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BRIDGE WALK NOTES


  • We do the Bridge-Walks on Saturday mornings assuming no rain or other commitments. We meet at 7:45 a.m. and begin walking to the Golden Gate Bridge at 8:00 a.m. It's okay to arrive late; you'll just have to catch up or meet us after the turn at Fort Point. 7:45 a.m. SFYC-Marina parking lot to GGB & return, assuming a decent weather forecast. This is a walk TO, not over, the bridge, and back.

  • Description: Unless otherwise noted, all walks proceed as follows: we begin at the parking lot shown as Yacht Road on Mapquest adjacent to the north end of the Marina Green next to the St. Francis Yacht Club. We meet at 7:45 a.m. and at 8:00 a.m. ambling towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which is about a mile-and-a-quarter away. If you're late, it's easy to catch up. The round trip takes about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. There are comfort stations at each end. Snacks and a bookstore are at the Warming Hut near the Bridge. Plenty of birds and boats to see along the way. Bring a friend or child, a camera or binoculars. Dress for wind and weather. Drizzles don't bother, rainstorms will cancel. We talk about something, nothing, birds, plants, boats, whatever, and if it relates to Con-Law, so much the better, but that's not required. We enjoy ourselves, basically, by getting fresh air and taking a more or less brisk walk, depending on what stops we make to smell the flowers or view a bird.

QUOTES

  • Choose a work that you love and you won't have to work another day. Confucius
  • A sound mind in a sound body under a sound Constitution, that's our motto. rs
  • The key to nearly everything is a competent investigation, which means one conducted with integrity, an attempt to see where you might be wrong. RS w/ thanks to RPF
  • The key to creating an illusory world is a biased selection of facts according to a preconceived notion. - Thomas Sowell
  • The past isn't dead, it's all around you... rs
  • The past isn't dead. It isn't even past. -- Wm. Faulkner
  • If Constitutional Law doesn't get your dander up, you're not getting it. -- R. Sheridan
  • The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, but remember, you are the easiest person to fool. -- Richard P. Feynman
  • No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. -- U.S. Constitution, Amends 5, 14
  • No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. - Magna Carta
  • The only thing new under the sun is the history you don't know. -- Harry S Truman
  • Study the past if you would divine the future. -- Confucius

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Robert Sheridan
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August 26, 2005

LAW, ESPECIALLY CON-LAW, IN PLAIN ENGLISH

As a lawyer who spent his career in preparing and trying cases as a prosecuting and defense attorney, one of my jobs was to translate legalese into plain English for jurors.  This is quite a challenge for someone who had only the vaguest notion of what "malice" was until needing to work with it in his first murder case. 

First you have to study the concept, then you have to put it into your own words, and then you have to explain it to someone who, like the jurors, hadn't attended law school, a normal person or civilian we call these, such as your spouse. 

"Honey," would you mind listening for a minute while I explain malice for this trial I'm working on, please?" and there goes dinner.

If I could explain it so Marie got it, I could explain it to a jury.  If I couldn't, then I didn't understand it myself.

My son Rob mentioned that Richard Feynman has a similar thought in explaining the ever mysterious quantum physics.  Feynman and a colleague would discuss some counter-intuitive topic that seemed to have time running backwards or space inside out at length only to conclude that because neither could explain what they had in mind sufficient for the other to understand, two bright guys, that they must not understand it themselves.

What brings this to mind is that California has been working to translate its jury instructions, some of which I can repeat almost verbatim, into plain English, which could put a trial lawyers out of business.  What are we going to do if the mystery is taken out of the law and juries start to understand what they're doing?

See Bob Egelko's article, below:

Continue reading "LAW, ESPECIALLY CON-LAW, IN PLAIN ENGLISH" »

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