What do you call a smiling, courteous person at a bar association event? The caterer. What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge. Why am I sharing jokes that poke fun at our own profession? Because, well, we’ve got a sense of humor—and we thought we’d offer up a few chuckles before asking everyone to join us in celebrating the seriously important work we do. And with that, joke’s over; it’s International Be Kind to Lawyers Day!
According to the event’s official website, Steve Hughes—a non-lawyer from St. Louis who sought to raise awareness of the critical services attorneys around the world provide—declared the second Tuesday of April as Be Kind to Lawyers Day. Hughes strategically set the day to fall right in between April Fool’s Day (April 1) and U.S. Tax Day (April 15). Given our love of a good strategy (and our aforementioned sense of humor), we think this works just right.
Getting to Know Us
Ours is certainly one of those professions that movies, TV shows and popular culture like to sensationalize, whether depicting the greedy “ambulance chaser” persona or fictionalizing some down-and-dirty courtroom drama. The fact is, the law applies to nearly every facet of life, and the primary job of a lawyer is to help people to navigate, understand and abide by it.
In other words, our work generally isn’t the stuff of prime-time television (sorry, folks!)—but we wouldn’t trade it for anything.
These days, even life’s most common situations and processes involve complex legal considerations. Our knowledge and 50 combined years of experience allows us to guide individuals and businesses through:
- Estate planning
- Long-term care planning
- Landlord/tenant issues
- Incidents of personal injury
- Contract, consumer and property concerns
- Sale and purchase of real estate
- Zoning and building permit requirements
Certainly, disputes arise, but our goal is to help settle them fairly out of court. When litigation proceedings are necessary, we provide skilled, compassionate representation at every step.
How Will You Spend Be Kind to Lawyers Day?
The official BKTLD (we may have just hereby coined something there) website offers several fun ways to show recognition and support of the legal profession. Here are a few to consider:
- Watch your favorite legal drama or read a classic law-centered novel (we like To Kill a Mockingbird)
- Salute the flag as you drive by your local courthouse.
- Slip legal jargon into your vernacular whenever possible. Misspoke? Move to strike it from the record.
- Send your favorite lawyer a “just because” card or note
- Tell a lawyer joke, replacing “lawyer” with your own profession.
Whether or not you choose to “go legal” today, we hope that in reading this post you’ve learned something new about the real-world practice of law and the services we provide. Contact us any time to learn more about how we can help. (And if you do adapt a good lawyer joke, be sure to share it!)