Reflections of a Boston Lawyer

Pictured above from left to right: Yours truly, Justice Ralph Gants, and then-President-Elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Richard Campbell, at the 2011 Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid Here I am, a blogger almost at a loss for words. In the span of one week, the legal community has lost two of its heroes - first, the highly respected Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Ralph Gants, and days later, the revered Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For those of us who practice law in Massachusetts and care about these things, it may take some time to recover from the one-two punch. Much has already been said and will be said about Justice Ginsburg, but I want to take this occasion to remember Chief Justice Gants. Our paths had crossed a few times, although mostly I observed his important work from a distance. Chronologically, we were close contemporaries, and though we were of like minds, he devoted himself to full

By now, we all have heard the reports that the current occupant of the highest office in our land has referred to America's fallen warriors as "losers," and those who answered the call to military service as "suckers." He denies the reporting, of course, but not only has it apparently been confirmed by numerous reliable sources, it also is consistent with words that we have heard from his own lips, notably in his expressed disdain for the late Senator John McCain because of McCain's capture during the Viet Nam war (a war that the President was able to avoid because of alleged bone spurs). From this warped perspective, Trump was a winner (for avoiding service), while McCain was both a loser (for being captured) and a sucker (for serving his country). If this view of the world were accepted, then not only would all American service men and women throughout our history be considered "suckers," but so would those who volunteer for any worthy cause with