Courtrooms are like that, aren't they?
I learned a lot from my friend and lawyer who represented me once in a nasty situation. "Chuck," he said, "This is justice," as he made a circle with his thumb and left index finger. And making a similar circle with his right hand he added, "And this is the legal system." As he moved them to overlap each other in varying degrees he went on, "We want them to overlap perfectly, but they seldom do. The degree to which they do overlap is the degree to which we've succeeded."
He got as much overlap, as it were, for me as was possible in that proceeding. The opposing lawyer (I live in a sparsely populated area) couldn't look me in the eye afterward when our paths crossed. My younger son, as years passed, came to understand that my lawyer and I had tried to do the right thing by him in that proceeding.
Another good friend and lawyer was a tailback at USC (remember the single wing?) who earned All-American honors mention while attending law school. He was another who could have made more money by taking cases he didn't want to represent, but didn't, and sought to do the right thing. He opened a small second office in the mountain town where he lived during trout season more as a public service than anything, and he made enough money to enjoy a lifestyle that included fly fishing and talking football with several of his friends. I was lucky to be among them.
