I have been a criminal defense lawyer in Boston for the last 28 years.  Most of my clients are poor people of color who generally don't get the kind of representation other folks do. While I am not the best lawyer in Boston, I do hope I am making a difference in some peoples' lives by making sure that if the state is going to take away their liberty it does so only after my client gets a fair shake.  I like having to think on my feet at trial, and I like beating the prosecutors and cops.  It's hard to get rid of that old competitive spirit.  So, if any of you get busted in Boston, give me a call - I have a special rate for college and high school classmates that is somewhere around 150% above what I would charge anybody else!

 

I went to Earlham College after WJ.  Three good things happened there.  It kept me out of the draft for four years.  I was ready to go to Canada in late 1970, early '71 if I had had to but my lottery number turned out to be four numbers higher than they drafted that year.  I did not think I could fight for what was, at that point, Tricky Dick Nixon's war.  I got to play varsity soccer for three years.  In those days small Quaker colleges had an advantage because all the Quaker high school jocks played soccer, not football.  As a result I got to play with some really good players, and teams.  My junior year we were ranked in the top 20 nationally - with no regard to divisions 1, 2, or 3 then.  The third thing was I met Merri Lea Shaw (WJ '67).  We have been together since - just celebrated the 39th anniversary of our first date.  She is an MSW with a private practice doing psychotherapy - this after spending a number of years at McLean Hospital, a private psychiatric hospital.

 

I spent four years between college and law school.  I went to Memphis, Tn. as a Vista volunteer, and to work with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund right after college. Most of the work was organizing poor women around welfare rights and education issues.  Merri Lea joined me there when she finished at Earlham.  We then spent a number of months traveling around the West, camping and visiting friends and family. In 1972, we moved to Massachusetts where we were part of an intentional community centered around a dairy farm.  We were full time farmers for a year.  When the community broke up, I took a job at Old Sturbridge Village (the poor man's Williamsburg) as a 19th century dirt farmer/historical interpreter.  Best job I ever had - driving oxen while plowing a field, or to haul lumber out of the woods on a snowy day is tough to beat.  I almost walked out of law school the first day it snowed during a class.

 

The best thing I have done since WJ was to become a father.  I was not sure about the idea at the time, but it really has no equal.  The unconditional, and inexplicable, love you feel for your kids is unfathomable if you haven't had kids.  We have two:  Will - class of '05 from Haverford, and Laura - class of '08 at St. Mary's College of Maryland.  Merri Lea gets most of the credit for them being such terrific kids but she assures me I added something. They gave us a big compliment a couple of years ago when they asked to go on a vacation with us - not something I could picture asking my parents to do with me when I was in college.

 

I am jealous of the many things I see so many of you have done over the years, but my greatest admiration goes out to Kathleen Dawe.  Anyone who does 700 miles of the Appalachian Trail rocks!  Best hikes I have taken are to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and the Kalalau Trail on Kauai. 

 

I don't expect to make the party but I hope everyone has a great time.

 

Peace.

Since 2006 I have been continuing my work as a criminal defense lawyer in the Boston area - still representing mostly poor people of color who have traditionally not received the kind of legal representation everyone should get.  I have decided to slow down some so I am no longer handling murder cases that take so much time and energy.  I still like what I am doing and stll think it's important.  I also am not sure what I would do with myself everyday if I didn't go off to court. In 2015, the Frank J. Murray Inn of Court named me their lawyer of the year.

My kids are both in D.C. Will is with the OMB doing education analysis and policy making while Laura is a nutrition policy specialist for the USDA and just rewrote the USDA rules for nutrition at child and adult day care centers.

Will is married, and he and Callie have one son - Nat.  Merri Lea and I get to spend a week every summer with them, and Laura, on Southport Island, Maine. 

Sorry I didn't make the reunion.  I did run into Andrea Stevens on Sebago Lake, Me. on August 15th, so I did get an update.  I hope eveyone is doing well.

Peace.