Almost exactly forty years ago, I was an Artillery Officer in the United States Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton, California.
The Battalion was getting a new Commanding Officer, and needed a new Legal Officer for the Battalion. The description included “being the Legal Advisor to the Battalion Commander.” The job was to handle the initial preparation of Court Martial proceedings for everything from minor offenses to major felonies, Nonjudicial Punishment proceedings, Judge Advocate General Manual Investigations, Administrative Discharge prosecution, Pretrial Confinement Hearings, and other miscellaneous tasks. All of that, in addition to being available to go to the field as an Artillery Liaison Officer, supporting various Infantry, Tank, and LAV operations.
I applied and was given the job.
At the time, I had no interest in becoming a lawyer. But now here I am 40 years later.
For four decades, I have worked in the law virtually every day – first as a Marine Legal Officer, then as a Law Student, Moot Court Competitor, and Law Review Editor, then at two of the best law firms ever to exist in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex, and finally running my own law practice with multiple offices and many employees for the last 32+ years.
In that time, I did not do “a little of everything.” I did a lot of a lot of things.
I have had more jury trials and bench trials than I can possibly remember. It is the same with both contested and “simple” hearings, mediations, and consultations.
I have been on both sides of virtually every kind of case and have even been honored to assist a District Judge when her Associate Judge was unavailable on a couple of occasions.
I have been named Top This and Best That, and all the other miscellaneous “awards” that are sometimes earned, sometimes given, and occasionally questionable in origin.
I was told that my reputation as a Legal Officer was as “the best in the 1st Marine Division,” I set the all-time record high score in the Naval Justice School’s Non-lawyer Legal Officer School, finished law school as the Highest Ranking Graduate, and have been able to claim the title of Expert, due to being Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Most importantly, I have been able to help thousands of people. Many I have become lifelong friends with – one that had little money even spent the night at my house when in from out of town for his trial – and quite a few I have talked to at nights, on weekends, and holidays, when they needed advice, and it couldn’t wait.
It has all been an honor. I have been far more blessed than I ever deserved to be. I have been blessed by getting to help many that I honestly do not believe would have gotten the help they needed if I had not been there, and I have been blessed to work for and with some of the finest people I have ever met.
I wish I could say, “Here’s to 40 more years,” but I think I will be long since with Jesus by then.
I thank the Lord for all the blessings and opportunities I have received, thank all of those who have been willing to trust me with their lives, and thank all of those who have been willing to work with me to help so many who needed us.
Thank you!
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