do.

Since the trial, Angela was promoted to management at work. More importantly to her and her family, she founded a church. She preaches at her church to this day. Angela is one of the kindest, most caring people I know. I talk to her now and again. Even though we ultimately lost the case, my life was so enriched by representing a brave soul such as Angela. I am thankful for the experience. I hope that Angela was positively impacted by having the courage and fortitude to go forward and fight the good fight, regardless of the result.

Shirlena's Story

2009-09-28T12:02:00.003-05:00

Shirlena, (not her real name), was one of the most courageous whistle-blowers I have represented. I have written about Marley (not her real name). However, Marley might not have come forward against the not-for-profit company the two worked for had it not been for the Shirlena's singular act of courage. Shirlena worked for this company for 26 years, and with the Executive Director for that whole time.

This company was founded to assist a group of professionals and was similar to a local bar association, but for a different profession. The company had an Executive Director, an Assistant Director (Shirlena), the Executive Director's administrative assistant (Marley), another secretary and the bookkeeper. The professionals had a full board of directors with an executive board including a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. In addition to the secretary, there was a finance committee.

One of the functions of the not-for-profit was to organize to get public knowledge out so that the Legislature would pass tort reform, since these professionals believed they were getting sued too much. They were largely successful in their endeavor. The board members focused on tort reform, but many seemed to have little concern about the day-to-day operation of the business.

Shirlena was one of the most hard-working, diligent and intelligent employees a business could have. She was discrete, honest and caring. One day, she decided to look into one of the business' expenditures, a television/recorder set that was supposed to be given as a raffle prize as a convention the business had sponsored. Shirlena asked the Executive Director (we'll call him Ed for short) which professional had won the prize. Ed hemmed and hawwed and named someone in Arkansas. Shirlena checked it out and it was untrue. The following day, Shirlena found a check on her desk in the amount of the television/recorder combo with an apology from Ed. Shirlena decided to search farther to see if there were other irregularities. She found many other things, small in nature, but stealing nonetheless. In Ed's employment contract, the company was obligated to purchase life insurance for Ed, upon which Ed had taken personal loans. Ed had taken other items from the not-for-profit company, trips, televisions, a video recorder, even petty cash money. Ed regularly charged the company for personal items and ordered extra food for events so that he could take the food home to his family. He took cases of soda pop home.

Shirlena decided to tell the former treasurer, a professional whom she had trusted. This fellow told Shirlena that he would relay Shirlena's concerns to the Board and that Ed would probably be suspended while an investigation was conducted. The Board did meet, and decided to appoint one of their members, an ambitious fellow who not only practiced in the field but also held an M.B.A. and whose purpose was to make his honored profession into big business. He wanted a foot into this not-for-profit's door and he got it. This fellow told the Board he would conduct an investigation, but did nothing. He told Ed about Shirlena's complaints and the two of them conspired in ways to get Shirlena to quit.

The company had a valuable retirement program and knew Shirlena was dependent upon it since she intended to retire within 10 years. Ed and the board member decided to slice Shirlena's anticipated compensation. Shirlena was upset, but she did not quit. So Ed and the other decided to tell Shirlena they were taking her duties away and that she could either quit or be paid a fraction of her salary as a bookkeeper. Some of the Board members gave lip service to being upset, the former President resigned, but no one raised one finger to help Shirlena.

Shirlena is a very religious person and she was shocked that after 26 years, after giving her blood, sweat and tears to this company that they, of all people, would treat her this way. Her confidence was shaken and it was just the beginning.

Shirlena came to me. It was after Shirlena was forced out that Marley came forward. I hope you have already read of her situation, which I related below. We took deposition after deposition. Ed admitted to stealing in his deposition. The television was a Christmas gift to his son. In addition, Ed purchased, with company money, gift certificates to the Plaza shopping district and gave them to his daughter and daughter-in-law as Christmas presents. Ed was still employed, Shirlena was not.

In the meantime, Rafe Foreman and I tried Marley's case and the jury awarded a total of $551,500. Shirlena's case was set for trial, but this time there was no dispute that the company had a valid insurance policy in effect that would cover this case. Shirlena was quieter and quieter as time progressed. Ed had stolen her self-confidence, but she was determined to get it back.

When I began voir dire, I knew that Ed was nowhere to be found because we could not subpoena him to testify. He was hiding. I asked the panel if it would make a difference if he did not show. The consensus was a resounding ,"Hell, yes, it would make a difference." The jurors insisted that if Ed did not show, that would say volumes.

Before trial, Shirlena had decided that she would agree to settle her case if the defendant offered $450,000.00. We had been through a mediation some months before trial, where the defendant offered $50,000 and the mediator said she would never recommend that they pay over $100,000.00. Rafe had Ed on the stand when we took a break. The defense attorney offered the $450,000. Shirlena, to my amazement said no. She wanted a sign from God and if God wanted her to settle, then she would know if by the defendant offering $500,000. We went back into trial. As Rafe cross-examined Ed, I saw the defense counsel take his cell phone and leave the courtroom. A few moments later, he returned, went to Rafe and said loudly so the jury could hear, "They will pay the $500,000." I guess he didn't want to risk Shirlena balking, but she didn't.

I believe I witnessed an already strong woman grow stronger that day. Shirlena, as is true of most of us, was afraid of testifying in front of strangers. She was afraid of not being taken seriously again, after the Board had betrayed her. She never had to testify.

Shirlena quit the job she had taken as a legal assistant and set up her own accounting firm. Her honesty, courage, and fortitude paid off. I am a better person for having represented her.

Husband and Wife Courage

2009-09-28T00:11:00.002-05:00

I just wrote about Tandra Chaudhuri, who valiantly fought sexual harassment and breast cancer to look for a cure to breast cancer. Now I want to talk about her brave husband Kurt.

Kurt was a red-headed, freckled Caucasian originally trained as a veterinarian. From what I recall he came from a long line of Missouri veterinarians. Kurt didn't stop his education there, though. He, too, became a biologist, perhaps a biochemist. I don't really remember. I don't remember how he and Tandra met, but I do remember how devoted the two were to each other.

Kurt was called a "whistle-blower" because he worked at the research reactor and had a healthy respect for nuclear energy. Kurt and Tandra took me to the reactor and showed me its core, which was quite impressive. Among the services provided at the reactor were things such as irradiate healing materials for cancer hospitals. They even irradiated clear topaz to turn it blue. When you went into the building, a visitor had to don certain items and walk repeatedly through geiger detectors. Nuclear radiation is a pretty powerful energy source, and, when something is messed up, there can be dire consequences.

Kurt was a scientist, and he monitored the administrative things happening at the reactor. Soon he noticed there were lax controls and shipping quantities of radioactive isotopes were sometimes mis-marked. This could be very dangerous. Kurt complained loudly, and was viewed a nothing more than a trouble maker. Kurt never backed down, no matter what the personal consequences. He was due for a promotion, but it was denied. He was ridiculed and treated with disrespect. In the meantime, Kurt's wife was being hit on by the director.

Another less committed scientist might let the shipping errors slide, but not Kurt. Before obtaining a lawyer, he researched the Energy Reorganization Act, and he learned that he had a short period of time to complain to the Department of Labor. He did and then they contacted me.

It is my understanding that most investigations end in a decision that a violation did not occur or that it was inconclusive. We did not have the option of a jury trial, but had to try the case to am adminstrative law judge from D.C. who held Court in the Boone County Courthouse. We had little time to conduct discovery. In one deposition, Kurt wrote out a question for me to ask about radioactive isotopes. I dutifully, yet ignorantly, read the question. I was surprised when the response was, "Could you explain that question." Of course, I couldn't and we laughed and laughed.

We conducted that hearing for a solid week, with few breaks. One of the hard parts of this hearing was waiting for the decision. Tandra and Kurt continued worked with many people who wished them at least to be gone and at most something far worse. After a few months, we received a lengthy judgment, ALL IN KURT'S FAVOR!! There were shipping violations that must be corrected and Kurt was entitled to his promotion.

Kurt was elated. He is such a kind, diligent man. He had done what he needed to do to make that place safer and he wanted to continue his research with his wife. By nature, I am sure that many describe Kurt as a very serious young man, with little sense of humor. I don't think that is accurate. Kurt loved to laugh, but he was passionate about both his work and his wife and took a no-nonsense approach to both of his loves. He was relieved to move to another university where he and Tandra could research in peace. I also spoke with Kurt every couple of years and he kept me up to date with their lives and always asked about my family, and especially about my daughter Lisa. I thought of them as friends and was devastated when Kurt called to say Tandra had passed on. I hope Kurt reads this and that he is doing well and still making our lives safer through his research. I hope he has found happiness. I miss Kurt and Tandra a lot.

Bittersweet Courage

2009-09-26T22:13:00.001-05:00

I represented Tandra Chaudhuri, a brave woman from India, who was sexually harassed by her supervisor. Tandra was married to Kurt and they both worked as scientists at a research reactor. I can tell you that in my years as a lawyer, and as an adult, I don't think I have seen two people more in love than the two of them. They were both scientists and had voraciously pursued research, the kind of biological research geared to help the human condition. Their energy was boundless. Kurt had his own issues with his employer, but I am concentrating on Tandra here.

Tandra was a beautiful dark-haired, soft-spoken scientist who was taken with my daughter Lisa. Tandra was sexually harassed by her boss, which made it difficult for her to conduct her research. Tandra was devoted to science, devoted to Kurt and devoted to justice. While I represented her, she invited me and my daughter, Lisa who was around 9 years old, to their house. She was a gracious host. She had beautiful red flowers all over her deck and really cared about Lisa. Tandra and Kurt had not children of their own.

We took deposition after deposition of scientist, some in the pocket of management, and others in favor of allowing Tandra, hoping this brilliant and creative woman could do her research free of discrimination and harassment. It was important to Tandra and her husband that they work at the same facility. They were collaborators, and more importantly, they were in love. The defense sent Tandra to a St. Louis psychologist to say that Tandra was lying. In fact this psychologist was shut down in another case trying to testify to this inadmissible fabrication that the Plaintiff lied. Tandra was tough, though, taping the session she had with this paid expert.

Tandra, with her Ph.D. in biology decided to work on a cure for breast cancer. She just wanted to do her research, and she was brilliant at it. During the pendency of the lawsuit, she and Kurt were offered a job at an out of state university and they scooped it up. They finally had the freedom they needed to do good work and help society. We settled Tandra's case. Kurt had a different case that I will write about later.

This was one of my first cases around the time we started my current firm in 1995. Tandra and Kurt seemed blessed. Every few years, I would hear from them and their research. A few years ago, Tandra shared with me that, ironically, she has contracted breast cancer, the very disease she was attempting to eradicate. She sounded hopeful and I naively thought all was under control.

In 2006, I received a sad call from Kurt. Tandra was no longer with us. She succumbed to the very disease she sought to eradicate. Kurt was alone in his research, alone in his life, and seemed to be alone in his sorrow. He sounded lost and despondent. What do you say? I don't know. The loss of Tandra, one of my first sexual harassment clients and my friend haunts me to this day. There are few people like Tandra Chaudhuri and I miss her.

Courageous Whistleblower

2009-09-25T10:03:00.000-05:00

In looking back on my clients, I realize how amazing they are. There are so many tales of courage and fortitude. I am sure many of these brave souls did not realize what lie ahead and how they would be tested. I want to talk about one remarkable woman, whom I will call Marley, not her real name. Marley worked at a not-for-profit organization that was a member organization for a group of professionals. The organization's board was comprised only of these "busy" professionals. In retrospect, I suspect these people liked having the prestige of being an officer of a board, but didn't really want to take the time to run the board.

This organization had an Executive Director who had been at the helm for many years. Marley was his assistant. She worked with another brave whistleblower, whom I will call Shirlena (not her real name), who acted as the assistant director, whose tale I will tell soon. But this story is Marley's.

Shirlena had shared with Marley that the Executive Director (ED, whom I will call Ed) was taking things from the organization. For instance, Ed had purchased a television/recorder for his son for a Christmas present and charged the organization for it, claiming the item had been given to the membership as a raffle prize at a conference. Shirlena confronted Ed, which was difficult. Shirlena had complained to the board. Eventually, Shirlena was forced out. As I said, I will focus on Shirlena's story later.

Marley was shocked and dismayed at Shirlena's fate. A normal, less brave soul might walk away after witnessing the retaliation against Shirlena. Not only did she contact many members of the board of directors about this example of stealing and several others. She also reported to these directors that she had found pornography on the office computers. She later discovered, through the litigation process, that some of the pornography came from at least one of these very same directors. Marley called director after director, until she was blue in the face, but they did not listen. One, a women, thought she was hyper-sensitive. They all acted as if she were a whiner and complainer. The treasurer whose task it was to conduct an investigation into the allegations of stealing did nothing. He seemed more interested in weaving his own businesses into the fabric of the organization. Ed systematically made Marley's life hell. She was barred from the premises when she reported the pornography while the finance director and Ed brought in new computers and implied that Marley was crazy to complain. Marley was a wreck. She found another job making more money and left the job that she had held and loved for eighteen years.

I tried this case with my friend from the Trial Lawyers College Rafe and also with the assistance of my law partners Marie and Kristi. During the discovery phase of the case, Marley was still distraught. She lost sleep, self-esteem, and at times it seemed to her she was losing her sanity. She became obsessed with the case and was so distraught. When Rafe and I were at her house, she was so frightened that at times she had to run from the room crying. Since the defendant's insurance company claimed they had no coverage, we had no offers and had to go to trial.

The trial came. Marley sat silently at the counsel table holding in her emotion. At the end of each day, she felt like she would explode, as the members of the board directors disavowed knowledge. These people were highly respected professionals, and they didn't give Marley the time of day, while she worked there, and most of them still didn't after she'd left. These were people whom Marley had trusted. For crying out loud, these were trusted professionals who we all expect more from. Ed fessed up to stealing. He still had his job. He fessed up to the pornography because we had the photos. He claimed Marley left on her own.

Marley was wonderful on the stand. She had been so distraught beforehand, but with grit and courage pulled herself together and told her story. They jury heard her. They gave her a verdict of a total of $551,500, even though she had not lost one penny of income. The jurors talked to Marley for two hours. Marley felt good.

But it was not over yet. The employer claimed they were going to file for bankruptcy if we tried to collect the judgment, so we sued the insurance company that had denied coverage. Marley thought her battle had been won, but to her it felt as if we were starting from scratch. We ended up trying the case regarding insurance coverage to a judge. Marley wondered if the whole ordeal had been worth it. She still had nightmares, she still was distraught. Marley called me time and again wondering if telling the truth and stepping forward had been worth it. Ed was still ED at the organization. After a few months, we got the word, there WAS COVERAGE!!!

Finally, years after the verdict, Ed was fired (after Shirlena's trial - more on that later.) Marley collected every penny due her. She and her husband took me out to dinner and we celebrated.

I live in the same community as Marley and we shop at the same grocery store. When I see her she is different. My mother and I ran into Marley and her husband at an Il Divo concert and I ran into her and her husband with my husband at the hospital. They took me to dinner again. It is some two years since Marley's judgment is paid. Marley is a happy person, not the stressed, distraught woman I met. She smiles freely and makes jokes. She and her husband, who recently retired, enjoy life. Marley radiates. She shines. I hadn't seen this Marley before the trial. It is so gratifying to see her now. I hope she is as proud of herself as I am of her.

It is really hard to be a whistleblower when you are at a job you love. How people react to whistleblowers says a lot about them. An individual with the courage to tell the truth, even if it is not in his or her best interest is a remarkable person. Marley is now a grandmother. What a fine example she is for both her daughter and her little granddaughter. I am honored that she allowed me to represent her. What an honor.

Age Discrimination

2009-09-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

I have been delaying posting on the blog because I wanted to post the cases in chronological order and I was having problems recalling details with cases that have been over for some years. So, I decided to go in reverse chronological order with the most recent first.

I was recently lucky enough to assist my partner Kristi in trying an age discrimination case to a jury. Kristi and my client is Sue, a 63 year old woman who had worked at the same hotel as a supervisor of housekeepers for 23 years before she was fired. Sue loved her job. It meant the world to her and she was good at it. She knew how to talk to the housekeepers and motivate them. Although many of her employees spoke Spanish and she did not, she had no trouble in communicating with them. Some of the housekeepers told Sue, in Spanish, that they considered Sue to be her grandmother. Sue loved that job and working extra hours was not a chore, but welcomed by her.

Sue was a homemaker once she got married. She never finished high school. Once she decided to go to work, when her children were older and she was divorced, she worked hard. Sue took pride in her job and was a joy at work.

When the hotel was sold, after awhile the new management used "code words" for age discrimination, Sue was "resistant to change," they asked "when was she going to retire," they said "Sue was set in her ways." The new head of housekeeping claimed Sue was "insubordinate" and refused to make beds, although she had been making beds all along. One day Sue came in and the head of housekeeping informed Sue that the hotel was going "a different direction" and Sue "no longer fit in." They fired her then and there.

Sue was devastated. She testified that she felt her world had come to an end. This housekeeping job was not merely a job for Sue, but Sue's purpose for living. Sue quit taking care of herself, her boyfriend and her granddaughter. She wouldn't get out of bed or bathe. She cried a lot. Sue was still like this when she came to see Kristi.

I helped with the trial. I picked the jury, took a couple of witnesses, and did some of the closing arguments. Kristi was responsible for the bulk of the trial. She gave opening statements and did most of the direct examination, some cross, and the opening part of the the first closing argument.

Sue was, by nature, a very sweet woman who had spent her life taking orders and not rocking the boat. At age 63, she didn't know what to do. After her firing she was depressed up until the time of the trial. She couldn't even look for another job because she lacked self-confidence.

What I admire about many of our clients is their fortitude and courage when put to the test. Sue never thought she had what it took to fight her employer, but her courage was actually seemingly endless. Once she started the case, she wouldn't stop. She received only one offer to settle, which was $3500 paid out over 7 months, along with her $26,000 per year job (after 23 years of service) back. Sue said no. We went to trial.

I am not going to relay what went on at trial, even though that is the fun part for trial lawyers to recite and regale. However, the purpose of this blog is to spotlight and honor those courageous clients who help to change things. The trial was hard on Sue. She had wanted to settle out of court, but the offer was an insult. Sue testified and had to defend herself and her performance. She had suffered a stroke a few months before, and she had to overcome the residual effects, such as some confusion, while on the stand. Even more difficult, she had to listen to employees lie about her performance, claiming that she had bad performance yet the employees conveniently failed to document any of these alleged shortcomings. This tore Sue up. It is hard to sit powerlessly while witnesses impugn your character and your work ethic. She sat quietly and listened and withdrew.

Sue had very little in lost wages, since she had suffered a stroke and her wages were small. She did not seek treatment for her depression because she could not afford to do so and people like Sue don't waste there time on luxuries such as counselling. Sue was determined to see the case through, but it was obvious how difficult the trial was on her. At times during the day, she was so withdrawn and quiet that I worried about her.

The jury suffered from some confusion. First, they said they were hung. The judge asked them to continue deliberating. They came back with a verdict, but misunderstood that the case was bifurcated and there would be a second portion for punitive damages. The jury awarded a gross amount, without attorneys fees of $130,000. When the jurors realized it was premature to assess punitive damages, they reduced the award to $50,000 and came back the next day to deliberate over punitives. We fully expected an award of $80,000, based on what had happened. After another closing argument, the jury deliberated, with two jurors who had not agreed with the liability portion of the verdict signing the punitive damage portion of the verdict and the jury awarded $150,000 in punitive damages, almost twice what they had indicated the day before. We are also entitled to attorneys fees to be determined.

The difference in Sue was immediate, and had little to do with the amount of money. Sue was so gratified and felt validated by the juror's belief in her. Her first reaction was to have a good cry, she had bottled her emotions for so long and her self-esteem had suffered so from the firing. Within hours, I could see glimpses of the real Sue, the Sue I imagined existed before the firing. She was smiling and joking. We went out to lunch, the four of us, Sue, Butch (her boyfriend), Kristi and me and had fun. Sue was relaxed. She began to talk of the future. Sure, some was the relief of the trial actually being over, but more was from her realization that not only did she have the strength to fight back, but also to win. The greatest change was in her self-confidence. When Sue was fired, after working for one place for 23 years, and fired at age 63, she was terrified of being rejected again and felt guilty because she could not force herself to look for work and expose herself to further rejection. Now Sue had her old confidence back and was going to look at work. I don't think I had ever seen Sue smile so much. It was a wonderful lunch, not because of the food but because of the wonderful company. I can't wait to see Sue in a few months, after everything sinks in. Our courageous clients who go through this process seem like new people after a few months, their faith in justice restored.

It is wonderful to help our brave clients restore their sense of self. This is my greatest satisfaction in this work. Sue is one of the kindest, sweetest clients we've had. It is gratifying to see her happy again. I can't describe my joy and satisfaction upon witnessing the changes in a client who musters the courage to fight especially when she wins. What a great job I have.

Whistleblowers

2009-09-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

Whistleblowers are an interesting breed. True whistleblowers are courageous, they speak the truth even though it is not in their self-interest to do so. Whistleblowers are not followers, they buck the system. Whistleblowers are not merely satisfied with the status quo, to just get by. True whistleblowers are hard to come by.

We are social animals by nature. We want to get along, be liked, not rock the boat. Whistleblowers act in ways that are unnatural, they take risks and know that they will not just be going with the crowd. It takes a lot of courage to be a true whistleblower.

Whistleblowers are not "snitches." "Snitches" have ulterior motives such as lower jail terms, monetary gain, etc. to accuse another of something he or she may or may not have done. "Snitches" are not altruists, they are in it for themselves. I represent whistleblowers, not snitches.

I am going to tell the stories of some brave whistleblowers whom I have represented. I am changing their names and also those of the employers, but their stories are true. The courageous whistleblowers whom I have represented are:

1. Kurtis* the scientist, who reported shipping irregularities of radioactive materials at the research reactor (yes, that is a nuclear reactor) at which he worked. Incorrect and erroneous shipping and labeling of radioactive materials can have obvious serious consequences, including illness and death. Kurtis should have been hailed as a hero, but instead he was labeled a troublemaker and demoted in his job. Kurtis' whistleblower case was tried before the Department of Labor under the Energy Reorganization Act. I will tell Kurtis' story.

2. Shirlena* and Marley*, were two office workers in a not for profit company. The purpose of the company was to serve physicians in such endeavors such as lobbying for tort reform, promoting continuing education, etc. Both employees discovered the long-term executive director engaged in financial irregularities. Both Shirlena and Marley reported these irregularities to the physician board members. Shirlena was fired. After Shirlena left, Marley discovered pornography on the executive director's computer and reported it to the physician board members. She was forced out of her position. A colleague from the Trial Lawyers College, Rafe Foreman, and I, tried Marley's case to a jury verdict. We began trial in Shirlena's case, but the case was settled in the middle of trial. I will tell Shirlena and Marley's stories.

3. Mary* was happy to get a job with a major pharmaceutical company as a salesperson for a new drug that was in the process of approval by the FDA. Until the drug was approved, she was ostensibly told to sell another drug. However, her boss told Mary and her co-workers to go ahead and start marketing the un-approved drug, which was anticipated to be very costly and was projected to help increase revenue since a major drug had just gone generic. Unfortunately, it is unlawful to market an unapproved drug for reasons that were shown in this case. The drug here was found to potentially be dangerous and got a "black box" warning. Throughout the time Mary's boss told her to market the drug, Mary complained. Mary was ultimately fired. I will share Mary's story.

4. A group of ten nurses and other health care providers were employed in a local hospital in the emergency department. There were serious problems in the emergency department with understaffing and insufficient and outdated equipment. Patients suffered and the health care workers complained. Most were fired, a few were forced to quit, and one was transferred. I will share the story of these courageous workers.

*Denotes not their real names.

Courageous Clients

2009-09-16T22:46:00.000-05:00

What I plan to do is profile several courageous clients. In the next following weeks, I intend to talk about whistleblowers, sexual harassment, racial, disability, and age discrimination victims who fought back. Sometimes as a lawyer it is easy to forget the emotional toll fighting the system is for a client. Without the courage of these special people, and others like them, harassment and discrimination would still be rampant in workplaces and American society in general.

I am excited about telling my clients' stories because I am so proud to have represented them. These stories are true stories of courage. The most gratifying part of my job as a plaintiffs' lawyer is to catch a glimpse of the joy and pride my clients must have experienced before they were victims of discrimination and/or retaliation.

Sometimes we here that someone files a discrimination case and, in essence, it is a trip to the bank. That is just not true. It takes a special person to fight back. I am so honored to represent them.

In the next few days and weeks I intend to write about my clients, people such as Kurt, a scientist, who bucked the system by refusing to violate federal laws in transporting radioactive substantives and the retaliation he suffered in lack of promotions and pay when he complained. I will write about my clients who reported to the not for profit board of physicians in charge of their employee that the executive director was stealing from the company, resulting in the termination of the whistleblowers. I will be recounting the tale of my client, the pharmaceutical representative, who complained about her employer forcing her to market a drug which had not yet been approved by the FDA and her subsequent termination.

I will also be telling the stories of numerous sexual harassment victims, with differing degrees of indignities inflicted upon them who had the wherewithal to fight back. Generally, women are not plagued by sexually inappropriate bosses as in the past because of the courage of people like the ones I represented.

I hope you will find these stories interesting. They are fascinating to me, and it has been gratifying to represent such courageous people. We can change the world even if it is just one case at a time.

Why a Blog?

2009-09-16T00:52:00.000-05:00

I have been a lawyer for 26 years, representing those with uncommon courage, who fight for justice and against unlawful discrimination, racial, sexual, age, disability, etc. I represent whistleblowers who take on the most powerful foes without regard for the toll the fight takes. I feel honored to have touched the lives of these individuals and humbled by how my clients have helped me. I want to write about these courageous folks who make a difference in our society by willing to fight back against mammoth employers. Their stories are stories of hope and despair, joy and pain, and sometimes just of pain and despair. I want to honors these people who have enriched my life so.

That is why I decided to write a blog. I do have a dilemma, though. Communications between my clients and me are protected by the attorney-client privilege and I dare not risk litigation by naming the corporate evil-doers, so I must take care and may need to use pseudonyms to tell these stories. I just want others to know that it is possible to fight authority and win. There can be justice.