I saw the movie The Soloist with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. The movie is based on the true story of a newspaper columnist who befriends a mentally ill homeless musician. The portrayal of his life on the streets was very moving, and also provided a glimpse into the enormous homeless community in Los Angeles. Ninety thousand people are homeless there, enough to constitute an entire city on their own. In Seattle, we have about 8,500 homeless residents among us.

As a bankruptcy lawyer, I feel particularly compelled to do what I can to help end homelessness. Many of our clients at Resolve Legal file bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure, and we do our best to help our clients save their homes. Few of our clients, however, face absolute homelessness. In these deeply uncertain times, though, we expect that we will see increasing numbers of formerly middle class failies who will spend some time with nowhere to call home.

We live in the world's wealthiest nation, and we should be able to provide a place for every one of our citizens to sleep. Hopefully, this movie will inspire people to do something to help change the shameful fact of homelessness: donate money to a shelter, call or write your legislator, volunteer.

Many homeless people, when asked, say the worst part is the way people ignore them, overlook their very existence. It costs nothing to meet a person in the eyes and wish them a good day. Merely by recognizing the humanity of a fellow citizen, we can make a big difference. Perhaps that is the most important lesson of all.

Labels: Personal, politics

We set aside this Thanksgiving holiday to commemorate a time when, in the midst of great hardship, we came together as a community to feast with our neighbors and to take time out to just be grateful. We find ourselves again in a time of great hardship, although certainly few of us have experienced the illness, cold, and hunger that were the norm in centuries past. Nevertheless, many of our neighbors are sick or cold or hungry each day. We should not forget them as we sit down to whatever feasting we enjoy.

Even in such difficult times, there is always something to be grateful for. I am blessed with a healthy family, and two wonderful daughters who are both doing pretty well for teenagers. Generally, there is enough food to eat -- good, healthy food in astonishing varieties. What would the pilgrims have thought about bananas or pineapples? And virtually every American has access to clean, fresh water in abundance, delivered right to their house. Half the world does not have easy access to fresh drinking water, yet we merely have to turn a tap, and it pours forth.

The months and years ahead will likely be filled with many opportunities to worry, to work, to protest, to complain. Today, for Thanksgiving, may you find a moment to pause and remember to be grateful for what we have.

Labels: Personal

I attended two funerals this week for lawyers, both good friends. Although they were almost a generation apart, the two men were similar in their stellar professionalism, work ethic, and generosity to other lawyers.

Bill Hines practiced for more than 20 years in Seattle as a federal criminal defense lawyer. Bill was smart and funny, and a passionate defender of civil rights and the Constitution. We were told that Bill was the first criminal defense lawyer to be memorialized at the Federal Courthouse, a tribute to his integrity and the respect the entire federal bar held for him, including prosecutors, judges, and court staff as well as fellow defense lawyers. I think my favorite image of the event was the bike messenger who came and mourned Bill's passing along with all the suits in the room. How like Bill, to develop a relationship with the bike messenger.

They don't make men like Bill Hines anymore. He grew up in rural Florida and worked in many different jobs over the years, including mechanic and boat electician. He could build or fix almost anything. He earned his doctorate ABD (all but dissertation) in political science. He went to law school to change the world, and change the world he did, not in the least for the hundreds of defendants he represented. He also quietly "adopted" an ever-expanding network of nieces, and was the best husband he could possibly be to the love of his life, Amy Hines. We will miss him terribly.

Willard Hatch was the dean of the Seattle bankruptcy lawyers for the last 50 years. Almost every bankruptcy attorney in Seattle has some connection to Willard. I am proud to be connected through my partner, Cynthia Kuno, who was Willard's last protege from 1992-1997 when we started Crocker Kuno. Willard consulted with Crocker Kuno after he retired from Foster Pepper for several months, before he decided to give up his license, and he and I worked on a case together, representing a debtor in a workout. At Crocker Kuno and Resolve Legal, we aspire to re-create the Hatch & Leslie of old -- a true Seattle bankruptcy boutique and a family, too.

Willard's family generously shared their memories of their father (and their struggles with him) with us in a very moving memorial service. I was surprised to hear of his shortcomings as a father, particularly since I have known him primarily through the devoted eyes of the lawyers who ardently admired him. Where at home he may have been remote and cantankerous, at work he was supportive and cantankerous. He was famous for his brevity, known for answering the phone last name only with no other greeting -- "Hatch!" I got to know him in the last decade of his life, when he had softened considerably, but he was still taciturn, never one to waste words.

Although I doubt they ever met, Willard and Bill shared a passion for justice and civil rights, for liberal causes, for craftsmanship and the Northwest, and for the profession of Law. In addition, they each passionately loved their wives, Bill for almost 25 years, and Willard for almost 50 until Ginger passed away some years ago. When men like these leave us, it is our obligation to remember them and to sustain the values they taught us -- to pass those values on to the next generation of lawyers. May their memories be a blessing to us.

Labels: Personal, professionalism