The President's Page

If I were to describe my father in a way everyone can understand, I would say he is Bill Nye the Science Guy, but without the bowtie. Despite growing up with little money on a farm in Worms, Nebraska, he has multiple degrees and was valedictorian of every school he has ever attended. But he would tell you it is not because he is smart, it is because he is curious and industrious.

My childhood was lovingly filled with explanations of how everything (and I mean everything) works, lively discussions on the connections that can be drawn between seemingly incongruent states, and cleaning up after science experiments gone wrong (including one that flooded the house). When I struggled with understanding my Calculus homework, he would sit me down and teach me three different ways to solve the problem – to my chagrin, as at the time all I wanted was to know how to get to the right answer quickly to make an "A." If only I knew then what I know now, I would give anything to go back in time and just listen to him.

Having been raised in a household ruled by science and math, I have always taken to formulaic assessments. Wandering into law school, I was overcome with the number of smooth talkers and fast readers. I wondered whether this space had a place for me, until I took my first Torts class. Duty. Breach. Cause. Harm. Now this was an equation with which I could work.

Obviously, in practice, it is not always that simple. But I credit my first Torts class with opening my eyes to how I could take my distinct way of thinking about the world, which I had gained from my father, and connect it with the practice of law. And so, even in the face of the many years of my life I spent affectionately calling my father an "enginerd," I unabashedly proclaim in the pages of this publication that I am, indeed, a torts-dork.

For that reason and more, I am excited to read what our authors have spent many hours compiling for the Summer 2022 issue of the St. Louis Bar Journal. Duty, damages, and how to put it all together: for a personal injury attorney, it doesn't get much better than that. And for those readers who feel the torts world does not apply to them, I leave you with this quote by Edward Whymper:

There have been joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon which I have not dared to dwell, and with these in mind I say, climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what may be the end.

Finally, if you have made it this far in my President's Page, it likely means you are one of two people that I suspected would make it to this point. Knowing that from the start, I figured as I sat to write this page that I might as well write it as an homage to you. I love you, Dad.