Jacksonville Bar Association President Dan Bean
Next to networking, friendship is perhaps the most valuable intangible benefit lawyers derive from their membership in The Jacksonville Bar Association. As I mentioned in my July column, I attribute JBA networking for each of the three civilian legal positions I have enjoyed in Jacksonville since I left military active duty in 1998. Those networking opportunities were all made possible by friendships forged during my participation in JBA sponsored events.
I started participating in The Jacksonville Bar Association sports league in the summer of 1996. I remember this because my son, Riley, was born on July 8, 1996. I brought Cindy and Riley home the next day from the hospital around 4 p.m. and later that night I was in the starting lineup for a softball game against a team that I cannot remember. I also cannot remember how many consecutive days thereafter it was that Cindy would not speak to me for some undisclosed reason. Oddly enough, Riley also did not speak to me, but I think that was for different reasons altogether.
Our neighbor and then Marks Gray attorney Chris Gray was a member of that softball team and had invited me to play at the start of the season. That team consisted of, among others that I can recall some 13 years later, Richard Moore Jr., Ed McCarthy, John Rahaim, David Dearing, Andy Nachman, Mike Sharrit, David Pinkston, Tom Saitta, Arnold Tritt (who was seen at games about as frequently as Marlon Brando, J.D. Salinger, Harper Lee, Bobby Fischer or any various person labeled as a “recluse”), Chris Puleo and my predecessor Joe Camerlengo. It was a great group of folks from a variety of legal disciplines and I was lucky to meet them and count them as my friends.
After virtually every game we would retire to the parking lot to re-hydrate and discuss, among other items, how poorly Camerlengo had played and whether it was possible for Joey Cancer to sink to an even lower level the next week. Joey Cancer never disappointed.
Neither did Rob Devine. I first met Devine when he attempted to lure me away from the Tritt team in the summer of ‘99. Devine tried to pull me away by distracting me with a shiny nickel, which was mesmerizing, but I held out for another year when Devine finally came up with the goods: a six-pack of Budweiser. Devine was an average fielding, non-hitting utility player with limited mobility. He did possess superior knowledge of women’s fashion and was the leading metro-sexual in The JBA back in the day (which is pretty odd since he also rivaled Michael Orr in being a leading misogynist). Our decade long friendship has been one laugh after another and I am blessed to have met him. It always hurt me greatly that I had to place him on double-secret probation from The JBA in 2006, but his three-year suspension just expired and he is eligible to apply for reinstatement to the Jacksonville Bar this month. Should be an interesting debate at our monthly meetings.
It was my friendship with Chris Gray that helped me secure my first job with Marks Gray. He also made sure I played on the Marks Gray basketball teams (we ironically called ourselves “The Marksmen”) and I was able to meet even more Jacksonville lawyers. My favorite basketball story was getting run over by Latasha Garrison-Fullwood when she was playing for the Foley & Lardner team. I recall mentioning something to Latasha as I was attempting to guard her that her Gators were no match for my Commodores and the next thing I remember was being picked up off the floor by a couple of my teammates. To this day if I see Latasha in the Bank of America Building I immediately backslide into my symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
In between softball and basketball was the flag football season and that is where I was literally run over by my now close friend Alan Wachs. (I was not the only Jacksonville lawyer that Wachs ran over on the football field or in the courtroom for that matter.) Wachs was a whirling dervish on and off the football field. He was the designated pass rusher and did not know how to take a play off even when his team was ahead by three touchdowns. My most vivid memory of Wachs on the football field was when he literally flipped the all-time leading JBA passer and legendary Florida State quarterback Gary Pajcic into the air. Mind you this was supposed to be flag football. One would think that Wachs would give due deference to this beloved Seminole warrior; however, that was simply not the case. Gary never missed a beat, got off the deck, dusted himself off, and kept on flipping touchdown passes. Wachs was responsible for my start at Holland & Knight and to this day remains one of my closest friends in the Bar. Like Latasha though, when I see Wachs out in town, I do not break eye contact and I back away slowly lest I too get flipped into the air.
So remember, even though they are some of my best JBA friends, watch out for Wachs and Latasha and never forget, it’s a great day to be a Jacksonville lawyer.