The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Early in my struggling law practice I was inclined to accept almost anything in order to gain a new client. I regularly swapped legal services for goods or services. On one occasion I was employed by a group of industrial painters who were charged with a rather serious crime. In view of the fact they were short of cash, I agreed I would represent them in exchange for them repainting a garage apartment behind my house.

As agreed, they showed up bright and early one morning with ladders, paint brushes, paint, and all necessary equipment to perform a job which I had discovered would have been rather expensive.

By the time I returned home late that afternoon, as promised, my new-found clients and professional painters had done an excellent job and completed the paint job. My wife greeted me with smiles and revealed that during the day she was so impressed by their hard work and how polite they were, that she had prepared a large pot of stew along with cornbread and drinks and served them to the painters. She expressed to me how nice these fellows were and what a good job they did; then she asked, “What were they charged with?” I could see the shock on her face when I told her murder! She hesitated as though she didn’t want to speak to me anymore for having made such a deal. I then reminded her, however, of what she had told me early on in our marriage.

About the time we became engaged, Beverly told me that she did not fear that we would break up, that I would cheat on her or that I would not be a good husband and father. She did, however, express her greatest fear was that being married would be very boring. Well, after a few of my clients such as these I reminded her that whatever our marriage was, it would be hard to describe it as boring.

Most of the guys were later acquitted, only one was convicted of manslaughter and he was not the bad guy in the bunch.

During the course of beginning my law practice my various fees consisted of new tires, paint jobs, groceries on occasion, lawnmowing, carpentry, and linoleum laid in a bathroom. All in all, whatever can be said about my law practice, it was never boring. I would compare my law practice as being more varied and exciting than almost any other lawyer I know. Certainly, I have no complaints from my bride of sixty plus years about being bored.