Lawyers | Poets | Poetry
Professor James R. Elkins
College of Law :: West Virginia University
Fall, 2006
Assignments Archive
 Tuesday, August 22, 2006: Getting Underway
We'll do some of the usual and customary things required (or thought to be required) to get a law school course underway. I'll try to respond to the following questions: What is the course? What is it all about? How did it come to be offered? What will I be required to do? Will I be asked to write poetry? Do I need to be a poet to take the course? Is this one of those courses that you need to be a literature major to take? Does the course have anything remotely related to being a lawyer and practicing law? So, we'll take up these questions and others, which I'm sure you must have.
 Note: Reading assignments will be signaled by the use of the page symbol as it appears preceeding this sentence.
 Note2: Assigned poems will be designated with the small page symobl.
 Note3: The golden maze symbol will be used to signal that you are being asked to peruse and determine how you may put to use an on-line web resource.
One must have some curiosity about the origins of Lawyers, Poets, and Poetry. I've attempted to provide an account of how I began my work on lawyer/poets and it may be of some interest to you as we begin the course.
The Remnants of a Lost & Forgotten Library: On Finding the Lawyer Poets [James R. Elkins] [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30, 2006]
The history of lawyer/poets in this country is a venerable one; a history I hope you will aspire to learn something about. When I edited, what I take to be the first-ever collection of lawyers' poetry in 2004, my first inclination was to publish the poetry and only the poetry, and publish it without an introduction of any kind. Some of the poets who contributed to the issue argued against a historical publication of the kind I had compiled without a proper introduction. At the urging of some of the contributers to Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers, I hesitantly set about to write an "introduction."
An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers [James R. Elkins] [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2006] [The essay can be found in one of the assigned text for the course.]
When I began work on the collection, I was determined to publish the poetry without an introduction. I had the sense then (and now) that poetry--when it works--needs no introduction. Poetry speaks for itself. I decided to write an introduction only when several of the contributors to the anthology convinced me that readers would be curious about the editor of such a collection and that I should, in some fashion, respond to the obvious questions: What in the world does he think he's doing in collecting and publishing these poems?
Since this is a course about poets and poetry, there'll be no better time than now to begin reading poetry. For our first class, I'd like you to peruse the poetry of contemporary lawyers (some in the active practice of law, some who have abandoned the legal profession for other pursuits). You'll find the poetry we'll read in course in three issue/volumes of the Legal Studies Forum. The most recent issue of LSF is being provided to you--compliments of of LSF--and you will have to purchase the issue/volumes published in 2004 and 2005.
For our first class, I'd like for you to pick out two poems that you will be willing to read to the class, and that you will be willing to talk about. The poems need not be law-related (indeed, most of the poetry you will read for the course will not be law-related). You'll need to think through, and be able to say something about your selection of the particular poems you've chosen. You don't have to explain your choice in any kind of formal or academic terms. You will be required to say something (anything really) about what drew you to the poems you choose.
We'll continue to read the the poetry of contemporary lawyers, and we will discuss your selections (as time permits) each class that we meet. You can make the poetry, and your commentary on it, part of your class portfolio of writings. You will work on tis portfolio individually, and it will be a part of your final grade.
The online version of the three Legal Studies Forum issue/volumes you've been asked to acquire can be found at:
Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2006]
Intelligible Hues
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29, 2005]
Lawyers & Poets
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30, 2006]
Four of the most well-known lawyer poets are: Wallace Stevens, Archibald MacLeish, Charles Reznikoff, and Edgar Lee Masters. As part of your work for the course you will be asked to choose one of the four poets, and working with a colleague (or alone if you strongly prefer), write a paper about the selected poet. The paper will constitute 50% of your grade for the course.
I have acquired the basic research books necessary to do the research for the paper (using the proceeds from your purchase of the LSF issues) and will make them available to you, on loan, so you can begin your work promptly. (Some of the books are not available at the West Virginia University Library, still another reason to acquire copies for your use.) You are, of course, welcome to acquire personal copies of any of the books, if you should desire to do so. The best source, in my view, for used and out-of-print books is <www.abebooks.com> You are encouraged to peruse your research in books and materials beyond those that I will make available to you.
In order to determine which of the poets you want to work with, you'll need to begin to familiarize yourself with the four poets. The way to begin is to peruse the webpages I've constructed for each of the poets on the website, Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry.
Wallace Stevens
Archibald MacLeish
Edgar Lee Masters
Charles Reznikoff
I have selected these four poets, not because they are the best lawyer poets in American history (although Wallace Stevens is acclaimed as a great poet), but because they are each, in their own way, relatively well-known in poetry and literary circles (and Stevens and MacLeish are somewhat known in legal circles). Another reason to focus on these four poets is that we have significant biographies of three of the poets (Stevens, MacLeish, Masters) and autobiographical writings by all four. There is also a good deal of scholarly literary work about all four (Stevens foremost among them).
The four poets are dramatically different, in regards to the poetry they wrote, the way they lived their lives, how they dealt with being lawyers, and their personality. They are interesting men, men worth knowing, men worth thinking about.
When deciding which of the poets you want to work on, you'll need to peruse the links for each poet on the webpage to learn their biography and their poetry. If the materials you find on the webpage are insufficient (and they may well be), you should talk with the instructor, check available holdings on the poet in the downtown (main) library, or request books on the poet from the instructor.
You should have in mind a second choice. I'd like to have each of you work with the poet you prefer; we also need to have someone working on each of the four poets so that we don't bore ourselves senseless later in the semester when you give class presentations on the poets. Consequently, I'm hopeful, by means fair or foul, that we can end up with each of the four poets being researched.
Note: You may find, for some reason (which I would not attempt to speculate about now), that you simply cannot bear the thought of working on any of the four selected poets. With the permission of the instructor, you can select a poet lawyer of your own choosing. You may have someone in mind, or find someone by way of the Strangers to Us All website. If you do not have someone in mind, and feel the need to work on someone other than Stevens, MacLeish, Masters, or Reznikoff, you are invited to consider the following:  John William Corrington (1932-1968) Pauli Murray (1910-1985) Charles L. Black (1915-2001) Lillian Blanche Fearing (1863-1901) Charles Erskine Scott Wood (1852-1944) Edward Robeson Taylor (1838-1923) John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) William Haines Lytle (1826–1863) Albert Pike (1809-1891) William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)
I've chosen the above poets, again, not because of the overwhelming significance of their poetry, but the fact that we have interesting published biographical (and in some instances, autobiographical) information available (with perhaps the exception of Lillian Blanche Fearing, for which there is quite little available information).
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
 Four Major Poets: We'll continue our discussion of the four central poets: Stevens, MacLeish, Reznikoff, and Masters. I'd like to have your final decision on which poet you intend to work on by our third class on September 12th. Class presentations will be scheduled beginning at the end of October. (I'll map out a basic protocol for this work so you don't spend half the semester trying to figure out how to get started.)
Wallace Stevens Archibald MacLeish
Edgar Lee Masters Charles Reznikoff
Reading LSF Poetry: Continue your reading of poetry in the LSF issues, select poems which you find most interesting (compelling, attractive, puzzling, enticing) and we'll attempt (notice I use the word attempt) to discuss the poems in class. You should now begin to try to write about the poems you selected to present and discuss in class. By writing about the poems, I mean you should address questions such as the following: What does it mean to me to read poetry? Of what possible use can poetry be in a person's life? In reading the poetry of lawyers, is it possible to speculate about the striking number of lawyers who try to write poetry?
In class, I asked for some of you to send me poems that had caught your eye. I received a note after class about two poems, and I'd like for you to read them for Tuesday's class:
Saul Touster, "In Normandy" -- LSF-2006, at p. 276 [on-line text]
Jay Frankston, untitled -- LSF-2006, at p. 408 [on-line text]
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Writing about the Poems You Discover: As part of the course, you will want to pull together a portfolio of poems that you can talk about, which you can begin to discuss in some way. I don't have a format for this kind of writing; I am now undertaking this kind of writing for the first time myself. For my first effort, see, A Return to the Poetry of Lawyers published in the Legal Studies Forum.
I do not mean to suggest that what you write about the poetry you read should look like what I've undertaken. Indeed, my own efforts may take on a different focus as we proceed through the course. What I hope to do is, through the course of the semester, read all the poetry in the three LSF issue/volumes and write a longer report of that reading. (I do not expect you to read all the poetry in all three issue/volumes. It's more important, I think that you find a selection of poetry that's most meaningful to you. As you know from my previous remarks, when I set out to read, I find that I'm not satisfied that I've seen enough until I've read until I think I can read no more. One might think this quality touches on obsession. Another possibility is that it partakes of the lawyer's desire to be totally prepared (knowing that total preparation is nothing more than a somewhat healthy illusion).
Work with a Historical Lawyer/Poet: Please send me an email and let me know when you want to stop by my office to pick up the material on the poet you've chosen to work with.
Reading the LSF Collected Poetry of Lawyers: Continue your reading of poetry in the LSF issues, select poems which you find most interesting (compelling, attractive, puzzling, enticing) and we'll discuss the poems in class. You should begin, now, to write about the poems you are selecting to present and discuss in class. By writing about the poems, I mean that you should address questions such as the following: What does it mean to me to read poetry? Of what possible use can poetry be in a person's life? In reading the poetry of lawyers, is it possible to speculate about the striking number of lawyers who try to write poetry?
Poems about Poetry
Peruse the LSF poetry issues to see if you can find poems about poetry and poets. What, if anything, do you find in the poems about poets and poetry that might help us figure out what we can do with poetry?
Read the following poems on poetry, the first is a short group of poems by Archibald MacLeish and Wallace Stevens. Then read the poems by the non-lawyer poets (many of the poets are quite well-known).
Which of the poems come closest, given what you understand about poetry, to say something you find interesting/intriguing/insightful about what it is poets do and what it is we might do with poetry? How do these poems about poetry help or obscure your efforts to understand poetry? Do you find anything in these poems about poetry that suggest any connections between the work of the poet and the student of your law? [Consider for example, J.K. Stephen's The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger] Between the work of the poet and the lawyer?
Ars Poetica (Archibald MacLeish)
Of Modern Poetry (Wallace Stevens)
A High-Toned Old Christian Woman (Wallace Stevens)
Poetry is a Destructive Force (Wallace Stevens)
Poetry is a Destructive Force (Wallace Stevens)
?Poetry (Pablo Neruda)
Poet's Obligation (Pablo Neruda)
Young Poets (Nicanor Parra) (trans. by Miller Williams)
Why I Am a Poet (Donald Crasswell)
Your Poem, Man . . . (Edward Lueders)
Teaching the Ape to Write Poetry (James Tate)
Introduction to Poetry (Billy Collins)
What is Poetry? (John Asberry)
How Poetry Comes to Me (Gary Snyder)
As For Poets (Gary Snyder)
Salvage This (Jerry Martien)
Eating Poetry (Mark Strand)
How To Eat a Poem (Eve Merriam)
Reply to the Question: "How can You Become a Poet?" (Eve Merriam)
Poetics (Paul Smyth)
The Thought Fox (Ted Hughes) [commentary]
For Poets (Al Young)
Poetry, A Natural Thing (Robert Duncan)
Poetry (Marianne Moore)
Evaluation of an Unwritten Poem (Wislawa Szymborska)
The Joy of Writing (Wislawa Szymborska)
A Loaf of Poetry (Naoshi Koriyama)
Teaching the Ape to Write Poems (James Tate)
The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger (J.K. Stephen)
To The Stone-Cutters (Robinson Jeffers)
The Art of Poetry (Jorge Luis Borges)
The Poet (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
A Poet! He Hath Put His Heart to School (William Wordsworth)
Misc. (Historical Poems)
On the Future of Poetry (Henry Austin Dobson)
Ode to Fancy (Joseph Warton)
Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)
September 12, 2006
Work with a Contemporary Poet: As part of your work for the course, I indicated at the first meeting of the class that I would like for you to contact a contemporary lawyer poet, and after reading his/her poetry, contact the poet to see what you might learn from them. I have prepared a list of the lawyer poets that I've worked most closely with in publishing the three LSF collections and who might be amendable to talking with you (by email I assume, although you are welcome to conduct personal interviews, or correspond by mail). The list contains a brief bio, mailing address, and email address. Email me and I'll send you the list.
You are, of course, welcome to contact any of the lawyer poets who are listed on the Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry website. I do not have the poetry from all those listed on the website, and have email and mailing addresses for some, but not all, of those who are listed. The Strangers to Us All roosters (and bios) are located at:
Contemporary Lawyer Poets - Part I
Contemporary Lawyer Poets - Part II
Legal Verse: For the poetry in this class, I'd like for you to read all the law-related poems in LSF 2004, 2005, 2006 (the three volumes you acquired for the course) and Hank Lazer's "Law-Poems." (Lazer is not a lawyer.)
Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004):
Greg Hobbs, "You Put Your Noodle (p. 84)
Lawrence Russ, "Found Objects" (pp. 188-189)
Paul Homer, "Lament" (p. 247), "Summary Judgment" (p. 255), "A Statutorily Protected Class" (p. 263), "A Literary Guide to Advanced Legal Writing" (p. 275), "Draft of a Lease" (p. 281), "The Lease" (282)
Nancy A. Henry, "Baby's First Bath" (p. 305), "Wax" (pp. 307-308)
David Bristol, "Judgment at Lums" (p. 388)
Jendi Reiter, "1-800-DIVORCE" (pp. 35-351)
John Perrault, "Palace of Justice" (p. 368)
Ace Boggess, "Law School" (p. 386)
Steven M. Richman, "Letters of Credit" (p. 407), "Relocation" (p. 408), "The Old Judge" (p. 410), "Opening Statement" (p. 411)
Barbara B. Rollins, "The Man Child" (pp. 415-416)
Richard S. Bank, "Commonwealth v. Wright, 317 A.2nd 271" (p. 417), "End of an Era" (p. 418), "PDPOM #102" (pp. 419-420), "PDPOM #21" (p. 421), "In re Grand Jury Matter 87-759" (p. 422), "Taking the Damage Out" (p. 433)
Lawrence Joseph, "Curriculum Vitae" (pp. 535-536)
Martín Espada, "Offerings to an Ulcerated God" (p. 551), "The Prisoners of Saint Lawrence" (p. 552), "Sing in the Voice of a God Even Atheists Can Hear" (pp. 553-554), "Tires Stacked in the Hallways of Civilization" (p. 555), "DSS Dream" (p. 556)
Simon Perchik, untitled (p. 603)
Greg McBride, "After Memo-Writing" (p. 661)
Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29 (2005):
Lori March, untitled (p. 273)
Richard Krech, "Life on Appeal (p. 316), "In Chambers" (pp. 317-318)
Katya Giritsky, "South Court" (p. 399), "On Teaching Gang Law Seminars" (p. 400)
Ann Tweedy, "courtroom recess" (p. 411), "touring juvenile hall as part of the court of appeals" (p. 412)
Lee Wm. Atkinson, "Pattern Killer Ensnared" (p. 415)
Kenneth King, "Lawyer Dog" (pp. 419-420)
Richard Bank, "Testation" (p. 421), "PDPOM #14--El Chupacabra" (p. 422)
M.C. Bruce, "Abogado!" (pp. 423-424), "Miracles" (p. 425), "Singing in the Courtroom" (p. 426), "Good Morning" (p. 427), "The Jury Returns" (p. 431)
Michael Sowder, "Former Attorney Offers Prayer of Thanksgiving For His New Job" (p. 477)
Paul Homer, "Informed Consent" (pp. 484-485), "The Trial of Joshua (a/k/a Jesus)" (pp. 488-493)
Howard Gofreed, "Neighbors" (p. 500), "Apostrophe" (pp. 501-502)
Evie Shockley, "the ballad of anita hill" (pp. 506-507)
Ace Boggess, ". . . Like All Petitioners He Must Wait (How Many Cups of Coffee in an Hour?)" (p. 545)
Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30 (2006):
Jesse Mountjoy, "Driving to a Tax Seminar / Notre Dame, Indiana" (p. 364)
David Leightty, "Off the Record" (p. 380), "The Courthouse Starlings" (p. 381), "Constitutionals" & "In the Office of an Attorney Specializing in Accident Cases" (p. 383)
Richard Krech, "Premeditated Deliberated & Intentional" (p. 392)
Lawrence Joseph, "The Game Changed" (pp. 480-481)
Lee Robinson, "Work" (pp. 560-561), "The Rules of Evidence" (p. 562), "Grounds for Divorce" (pp. 563-564)
Susan Ayres, "The Beauty Bar" (pp. 575-576)
Seth Abramson, "If You Ask Your Attorney to Be Concise" (p. 579)
Warren Wolfson, "Eleventh Floor Lies" (p. 587), "Misplaced Blame" (p. 588)
John Charles Kleefeld, "Boilerplate" (pp. 589-590)
Ann Tweedy, "Events Leading up to an Afterlife Meeting Between Terri Schiavo and Manadal al-Jamadi" (p. 620)
Rachel Contreni Flynn, "Poem on the Road to Depose" (p. 690), "Slip & Fall" (p. 692)
Read, also, Tim Nolan's poems, "Work" and "Oklahoma," in his article, Poetry and the Practice of Law, S. Dak. L. Rev. 677, 687-690(2001) [on-line text]
Note: The best way to read the law/lawyer-related poems in LSF is to read the legal verse and then the other poems by the same poet. (What is the relationship of the law/lawyer-related verse to the poet's other poems?)
More Legal Verse:
Hank Lazer, "Law-Poems" [on-line text] [An author's epilogue] [commentary by: Michael Martone | Glenn Mott | Joseph Hornsby | Wythe Holt | Yuante Huang | Phil Beidler]
Resources: Legal Verse
Tuesday, September 19, 2006: Lawyer Poets Talk about Poetry and Law
Tim Nolan, "Poetry and the Practice of Law" [So. Dak. L. Rev.] [on-line text]
[In conjunction with Nolan's Wallace Stevens cinnamon bun story, see Geoffrey Lehman's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Twelve Cinnamon Buns"][on-line text][[Goeffery Lehmann has practiced as a solicitor, lectured in law at the University of New South Wales, and is now a partner in the international accounting firm Price Waterhouse.]
[Tim Nolan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1954. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1978, with a B.A. in English. He and his wife Kate moved to New York City in 1978 where he obtained an M.F.A. degree in writing from Columbia University, worked as an archivist at the Whitney Museum, and read the poetry slush pile for Paris Review. He returned to Minnesota in 1985 and received his J.D. degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1989. Nolan's poems have appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares, Poetry East, and other journals.]
Tim Nolan's Poetry
Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2006] [pp. 391-398]
Intelligible Hues
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29, 2005] [pp. 535-539]
Lawyers & Poets
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30, 2006] [pp. 675-683]
Carl Reisman -- Strangers to Us All (on being a poet & lawyer) [on-line text]
Reisman's Poetry
[forthcoming, Legal Studies Forum, 2007]
 Gerry Spence, "Winning Ways with Juries" (Association of Trial Lawyers of America, 1985) | Audio cassette | Spence Commentary: On Being Afraid | The Trespasser | Gerry Spence -- Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
In conjunction with the Spence audio, consider:
 Tim Nolan's comment: "As both a lawyer and a poet, my best work has been based on hunch and instinct. What might not initially seem to be a good approach, either legally or poetically, often ends up being the best possible approach, because it is my own." Tim Nolan, Poetry and the Practice of Law, 46 S. Dak. L. Rev. 677, 692 (2001)]
Carl Reisman's observation that "poetry demands that the poet be true to himself." Reisman goes on to note that: "Lawyers have tremendous power in our society and with that power comes responsibility. An education in the humanities, that encouraged a love of literature, the native language and soil, that taught the value of sitting in the dark and finding one's own peculiar truth, might produce happier, more thoughtful and caring lawyers, than does a legal education based on intimidation, competition, and conformity. Poetry might be the essential part of such a curriculum, a means of helping the law and the lawyer find their songs."
Gerry Spence, "The Wyoming I Knew" [on-line text] [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2004] [pp. 99-103]
TS Kerrigan, unpublished interview [scheduled for publication in the Legal Studies Forum in 2007] [TS Kerrigan--Strangers to Us All] [Before the Supreme Court--Kerrigan's account of his first Supreme Court appearance]
TS Kerrigan, Poetry, 27 Legal Stud. F. 283 (2003), pp. 283-302 [on-line text]
TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F. , vol. 28 (2004), pp. 221-232 [on-line text]
TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol 29 (2005), pp. 459-472 [on-line text]
TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol 30 (2006), pp. 655-667 [on-line text]
Ruthann Robson & James R. Elkins--A Conversation, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29, pp. 145-171 [on-line text]
[James R. Elkins, A Poetics--of and for--Ruthann Robson, 8 N.Y.C. L. Rev. 363 (2005) [on-line text]
Ruthann Robson, selected poems, Legal Stud. F. , vol. 29 (2005), pp. 95-144 [on-line text]
Simon Perchik: An Interview, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29 (2005), pp. [on-line text] [Simon Perchik--Strangers To Us All]
Simon Perchik, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 28 (2004), pp. 587-633 [on-line text]
Simon Perchik, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29 (2005), pp. 541-549 [on-line text]
Lawrence Joseph, Theories of Poetry, Theories of Law, 46 Vand. L. Rev. 1227 (1993) [on-line text] [Lawrence Joseph -- Strangers to Us All]
Lawrence Joseph, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 30 (2006) (pp. 469-482) [on-line text]
Lawrence Joseph, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 28 (2004) (pp. 535-548) [on-line text]
A Final Reading:
Michael L. Richmond, Can Shakespeare Make You a Partner?, 20 St. Mary's L.J. 895 (1989) [on-line text]
Tuesday, September 26, 2006: Lawyer|Poets Read|Speak Their Poetry
In-Class Audio Presentations
 "Gerry Spence's Wyoming The Landscape" | Poetry by Gerry Spence | CD |
Gerry Spence, "The Wyoming I Knew" [on-line text]
Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2004, pp. 99-103
Gerry Spence was born, raised and educated in Wyoming. He graduated from the University of Wyoming Law School in 1952. Spence spent his early years as a prosecutor and gradually developed an insurance clientele. After successfully defending insurance companies for many years he decided to quit representing corporations, insurance companies, banks, and big businesses, and he began to to represent individuals.
Spence first gained national recognition when he received a $10,500,000 verdict against Kerr-McGee in the Karen Silkwood case on behalf of her children. Later he earned a $26,535,000 verdict against Penthouse for Miss Wyoming and successfully defended Ed Cantrell in a Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case. He received a $52,000,000 verdict against McDonald's Corporation, the fast-food chain, on behalf of a small, bankrupt, family-owned ice cream company for McDonald's breach of an oral contract. A Utah medical malpractice verdict of over $4,000,000 established a new standard for nursing care in Utah. In 1990, he won acquittal for Imelda Marcos on multiple charges after a three and one-half month trial in New York City. In 1992, he received a $15,000,000 verdict for emotional damages incurred by his quadriplegic client because a major insurance company refused to pay the $50,000 policy more than twenty years earlier. Two weeks later his client received a judgment awarding $18,500,000 in punitive damages. In 1993, Spence successfully defended Randy Weaver on murder, assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the famous Idaho federal standoff case. He has not lost a jury trial since 1969, and he has never lost a criminal case.
Spence is the founder and director of the nonprofit Trial Lawyer's College, where lawyers learn to try cases on behalf of the people. The Trial Lawyers College also conducts a yearly death penalty seminar for public defenders and others defending against the death penalty. Spence also founded the New Judicial College for judges, an annual retreat for judges at Thunderhead Ranch. [Gerry Spence--Strangers to Us All]
Lillian Kennedy, "Tomorrow in the Mountains of Vermont" | CD recording | for Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry (and the students at the College of Law, West Virginia University) | "Tomorrow in the Mountains of Vermont," and other poems :: see Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 27 (2003) |
Lillian Baker Kennedy, a Maine native, received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. Kennedy has an active domestic relations practice in Lewiston, Maine. Her first collection of poetry, Tomorrow After Night, was published by Bay River Press in 2003. Her poetry and the sculpture of Kerstin Engman was displayed at the University of Maine’s Lewiston/Auburn gallery, November, 2003, in an exhibit called, “Earthly Beatitudes,” the title of the featured poem. [Lillian Kennedy--Strangers to Us All]
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004)
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30 (2006)
Tuesday, October 3, 2006: Lawyer|Poets Read|Speak Their Poetry
In-Class Audio Presentations
Martín Espada, "Now the Dead Will Dance the Mambo" | CD | Leapfrog Press AudioBooks | 2004 |
Martín Espada's parents immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico and settled in New York. Martín was born in 1957; he grew up Brooklyn. He practiced law as a tenant lawyer and is now a professor of English literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he teaches creative writing, Latino poetry, and the work of Pablo Neruda.
Espada's seventh collection of poetry, Alabanza: New and Selected Poems (1982-2002) was published in the 2003 by W.W. Norton and Company. His previous collections include Imagine the Angels of Bread (W.W. Norton and Company, 1996) and Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover's Hands (Curbstone,1990). He is also the author of a book of essays, Zapata's Disciple, published by South End Press in 1998. [Martín Espada--Strangers to Us All]
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004), pp. 549-556
R. S. Bank, "Some of the Secrets" | CD | 2000 |
Richard Bank was born in 1942, at Philadelphia. He graduated from Villanova Law School in 1968 and took up the practice of law, first in general practice, and then in 1972, as a public defender. He resigned from the Public Defender’s office in 1979 to resume private practice, where he handled primarily plaintiff's negligence cases. In 1982, he returned to the Public Defender’s office to try major felony cases. Bank has taught continuing legal education courses on jury techniques, coached the trial advocacy team at Villanova Law School, and taught criminal justice at Villanova. Bank’s poetry has appeared in numerous poetry journals and in a chapbook entitled Some of the Secrets (2002). He has also taught poetry at the Philadelphia Writers Conference.
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004)
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29 (2005)
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30 (2006)
Audio Presentations Available on the Web:
Carl Reisman, "Home Geography," in Home Geography II | forthcoming, Hot Lead Press, 2007 | on-line text (used with permission of Carl Reisman) |
Carl Reisman was born at Rochester, New York in 1961 and was educated in the public schools in Rochester, Memphis, and Evanston, Illinois. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois, Reisman cooked in New Orleans, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Eugene, Oregon, and Iowa city, before returning to school in 1993 to pursue a law degree from the University of Illinois. Since 1996, he has worked as a lawyer in Urbana, Illinois, where he maintains a solo practice in an old Phillips 66 service station. His legal practice focuses on personal injury and worker's compensation.
Reisman is the author of a collection of poetry, Kettle (Hot Lead Press, 2005), and two collaborations with his artist brother, David Reisman, a children’s book, Peppertree Joetop and the Magic Frogs (which remains unpublished), and an introduction to his brother's book of dream drawings, Foreign Objects, published by Hornbill Press in 2004.
Reisman's Poetry
[forthcoming, Legal Studies Forum, 2007]
Tim Nolan, "The Prayer Chain" | read by Garrison Keillor | The Writer's Almanac | April 26, 2006 | on-line poem & audio | note: scoll to find the Nolan poem |
"The Lost Work" | read by Garrison Keillor | The Writer's Almanac | October 18, 2005 | on-line poem & audio | note: scoll to find the Nolan poem |
"The Eulegy" | read by Garrison Keillor | The Writer's Almanac | August 27, 2004 | on-line poem & audio | note: scoll to find the Nolan poem |
Nancy Henry, "People Who Take Care" | read by Garrison Keillor | The Writer's Almanac | February 11, 2006 | on-line poem & audio | note: scoll to find the Nancy Hery poem |
Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata" | on-line spoken poem |
Max Ehrmann was born at Terre Haute, Indiana in 1872. His parents had emigrated to the United States in the late 1840s from Bavaria, Germany. Ehrmann attended De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana (1890-1894). While at De Pauw, he was editor of the school newspaper, Depauw Weekly. He then studied law and philosophy at Harvard and in 1898 published his first book, A Farrago.
Returning to Terre Haute in 1898, Ehrmann practiced law as Deputy States Attorney for two years and then worked for a number of years as credit manager and attorney for his brother's manufacturing business.
At the age of 40, Ehrmann left the family business and took up writing full-time. He would eventually wrote more than 20 books, as well as numerous pamphlets, essays, and poetry. His most acclaimed work, "Desiderata," was published in 1927. "Desiderata" has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and anthologies and was produced as a single record by Warner Brothers in 1971. The poem has generated substantial confusion and litigation over its copyright.
Max Ehrmann died September 9, 1945.
[This bio of Ehrmann is an edited version of one prepared by Susan Dehler, archivist at the Vigo County Public Library (Indiana) which is used by permission of Ms. Dehler.]
Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)--Strangers to Us All
"Wallace Stevens Reads" | read by Wallace Stevens | audio cassette | HarperCollins | 1956, 1998 |
Wallace Stevens Reads | Harper Audio | on-line reading |
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)--Strangers to Us All
"Archibald MacLeish Reading From His Works" | Long-Playing 33 1/3 Record Recording | Caedomon Publishers | 1953 | audio cassette :: 1976 |
Web Resources: Oral Tradition: Wikipedia | Oral History: Wikipedia | Oral Poetry: Wikipedia | Praise Days for the Oral Tradition | Basque Oral Poetry Championship |
Tuesday, October 10. The musical program for the evening is as follows:
Lawyer|Poet|Singer|Songwriters
John Perrault
"Country Matters" | Rock Weed Music | 1988/1995 |
"P.L.M. Before You Go" | Rock Weed Recordings | 1997 (with Barbara Londong & Jim MacDougall) |
"Rough Cuts" | Rock Weed Music | 1998 | (with Mike Rodgers) |
John Perrault, The Ballad of Louis Wagner and Other England Stories in Verse (Peter E. Randall, Publisher, 2003) (accompanying CD)
| Poems -- Legal Studies Forum | Five Poems | "Third Shift" |
John Perrault is a New Hampshire teacher, folksinger, musician, lawyer, and Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Perrault was raised in Maine and graduated from Providence College in 1965. He received his Masters degree in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire. He taught school for 10 years and then obtained his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center. With John Ahlgren, he formed the law partnership of Ahlgren & Perrault in 1982. Perrault has appeared in concerts throughout New England singing his ballads. His music albums include: Thief in the Night (1977), New Hampshire (1981), Tenants in Common (1984), Country Matters (1988), Country Matters (1995), PLM: Before You Go (1997) [Source: Personal communication with John Perrault]
Perrault's poetry has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Commonwealth, Key West Review, and Poet Lore. His first published collection of verse, The Ballad of Louis Wagner: & Other New England Stories in Verse was published in 2003 by Peter E. Randall, Publisher. Perrault's latest collection of poetry, Here Comes the Old Man Now was published by Oyster River Press in 2005.[Source: Ballad of the Barrister & Personal communication with John Perrault] [Barrister Ballader--New Hamphsire Public Radio]
Jeff Talmaldge
"Secret Anniversaries" | Bozart Records | 1999 |
"The Spinning of the World" | Bozart Records | 2000 |
"Bad Tattoo" | Bozart Records | 2001 |
"Blissville" | Corazong Records | 2006 |
Stephanie Haffner
"sub urban poet: the lawyer songs" | gorgeous giant music/BMI | 2003
Folkpop songstress Stephanie Haffner sings about boys, girls, coffee, anxiety, redevelopment, suburbia, rock-n-roll & all manner of real life, along her guitar work. Haffner started composing songs when she walked the "99 acres" between the Gallup New Mexico school bus stop and home, singing to herself. She started writing songs during a break from studies at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall school of law, and began singing around the San Francisco Bay area. After law school, she moved to Stockton, and began contributing to the Stockton and Sacramento music scenes while holding down her day job as a legal aid lawyer. In 2003 she released the self-produced CD, 'Sub Urban Poet: the Lawyer Songs,' a minimalist, solo, political, acoustic-electric-spoken word follow-up to the acoustic lovelorn pop of her 2001 debut, 'Are You the One?' In 2004, Haffner relocated to Southern California where she dropped out of law practice and singing and took up law school teaching. She has now resumed the practice of law and supervises the housing/consumer unit of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County.
Haffner informs us: "My City (the mayor's song) was written around 2 a.m. while working out the theory of the case in a motion for preliminary injunction for Price v. City of Stockton, a redevelopment suit that resulted in a published opinion at 390 F.2d 1105 (9th Cir. 2004). Hallelujah reflects on the circumstances of the same case--months after winning a preliminary injunction that ordered Stockton to stop using code enforcement as an excuse to shutter residential hotels & displace their residents unless it also gave substantial relocation assistance. Of course, the injunction did not stop all the closures (though it did halt some)--or other run-the-bums-out measures." [Personal communication, Stephanie Haffner, October 7, 2006] [See: www.stephaniehaffner.com]
Bob Noone
"2nd Help of Chicken Soup for the Lawyers's Soul" | LawSongs, Inc | 1999 |
Bob Noone
Tuesday, October 31: Class Presentations:
Edgar Lee Masters
Peruse the Edgar Lee Masters webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
Audio recordings of SpoonRiver Anthology may be presented in conjunction with the presentation.
Archibald MacLeish
Peruse the Archibald McLeish webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
Tuesday, Nov. 7. Election Day. No Class
Wednesday, Nov. 8. Class will meet with our guest, Michael Blumenthal
Peruse the Michael Blumenthal webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
Blumenthal's presentation at the law school is based on an essay to be published in the Legal Studies Forum, titled "The Road Not Taken--Twice." [on-line text]
Tuesday, November 13: Class Presentations :: Wallace Stevens & John William Corrington
Wallace Stevens:
Peruse the Wallace Stevens webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
John William Corrington:
Peruse the John William Corrington webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry
A selection of poetry (by Professor Elkins) from the corpus of John William Corrington published poetry which was published in the Legal Studies Forum, vol. 27, p. 511 (2003) [on-line text]
James R. Elkins, A Great Gift: Reading John William Corrington, 26 Legal Stud. F. 425 (2002) [on-line text]
Tuesday, November 21. Thanksgiving Break. No Class
Tuesday, November 27. Class Presentation: Charles Reznikoff
Peruse the John William Corrington webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry, and in particular, the poetry which can be found via the webpage.
David Skeel, Point-Blank Verse, an essay in Legal Affairs [on-line text]
Benjamin Watson, Reznikoff's Testimony, 29 Legal Stud. F. 67 (2005) [on-line text]
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