The Darkness Visible: Litigation Stories & Lawrence Joseph's Lawyerland

Abstract

Once upon a time I worked for a firm on the Gold Coast in the suburbs in Connecticut. We were affectionately known to the legal community as The Professional Bastards of Fairfield County. Tough guys. Litigators. I worked for the two senior litigators, David and Mac, mostly. David’s father was one of the founders of the firm. Already in his eighties, he still came into the office nearly everyday. Mac called him the Old Man or, more bitterly, “The Ointment” because of his initials, “A.D.” as in “A&D Ointment.” The firm was all angry men who didn’t seem to like one another very much; in fact, they didn’t seem to like anybody. I didn’t fit the type, but I could write. I had taught legal writing, and so the partners, ironically, and mockingly, called me “The Professor.”

Keywords: Storytelling, Litigation, Legal Writing, Lawyering