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[...] to our musings on those lawyers who have abandoned legal careers in favour of leading their countries, writing books and shedding their clothes, we’re [...]
Life after the Law: the Magnificent Seven
January 13, 2009Is there life after the law? Fortunately, the following people show that lawyers can live happy and fulfilled lives even when they’re not contemplating timesheets, billable hours and, in more than a few cases just now, redundancy.
1. Tom Holt, author.
The goateed Mr Holt is a regular blogger for the innovative and enjoyable legal site www.lawandmore.co.uk. He readily admits that he is unlamented by m’learned friends from his former life as a solicitor. “Thirteen years ago, I did my bit for the legal profession by leaving it, thereby at a stroke raising the standards of efficiency, competence, commitment and drive in the provision of legal services in the south west of England by a fistful of percentage points,” says Holt. The author of You Don’t Have To be Evil To Work Here, But It Helps, among many other tomes, adds that “They were glad to see the back of me – but not nearly as glad as I was to go.”
2. Tim Kevan, author.
Yet another lawyer-turned-writer, Kevan does not have a goatee but does have an enviably harmonious work/life balance. He recently jettisoned a career as a successful London personal injury barrister in favour of coastal life, moving to North Devon to pursue his passion for surfing. He is the author of Why Lawyers Should Surf and has a novel out with Bloomsbury later this year.
3. Brian Moore, rugby player, manicurist and commentator/columnist.
Memery Crystal’s loss was, for many years, the England rugby union team’s gain, as Moore nipped off for training and international tours to win a total of 64 caps as a hooker. He subsequently trained as a manicurist and now works as a commentator for the BBC. He also pens a column on wine for The Sun. (Photo: 5Live on Flickr.)
4. Bob Mortimer, comedian.
Who among us does not admire the smaller half of genuinely funny (as opposed to Ross/Brand funny) comedic duo Reeves & Mortimer? Bob Mortimer only goes yet further up in our estimation when we learn that he was once a solicitor with Southwark Council.
5. Barack Obama, American President.
Becoming the leader of a country is pretty good going for any lawyer. Incoming American President Obama shares this distinction with Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Nicholas Sarkozy, among others. Nice work but only a very few can get it.
6. Alex Wade, beach bum.
Wade was once a lawyer with Carter-Ruck. He was also Richard Desmond’s head of legal affairs, a vice-president (legal affairs) of a major sports rights company and a fearless litigator with Wiggin. However, his life foundered some 10 years ago, upon which he wrote a book called Wrecking Machine, which he followed with another, called Surf Nation. He was last spotted on a beach in Barbados, where he was heard to say: “I am returning to the UK to stand for PM. After all, if Clarkson can do it, so can I.”
7. Oona O’Connell, Playboy Model.
Pundits say there is more chance of Clarkson saying that cars are evil than there is of Wade leaving his Caribbean idyll, not least because islands, rather than Houses of Parliament, tend to attract the likes of lawyer-turned-model Oona O’Connell. The “fabulously glamorous young lawyer” has graced the pages of Playboy, but is she really a role model for lawyers who fear the chop in 2009?
We’re not sure, though O’Connell is not the only lawyer to have stunned her colleagues by her cheery disinhibition. We’re thinking, of course, of Susan Selles, member of the Florida Bar Association and star, some ten years ago, of adult film Jurist Erotic.
Is Selles still, we wonder, a “lawyer by day – sex goddess by night”? We can only hope so, for if she is, there is hope for all of us.
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[...] Whilst it is difficult to look on the bright side, particularly when the recruitment market is also suffering, here is something to think about from Swordplay, Life after the Law: the Magnificent Seven. [...]
Seven of the Best Alternative Professionals
August 30, 2010Susan Casey’s new book, The Wave, is soon to be published. It brilliantly illumines the world of professional big wave surfing, at the same time as exploring the phenomenon of rogue waves (specifically, those which top 100ft).
Suitably inspired, we thought we’d take a look at a different kind of professionalism than is usually to be found on these pages. Those featured in our magnificent seven of alternative professionals may not wear suits for a living, still less spend their time in the boardroom, but they couldn’t do what they do if they weren’t every bit as dedicated, focused, driven and downright professional as those at the helm of a City law firm, finance house or PR company.
Hamilton is the star of The Wave, and no wonder. Based on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the man is a force of nature, a 6″3′ powerhouse who makes big wave surfing look like a walk in the park. But it isn’t. The wave known as Teahupoo, surfed by Hamilton in Tim McKenna’s picture below, is a killer. Only years of focus, training and preparation make Hamilton able to ride this wave with such aplomb.
2. Danny Way
Warning: do not watch this footage if you are afraid of heights (and squeamish). American skateboarding star Danny Way has been rebuilt more times than the bionic man. He’s also made a small fortune from a sport so often wrongly derided as ‘for kids’. Definitely not one for a suit and tie, Way nevertheless deserves respect – as much as he would appear to need a permanent personal medical staff.
3. Shane McConkey
Professional skier Shane McConkey died in March 2009 while skiing in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. His death robbed the world of extreme sports of an athlete known for combining BASE jumping with skiing, as seen in such feats as skiing into a BASE jump off the Eiger. RIP.
4. Shaun White
There are those who say that White, snowboarder extraordinaire, has the kind of hair that is inimical to success. We say, like Forbes magazine, that if White earned $9 million from his endorsements in 2008 alone, what’s he worth now? We also say: don’t try what White does at home. Or anywhere, really.
If BMX riding is jejune, does it matter? Not to Macaskill, a man who’s worth a lot of money thanks to his remarkable ability on a bike.
6. Lynn Hill
There are rock climbers, and there’s Detroit-born Lynn Hill, the woman who made the first free ascent of the infamous Nose Route on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Currently sponsored by the Patagonia gear and clothing company, Hill has done it all, taking phenomenal risks in the pursuit of her calling. Take a look at the intensity of her gaze: this woman would have been a genius at whatever she’d chosen to do.
She has the best name of any sportsperson, ever. She also looks pretty good, too, and is even better at her chosen discipline, wakeboarding. And discipline is the name of the game: as with everyone here, however outre their worlds, however extreme their sports, if they weren’t disciplined they’d not only be impoverished but also, quite possibly, dead. Respect.
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Hats off to the News of the World
August 30, 2010
Fantastic sting by the News of the World, whose legendary undercover reporter, Mazher Mahmood, has pierced the heart of some disgraceful match-fixing in professional cricket. Hats off, yet again, to Mahmood, but, strangely, we feel slightly sorry for him. Will he ever be able to retire into the sun and live a normal life? Somehow we rather doubt it.
Pictured: something which is decidedly not cricket.
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Judge Dread, truly dread
August 24, 2010
An Englishman’s home is his castle. This ancient tenet of English society means that when a burglar breaks into an Englishman’s home (or castle), the homeowner, or feudal Lord, is entitled to defy him. The tools of defiance are many and varied but include diplomacy (“isn’t it past your bedtime?”), wheedling (“please, my good fellow, won’t you go away?”), lies (“see that castle across the street? It’s full of gold bullion”) and weaponry (“is that a nuclear missile in my pocket, and why aren’t you terrified to see me?”).
This last, however, causes problems. When a homeowner, eager to defend his castle, shoots a burglar, all hell breaks loose. Tabloid hacks break out in sweats as they find themselves compelled to blame European laws and the politically correct for daring to wonder whether such force was necessary when, really, all that is in issue is whether shooting dead an intruder was proportionate to the perceived threat and context.
In the US, this question was recently answered in the affirmative by the excellently named Judge Carlisle Overstreet. The 65-year-old judge shot and killed an unarmed bandana-wearing burglar after the man broke into his home and started coming upstairs. According to the estimable Legal Blog Watch, the dead burglar, John Howard Jr. (who, says the Augusta Chronicle, delighted in the nickname ‘Killa’), was one of two men who broke into the judge’s house in the early hours of the morning. The other, William Omar Jacobs, turned himself in and was denied bail.
This sorry or inspirational tale begs a question. If it had happened here, would it be the first time in recorded history that a judge had killed a burglar? In fact, is this unprecedented across the pond, too? And more to the point, if anyone says the judge acted disproportionately and that he really shouldn’t be canonized, are they politically correct stooges from a morally abased, utterly bankrupt European superstate (or something like that: we confess that tabloidese eludes us)?
Pictured: a judge says “Clint Eastwood isn’t the only one who likes large handguns.” But note: she’s not Carlisle Overstreet.
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