painter’s brief

Some years ago I asked my mother why she wasn’t putting her bachelor’s degree in art to good use.  I was confused for a good reason: I had grown up in a home adorned by her beautiful oil paintings and watercolors, but I don’t have a single memory of her picking up a brush.  I think that her most recent painting is dated 1997.

That day she responded that although she doesn’t paint anymore, she still believes that she’s an artist because she “lives her life artistically.”  This presumed-to-be cop-out answer disappointed my inquisitive mind, but I think that I’m beginning to understand what she means.  After all, you may remember that about nine months ago a girl told me that only knowledge, art, and love were worth living for and I responded that in my mind all three are but subsets of art.  Before that I once explained to a friend that sex could be analogized to some high and expert form of art, like sculpting.  Like art, it could be approached not only passion but deliberation, skill, and an open mind of aesthetic appreciation.  Maybe it exists at an even higher and more difficult level since it’s reciprocal, like a movie that is being watched live as it is being shot.  Now that I think about it, I hope that this wasn’t what my mother had in mind when she replied to my innocent question that time.  Moving on.

I like to think that law can also be practiced artistically.  A dramatic and boisterous oral argument can easily be analogized to a theatrical performance when it’s filled with Hollywood drama, but a less-dramatic-but-effortlessly-persuasive performance has an equal, if not greater power to evoke emotions and imagination.  After all, what playwright would not aspire to write something that produces such a vivid and convincing picture that it has the power to convince twelve people to move millions of dollars, imprison, or execute?  Trials are supposed to be about facts, but by definition jurors cannot be eye-witnesses and only witness the events in question through the multimedia presentation of two professional performers: plaintiff’s counsel and defense’s counsel.

Similarly, good written argument can be approached as an art.  Ross Guberman, the “legal writing pro” who was pait to come to PDS training and teach us not to suck, riffed on the message that “good legal writing is good writing.”  Any law student will look at you through blearly eyes and tell you that this principle is not universally recognized by jurists and scholars, but in my mind to abandon this pursuit is to abandon a substantial part of what makes practicing law worthwhile.  Actually, I was glad that Mr. Guberman felt strongly about good writing because there are probably many people out there who feel that art and profession can and must remain separate.  I disagree.

As an aside, in an effort to become a better writer I’ve recommitted myself to reading good literature.  I picked up Atlas Shrugged recently: so far I think that it’s well written but its philosophical underpinnings are oversimplified and childish.

Anyway, I’m not saying that I would sacrifice efficacy for beauty in the pursuit of being an artful lawyer.  Jeremy Clarkson, a writer and entertainer that I admire deeply (I stop just short of saying “my hero” because I simply can’t agree with some of his basic politics), maintains that cars cannot be art because art cannot have a purpose.  I’m not sure what he’s on about: aside from cars, things like watches, furniture, or clothing have equal if not greater capacity than traditional forms of art to stimulate the eyes, mind, and spirit.  But in my mind, each of those things gains beauty by evoking emotion or aesthetic appreciation while serving their intended purpose: a visually impressive watch that cannot keep time misses the point and loses its relevance.

I guess you could say, then, that I’m understanding my mother more with age and experience.  I’m not sure how she applied this philosophy after she left her job as a radio show host in Chicago and stopped working when we moved to California.  Maybe she raised me, my sister, and Snowball with the same artistic touch that applied paint to canvas so many years ago. As I will do for my children someday.