| Some lawyers keep files on a variety of cities to | | | | town. He sits down to get a drink and looks like |
| follow trends. They may have a list the reads like; | | | | he just came from a long day at the office. The |
| File Baltimore, File Los Angeles, File Cincinnati. They | | | | bartender, managing a bar three deep in happy |
| might be concerned with Los Angeles taxes or | | | | hour customers, hears him call for a scotch and |
| Cincinnati debt relief. These files might hold a slew | | | | water. A girl walks in and sits next to the man. |
| of cases filed in local courts, each case | | | | She notices he is slurring his words and wobbly on |
| representing a family in crisis. The court house | | | | the chair. She sees the bartender set a drink in |
| halls are filled with men and women struggling to | | | | front of the man and notices several empty |
| regain ground in a volatile world. Decisions are | | | | glasses near him. The man leaves the bar, gets in |
| handed down, often based in precedent or legal | | | | his car and kills three people including him in an |
| calculations the parse the facts and boil the issues | | | | auto accident on the way home. |
| down to big words and conceptual ideas of | | | | The bar and the bartender are sued and the |
| contracts and obligations. Often these lives are | | | | court finds them negligent in serving the man |
| decided by statutes in black and white. On the | | | | alcohol and responsible for contributing to |
| good days the law works and justice is served. | | | | manslaughter. The civil case destroys the |
| On the bad days the real story gets lost and the | | | | business. The woman testified that he was |
| winner is the one who told the best tale and | | | | already drunk and said she saw several glasses |
| adroitly manipulated the few agreed upon facts to | | | | sitting in front of him. The bartender stated |
| their own advantage. | | | | honestly that he didn't remember serving the man |
| Laws attempt to take a world filled with shades | | | | more then one drink and thought he would |
| of gray and create black and white rules to follow. | | | | remember someone having four scotches. He |
| The law changes regularly attempting to mend its | | | | conceded that he didn't remember the man at all. |
| inherent flaws, but always to late for those that | | | | The man had consumed enormous amounts of |
| showed the need for a remedy. Slap open a file, | | | | scotch at other bars, but that part of the story |
| pull out a case and there on the table is a story | | | | never made it into the record. |
| told from two perspectives in an obscure | | | | The truth is often hidden behind the facts and the |
| language designed to thrust the literary dagger | | | | perceived story. In this case everyone, including |
| deep while hiding the vulnerable elements of the | | | | the bartender, assumed the appearance was the |
| story behind a wall of obfuscation. What is missing | | | | truth. A good lawyer would have known that |
| is the unvarnished truth and the real human story. | | | | truth can be as elusive as true love. |
| A man walks into a classy bar in the middle of | | | | |