{"id":9687,"date":"2008-08-01T17:13:38","date_gmt":"2008-08-01T22:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/08\/01\/living-legend-law-blogging-and-the-cult-of-jerry-spence\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:23","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:23","slug":"living-legend-law-blogging-and-the-cult-of-gerry-spence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/08\/01\/living-legend-law-blogging-and-the-cult-of-gerry-spence\/","title":{"rendered":"living legend law blogging (and the cult of Gerry Spence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[The orig<\/a>. image in the masthead of Gerry Spence’s Blog<\/em><\/a> is twice as big as the above version; photo taken by Leroy J. DuBr\u00e9 at the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, WY.]<\/p>\n

If<\/em><\/strong> I had taken my own advice, I would have stayed away from Scott Greenfield’s weblog Simple Justice<\/em><\/a> and ended this week of blogging with something quick and easy. Instead, I was seduced by Scott’s posting, “Message or Messenger?<\/a>” (July 29, 2008), where he points his finger at a recent post by Living Legend Lawyer, and newbie blawger-star, Gerry Spence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

T<\/strong><\/em>he piece at Gerry Spence’s Blog<\/em> is titled “Defrauding our nation\u2019s lawyers<\/a>.” It starts, “Most trial lawyers have been defrauded of their education,” and decries the inadequate preparation received in law school, and the deadening mindset it instills in law students. Spence offers numerous metaphors turns-of-phrase, including his lawyering-as-story-telling theme, and opines:<\/p>\n

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\"\" “One need not write poetry or paint pictures to be a successful human being. But some intimacy with the arts and the language and its use and with right brain functions of feeling and creativity are essential to the development of the whole person. Little wonder that lawyers, disabled by all of the stifling, mostly useless mental exercises they have suffered, have trouble relating to jurors much less to the rest of mankind.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Scott read that post and the host of comments it inspired at the two-week-old Spence<\/em> weblog, and (be)moans:<\/p>\n

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Had any other blawger written this post, it would have, at best, been ignored and, at worst, ripped to shreds for its shocking superficiality and lack of substance. Instead, it was worthy of note by Bob Ambrogi<\/a>.
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Am I the only one to think this?<\/em><\/p>\n

Has the blawgosphere become more enamored with the messenger than the message?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh,<\/em> the mischief Scott has spawned over here at f\/k\/a<\/em> and at Simply Senryu<\/em><\/a>, another one of my haikai weblogs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"MockingbirdPeck\" <\/span> B<\/strong><\/em>efore yesterday, I had only spent a few minutes at the Gerry Spence Blog<\/em>, and only skimmed the postings, while pretty much ignoring the Comment sections. Having been brought up on images of country lawyers<\/a> like Abraham Lincoln<\/a>, Matlock<\/a>, and Atticus Finch<\/a>, I was a bit surprised that the man who insists<\/a> “I am truly a country lawyer,” has enshrined such an enormous glamor shot of himself in the masthead of his weblog (which Simple Justice<\/em> noted<\/a> might “signify that special sort of vanity that leads to effective satire”), took himself so seriously in his very first blog post<\/a>, and did so much boasting on his About page<\/a>. Spence says his goal is “Putting power back into the hands of the people” but, from where I sit, his weblog seems to get its energy from that inexhaustible lawyer resource, Wind Power.<\/p>\n

So, Scott’s question (echoed by Ken Lammers<\/a>, who called the Spence weblog “strange . . . in a self-promoting, cult-creepy way”) — about whether Spence’s lop-sided messages would be so well-received by the legal community if served up by a less-legendary messenger — did resonate with this old advocate for the Little Guy (who so often preaches until blue in the face, without attracting followers or groupies). I was, therefore, all set to think hard about that question, and the initial post’s topic of legal education — until <\/em>Prof. Yabut<\/a> tapped my soldier and gleefully reminded me of my frequent vows over the past few months to be less negative and judgmental here at f\/k\/a<\/em> (and in my life in general).<\/p>\n

\"NoYabutsSN\" The validity of Yabut’s point was undeniable, as<\/em> was the realization that avoiding conclusions about Gerry Spence would save me a whole lot of work today. Thus, I’m only going to make two points about the issues raised by Scott Greenfield:<\/p>\n