Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:<\/p>\n
Got a note from a colleague saying, in effect, \u201cYou know real estate law, you\u2019d be an asset to the group, why don\u2019t you participate in more bar association stuff?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019d respond but I can predict how the conversation will go:<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not in The Liberal Lawyer\u2019s Club because I\u2019m not a Liberal lawyer.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a Liberal Lawyer\u2019s club, it\u2019s for all lawyers, but even if it were, you should be a Liberal;\u00a0 all lawyers should be Liberal lawyers because we\u2019re so welcoming and tolerant of diversity.<\/p>\n
No, you\u2019re only tolerant of things that don\u2019t matter.\u00a0 For things that do matter, you\u2019re shunning and intolerant. \u00a0For example, a case comes to court, the Plaintiff is White and the Defendant is Black, who wins?<\/p>\n
The color of the parties doesn\u2019t matter, only the facts and law matter.<\/p>\n
Okay, second example, the Plaintiff\u2019s lawyer is a Straight man, the Defendant\u2019s lawyer is a Lesbian, who wins?<\/p>\n
Again, the gender and sexual orientation of the lawyers doesn\u2019t matter, only the facts and law matter.<\/p>\n
Yet the bar association is obsessed with color, gender and sexual orientation.\u00a0 You have committees and outreach programs for every one of the Things That You Say Don\u2019t Matter.\u00a0 But half the state voted for Conservative Norm Coleman over Liberal Al Franken so half the lawyers in the state ought to lean Conservative, too.\u00a0 But there are no programs for Conservative lawyers, no committees, no outreach to the half the lawyers in the state who are not bar association members, perhaps because you\u2019re not open and tolerant of diversity of opinion, perhaps because Conservatives are not welcome?<\/p>\n
Well, of course we don\u2019t welcome haters, sexists, bigots and homophobes. \u00a0If that\u2019s the kind of horrid person you are, we wouldn\u2019t want you to participate in bar association stuff.<\/p>\n
Exactly . . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It also works for Saint Paul community council groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Got a note from a colleague saying, in effect, \u201cYou know real estate law, you\u2019d be an asset to the group, why don\u2019t you participate in more bar association stuff?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019d respond but I can predict how the conversation will go: I\u2019m not in The Liberal Lawyer\u2019s Club because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55402,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55401\/revisions\/55402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}