I have been struggling to write what it was like starting out in Orange County beginning in the early sixties when Orange County was just beginning to populate to the 90s and the turn of the century to the 2000s. For an outsider, it would be unrecognizable. First Orange County was appropriately named. Before the future development, there were acres of orange groves, and, when in bloom, the aroma emitted was completely delightful in the early days of my defense attorney career. Today the groves are all gone, replaced by housing development and commercial buildings. So are the strawberry fields and Knott’s Berry Farms is not devoted to raising berries and jelly but now is an amusement park. Disneyland was first developed in Anaheim and has grown enormously with new additions and hotels. The population growth has more than quadrupled from about one million to over 5 million residents. It just had a growth spurt, and I was fortunate to grow with it.
At first it was important to figure out how to develop a good practice. As an LA Deputy DA, I noted there were basically two types of criminal defense practitioners: Those that struggled for clients together with court appointments for indigent defendants and those few who were able to collar the wealthy clients through referrals from other attorneys, particularly the big civil firms. Not being a “bleeding heart” type of person and wanting to make a good living, I figured the best way is to get next to the major firms hoping to get their referrals. How does one do that? Well, like Billy Sutton, the famous bank robber- when asked why he stole from banks he responded, “That’s where the money is.” What I had noted as a deputy DA was that the handful of big time criminal attorneys in LA were active in the local and State Bar Associations. So that’s what I did.
I did possess some notoriety, and like any tight group, the attorneys learned of my DA background and that did not hurt. Anyway, I had a connection to one major firm, Rutan and Tucker, which at the time was the largest firm in the area, but some of the LA firms such as Gibson Dunn and Cruther, the largest firm in California, was opening in Orange County as well as several others, plus one firm particularly was starting to grow, Martin, Baer and Knobbe, primarily a patent and trademark and intellectual property firm that today is one of the largest international firms, with offices still in Orange County, but also in Silicon Valley, LA, San Francisco, San Diego and just all over. Don Martin and Baer were very active in the Orange County Bar as well as the state bar. Well my point is, I wanted those big firm referrals. Sounds pretty crass, right? It was, but as it developed, I really loved the various Bar Association groups, and I turned out to be a pretty good worker and gave a lot of pro bono work as I developed. So the following will be a story on my growth and development. I have previously mentioned some cases I worked on but I can’t remember all of them, but what I do remember will be told.
In the beginning, I shared an office with Ralph Dixon, a former client when I was just beginning, who retired as an executive in a large loan company and decided to practice law. I have mentioned in earlier blogs about LA Superior Court Judge Herbert Walker whose son was at the time an associate with the Rutan and Tucker firm who placed my name on the firm’s referral list and I did get some early referrals but the bulk went to another long time Orange County ex prosecutor, a competent lawyer. I did sublease from the firm which helped.
I must say as I did earlier, in the beginning, it was tough breaking in to a new area with new judges and lawyers but I worked at it. Actually, in the beginning, I was down to a few hundred dollars, with a wife and two kids to provide for. It looked like I would have to go back to prosecuting, either back in LA or maybe Orange County. I mentioned earlier I had about exhausted whatever savings I had accumulated from my LS DA pension and so my wife and I figured that there really wasn’t anything to do with that kind of money, so we just threw a cocktail party for whomever I thought might be helpful. Right after the party, a favorite client of the Rutan firm was in jail and needed help. The firm could not reach their preferred lawyer for some reason I need not go into, and therefore contacted me. I got the client out of jail, successfully concluded his case, and I was the go to guy whenever any of the firm’s clients needed a criminal lawyer and also they recommended me to other firms as well and my practice took off.
My Bar Association work paid of as well. I started in the local Bar, attended their meetings, became active in the Administration of Justice sub-committee and eventually chaired the sub committee; I did good job and was nominated to be on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Bar, was elected and was a board member for several years. In addition I chaired the criminal law sub committee for the Orange County Bar Association delegation to the State Bar Convention which met every year i in different locations such as San Francisco, San Diego, Long Beach, Monterrey and sometimes in Sacramento and/or Fresno. I loved it. Eventually I chaired for two terms the Orange County delegation to the State Bar and I have a few stories about that. Also I was appointed to the Criminal Justice Committee of the State Bar association where the State Bar Board of Governors would send proposals for recommendation. On that committee was Joe Bush, the LA DA and DAs and the Public Defenders were members. I think I was the only private practitioner on that committee. You might think I only did the Bar Association work to get referrals, but I actually loved it. But, it didn’t hurt. Bear in mind the practice development only works if you get results and if you don’t your referral source will disappear a lot faster than one would believe.
Orange County was very political. By that I mean Republican. Not just Republican, but Barry Goldwater Republican. Goldwater was running for the Republican presidential nomination against Nelson Rockefeller. The locals who judges for the most part were Republicans and the few Democrats who were appointed by “Pat” Brown, then governor of California got some lousy judicial calendars such as the mental health court or worse. What I did note was that even though the jurors and judges were primarily of the conservative and law and order bend, they were better for the defense than LA jurors. I attribute that observation to their being independent thinkers and that they would unhesitatingly vote not guilty if there was a reasonable doubt. In other words, they took their oath seriously and were independent.
Anyway, I started to get a lot of business, was doing a good job and my practice started growing with the County.
So now comes Bob Brodie to try a case representing one of two brothers, and I to represent the other brother in a fraud scheme where the alleged victims signed away their property allegedly unknowingly in a scheme to get the victims to add on to their house. Bob was Canadian, born in Toronto, and in his teens was ordered out of his home. Bob traveled across Canada from Toronto West to various provinces doing all types of work, a wrangler, lumberman and so forth. Somehow, he ended up in Vancouver in the far West, where he was sponsored to go to the University of British Columbia. After getting his BA degree, the Union sponsored his attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained his Master’s degree in economics. I guess he liked the academic life, so he went to Law School at Berkeley, graduated, passed the California Bar Association test, became a prosecutor for Alameda County DA’s Office, stayed a couple of years, went into private practice with some firm in Oakland, who had this client being prosecuted in Orange County who were expecting Bob to settle the case in rapid manner and then return back to Oakland. Didn’t work out the way the firm wanted. I represented the other brother and in order to make a deal without trial, all those charged in a multi defendant case must agree to the deal. The brothers would not accept any deal so off we go to trial
The prosecutor was Joe Dickerson, a very bright, well-prepared Deputy DA about in his forties, a University of California Berkeley Law graduate as well. Joe was from Arizona, not from a particularly comfortable financial background, and was assigned to prosecute financial crimes involving thefts by false pretenses cases, especially those cases where the victims were generally elderly, naive and susceptible to a “con” type of presentation and duped out of their savings. The Judge was Herbie Herlands, who prided himself with his concept of brilliance. Small in stature, but high in brains. Every day I would bring up some novel theory and Herbie would order Joe to respond with case or statutory law. So one day we were in the judge’s chambers informally arguing one of the issues I had raised earlier, an informal process where there is a Court reporter, but not in a formal setting, sort of a shirtsleeve process. Well as the arguments presented got a little heated and Bob Brodie made some comment, I can’t remember exactly what the issue was, but Joe got really heated, and Joe was frustrated with my baiting him, so he challenged me to step out of the chambers and slug it out, and I of course accepted the challenge. The Judge went bonkers, put on his robe, asked for the bailiff to stop the confrontation, and that ended the matter. Joe and I were about the same build, in good shape, and it would have been a fairly even fight, but nothing ever happened The case was really dependent on the testimony of one witness, an employee book-keeper of the defendants. Joe was not sure if she, the employee, would actually testify against the defendant brothers, so Joe offered a good deal, short time, probation, but Bob and I had done a good job of cross-examination and with the doctrine of reasonable doubt and a good chance of winning, the defendant brothers turned down the offer. Well, the book-keeper did testify against the defendants topping it off with a comment that the defendants had bragged about how they had misled the victims stating, “We could take everything the victims had; they had more money in their bank accounts.” We lost, the defendants went to prison and Bob Brodie was not welcome back to his Alameda County Law Firm. So I offered him a job as my first associate which he accepted. Bob was never really comfortable in Orange County, just did not and could not fit in with the Orange County environment, to almost being antagonistic to the culture. Bob was good lawyer and also a good friend. One day when we were in the West Orange County Municipal Court , I was asking for some additional time on a preliminary hearing I got a tremendous pain in my diaphragm, called my doctor who asked, among other questions, if I was sweating and with that question, I really started to perspire. The doctor told me to call an ambulance and go to the nearest hospital which was The Westminster Community Hospital, which I did and was taken to the hospital by ambulance to be observed for a possible heart attack. Bob took over the practice, comforted my family. Strange things went through my mind and I clearly recall my concern was not for me but for my family, wife and two young kids… Fortunately the problem was a hiatal hernia which means there is a break in the diaphragm causing a reverse of the flow of stomach juices to regurgitate and is quite painful, causing symptoms close to a heart attack. It is amazing when one thinks they are possibly close to death even where the pain is not from a heart condition but some other cause.
Well Bob stayed with me for about eight years, and then took his savings from the profit-sharing and pension fund. Moved to Jackson Wyoming, bought and opened a diner, got a Wyoming Law License, ran and became a Justice of the Peace, which is like a Municipal Court Judge, retired, bought a spread in Montana somewhere and about 3 yeas ago drove his motor home to San Francisco to meet with me and we spent a few days together just reminiscing about the old days. He was my first but not the last hire as an associate.
That’s enough for now.
Marshall
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