{"id":116479,"date":"2025-04-25T08:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/25\/less-talking-at-more-talking-with\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T08:03:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:03:05","slug":"less-talking-at-more-talking-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/04\/25\/less-talking-at-more-talking-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Less Talking At, More Talking With"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you know what \u201cMcCarthyism\u201d is? If not, Google the word, and if it doesn\u2019t chill you, it should. You are probably too young to remember the seven dirty words<\/a> that George Carlin couldn\u2019t say. The judge hearing the lawsuit filed by Perkins Coie<\/a> against the Trump administration found that its labeling \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d as \u201cdirty words\u201d to be both \u201cjarring and puzzling.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no indication when the DC federal district judge might rule on Perkins Coie, but it is helpful that one court sees through the Wizard of Oz\u2019s machinations.<\/p>\n

The New York Times conducted an opinion poll of a few independent voters who had voted for Trump last year. While some had concerns about tariffs and Elon Musk, not one of the 13 polled said that they would have voted differently<\/a>.\u00a0The interviewers summarized their findings with the 13 independent voters: \u201cHe\u2019s doing what he promised, and actual change is taking place in the country for the first time in a long time. That change might be painful, or I might not like every aspect of it, but that\u2019s what I signed up for when I voted for Trump.\u201d No one gave Trump a failing grade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not one question was asked about the issues that concern lawyers: the fragility of the Constitution, based upon actions taken by Trump so far, and the equal fragility of the Rule of Law. It seems as if only we lawyers care about what have been bedrock principles so far. The cultish admiration for 47 does not bode well for persuading any one, at least in that poll, that he is steering this country in the wrong direction, which is what we lawyers fear. But at a recent town hall in Fort Madison, Iowa, Republican Senator Charles Grassley got an earful<\/a> \u2014 and more \u2014 from his constituents about deportation and due process. Yay!<\/p>\n

Ever since January 20, 2025, Trump 47 has engaged in target practice. Closest to all our lawyer hearts (at least I think so) have been the relentless attacks on the judiciary and a number of Biglaw firms. Institutions of higher education, among others, are also feeling the arrows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of us have been outraged by Biglaw firms caving in to demands to knuckle under to Trump\u2019s Rule of Law (having nothing to do with the Rule of Law that we practice under). Those include, but are not limited to, dismantling any and all DEI programs.<\/p>\n

We worry about looming constitutional crises. We have signed on to amicus briefs, we have watched various Zoom events, but are we the people who need the education? Are we really just talking among ourselves without regard to the citizens who think that 47 will provide long-term gain, even if there\u2019s short-term pain?<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t the ones who need to be reached out to, not preached to, those who think that the way the country is headed is precisely the right way? Constitutional crisis? Where? So what?\u00a0Rule of Law? Who cares? How do we reach Trump voters? How to chat with them (not lecture them) on the looming constitutional crisis?\u00a0 How to chat with them (not lecture them) about the different roles of our three branches of government, the theory of checks and balances?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not the time for so-called \u201celites,\u201d regularly seen with noses in the air and pedigrees (not the dog food variety, but maybe it should be) to lecture, sermonize, patronize\u00a0 or in any way talk down to the citizens who voted for Trump. How do we cross that great fractious divide without alienating those who may not have gone to college but are successful in so many other ways that we don\u2019t consider? Those who may not have had the privileged lives of many of us, but who deserve our respect and dignity, whose successes need to be recognized as equally valuable?<\/p>\n

This \u201celitist\u201d issue arose in the 2008 presidential election. Candidate Barack Obama insulted Midwest small-town voters<\/a>: \u201cThey get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren\u2019t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton didn\u2019t win any friends in her 2016 campaign when she called half of Trump\u2019s supporters a \u201cbasket of deplorables<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

How do we talk with people, not at them, about the risks this country faces now? It\u2019s difficult to find anyone who cares about what happens to Biglaw where even their first-year associates make way more than the average American income<\/a>. So, how do we share that what is important to lawyers today is also important to the country at large? Your thoughts?<\/p>\n

\n

Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She\u2019s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact \u2014 it\u2019s not always civil. You can reach her by email at <\/strong><\/em>oldladylawyer@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Less Talking At, More Talking With<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you know what \u201cMcCarthyism\u201d is? If not, Google the word, and if it doesn\u2019t chill you, it should. You are probably too young to remember the seven dirty words<\/a> that George Carlin couldn\u2019t say. The judge hearing the lawsuit filed by Perkins Coie<\/a> against the Trump administration found that its labeling \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d as \u201cdirty words\u201d to be both \u201cjarring and puzzling.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no indication when the DC federal district judge might rule on Perkins Coie, but it is helpful that one court sees through the Wizard of Oz\u2019s machinations.<\/p>\n

The New York Times conducted an opinion poll of a few independent voters who had voted for Trump last year. While some had concerns about tariffs and Elon Musk, not one of the 13 polled said that they would have voted differently<\/a>.\u00a0The interviewers summarized their findings with the 13 independent voters: \u201cHe\u2019s doing what he promised, and actual change is taking place in the country for the first time in a long time. That change might be painful, or I might not like every aspect of it, but that\u2019s what I signed up for when I voted for Trump.\u201d No one gave Trump a failing grade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not one question was asked about the issues that concern lawyers: the fragility of the Constitution, based upon actions taken by Trump so far, and the equal fragility of the Rule of Law. It seems as if only we lawyers care about what have been bedrock principles so far. The cultish admiration for 47 does not bode well for persuading any one, at least in that poll, that he is steering this country in the wrong direction, which is what we lawyers fear. But at a recent town hall in Fort Madison, Iowa, Republican Senator Charles Grassley got an earful<\/a> \u2014 and more \u2014 from his constituents about deportation and due process. Yay!<\/p>\n

Ever since January 20, 2025, Trump 47 has engaged in target practice. Closest to all our lawyer hearts (at least I think so) have been the relentless attacks on the judiciary and a number of Biglaw firms. Institutions of higher education, among others, are also feeling the arrows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of us have been outraged by Biglaw firms caving in to demands to knuckle under to Trump\u2019s Rule of Law (having nothing to do with the Rule of Law that we practice under). Those include, but are not limited to, dismantling any and all DEI programs.<\/p>\n

We worry about looming constitutional crises. We have signed on to amicus briefs, we have watched various Zoom events, but are we the people who need the education? Are we really just talking among ourselves without regard to the citizens who think that 47 will provide long-term gain, even if there\u2019s short-term pain?<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t the ones who need to be reached out to, not preached to, those who think that the way the country is headed is precisely the right way? Constitutional crisis? Where? So what?\u00a0Rule of Law? Who cares? How do we reach Trump voters? How to chat with them (not lecture them) on the looming constitutional crisis?\u00a0 How to chat with them (not lecture them) about the different roles of our three branches of government, the theory of checks and balances?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not the time for so-called \u201celites,\u201d regularly seen with noses in the air and pedigrees (not the dog food variety, but maybe it should be) to lecture, sermonize, patronize\u00a0 or in any way talk down to the citizens who voted for Trump. How do we cross that great fractious divide without alienating those who may not have gone to college but are successful in so many other ways that we don\u2019t consider? Those who may not have had the privileged lives of many of us, but who deserve our respect and dignity, whose successes need to be recognized as equally valuable?<\/p>\n

This \u201celitist\u201d issue arose in the 2008 presidential election. Candidate Barack Obama insulted Midwest small-town voters<\/a>: \u201cThey get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren\u2019t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton didn\u2019t win any friends in her 2016 campaign when she called half of Trump\u2019s supporters a \u201cbasket of deplorables<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

How do we talk with people, not at them, about the risks this country faces now? It\u2019s difficult to find anyone who cares about what happens to Biglaw where even their first-year associates make way more than the average American income<\/a>. So, how do we share that what is important to lawyers today is also important to the country at large? Your thoughts?<\/p>\n

\n

Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She\u2019s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact \u2014 it\u2019s not always civil. You can reach her by email at <\/strong><\/em>oldladylawyer@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Less Talking At, More Talking With<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know what \u201cMcCarthyism\u201d is? If not, Google the word, and if it doesn\u2019t chill you, it should. You are probably too young to remember the seven dirty words that George Carlin couldn\u2019t say. The judge hearing the lawsuit filed by Perkins Coie against the Trump administration found that its labeling \u201cdiversity, equity, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":116348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-1085153066-o3nuLp-scaled.jpeg?fit=2276%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}