Celebration! April 13th is National Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Happy National Be Kind To Lawyers Day!  What, you’ve not heard of it before?  Is it too much to ask to be nice to lawyers for just one day???  That was the question Steve Hughes, Creator of NATIONAL BE KIND TO LAWYERS DAY and the author of  bekindtolawyers.com asked himself one day.  Steve, a non-lawyer from St. Louis and founder of Hit Your Stride, LLC works with attorneys on a regular basis.   When Steve merely mentions to others that he works with lawyers, he more often than not gets sneers and snide remarks in return, not to mention bad lawyer jokes.  But do “you want the truth?  You can’t handle the truth” because Steve actually enjoys his job, working with the attorneys who hire him.

So how did Steve conjure up this new holiday?  Which incidentally is celebrated on the second Tuesday of April which also happens to be “strategically sandwiched in between April Fool’s day and Tax Day April 15th.”  Coincidental?  I think not.

According to his site bekindtolawyers.com, one day

…as Steve was putting away the decorations from National Bubble Wrap Day (late January) his thoughts drifted to National Ice Cream Day (late July) and then it struck him.  Why not a special day for lawyers?  Lawyers are just as good as bubble wrap and ice cream, in fact, they’re better.  Thus, the idea for NATIONAL BE KIND TO LAWYERS DAY was hatched.

After extensive planning, detailed research and countless reviews by a team of legal experts, NATIONAL BE KIND TO LAWYERS DAY was established as an annual holiday celebrated on the second Tuesday in April.  This date was chosen because it is strategically sandwiched between April Fool’s Day and Tax Day April 15th. So now lawyers of every stripe can be honored and treated like regular people for at least one 24-hour period…

The term “Lawyer” has such a negative connotation. Steve states “Lawyers in America get a lot of grief…just for being lawyers.  Jokes are made about them and they consistently rank as one of the least respected professions on the planet.”  In fact here are some jokes, comics and quotes I’ve found that even the lawyers I know would find humorous because it reiterates just exactly why a holiday such as National Be Kind To Lawyers Day is such a great idea.

Legal Disclaimer: That which you are about to read is not intended to offend anyone, including my husband, Gene Quinn, who is, himself, a lawyer, but is written solely for fun.  I, however, am not a lawyer and so this is not actually a legal disclaimer, but when written in small print looks good and when read in a fast, monotone dialogue, sounds good too.  I love lawyers!  I must, I married one, and all of our friends are lawyers, but I digress.

Two Kinds of Lawyers

There are two kinds of lawyers: those who know the law and those who know the judge.

Bad Reputation

Isn’t it a shame how 99% of the lawyers give the whole profession a bad name.

Minister and Lawyer in Heaven

A minister and a lawyer arrived at the pearly gates, Saint Peter greeted both of them and gave them their room assignments.

“Pastor, here are the keys to one of our nicest efficiency units. And for you, sir, the keys to our finest penthouse suite.”
“This is unfair!” cried the minister.

“Listen,” Saint Peter said, “ministers are a dime a dozen up here, but this is the first lawyer we’ve ever seen.”

Lying

Q: How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?
A: His lips are moving.

William Shakespeare – The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Ambrose Bierce – Lawyer, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.

Stephen Right – I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.

John Grisham – My decision to become a lawyer was irrevocably sealed when I realized my father hated the legal profession.

Gerald F. Lieberman – It is unfair to believe everything we hear about lawyers. Some of it might not be true.

I’m bad I know.  I’m married to a lawyer and I find this stuff so funny sometimes.  What?!?!  “You think I’m out of order, YOU’RE out of order, THIS WHOLE THING IS OUT OF ORDER!!!!!!”  And that is why National Be Kind To Lawyers Day was born.  I asked Steve to share some additional insight into his new holiday and he gave me some additional interesting facts about NBKTL:

• The fact that I’m not an attorney is what really helped get this day launched–people didn’t see it as self-serving.
• NBKTLD was featured on BBC Radio last year.
• In 2009, we had 16,000 unique visitors go to our website on Be Kind to Lawyers Day.
• We’ve heard all the negative news and exaggerations about lawyers, I figured someone needed to tell the other side of the story.
• Not surprisingly, the early adopters of Be Kind to Lawyers Day have been attorneys, but my goal is to get people across the globe to embrace the holiday and truly honor their friends in the legal field.
• The holiday is not just for lawyers, but also for the men and women who make the legal profession work: paralegals, administrative support, marketing officers, people in the court system, etc.

… and Patent Agents and Patent Searchers and Patent Examiners and Patent clerks and… Sorry, got a little carried away there for a moment.

Not sure how to celebrate this holiday? Steve offers some suggestions with a brief list of idea starters that he calls How To Participate, to get your legal kindness flowing.  Here are a small few of my favorites:

• Take your favorite lawyer out to breakfast or lunch (make sure it’s not billable!).
• Switch your ring tone to the “dah-dah” (or as I always described it the “doink-doink”) sound from NBC’s “Law & Order.”
• If you accidentally say something wrong or inappropriate on this day, just follow it up with the words, “Strike that from the record.”  Then continue talking as if nothing happened.
• Try to slip words like “I object!” or “You’re out of order!” into your everyday conversations.

And he encourages others to share their ideas on how you can be kind to lawyers.  Although this post has been full of humor, as is Steve’s site, I encourage everyone to check out Bekindtolawyers.com especially the Cool Lawyer Facts tab and the How To Participate Tab.  Steve is funny and lighthearted in his approach.  It’s nice to see that there are other non-lawyers like me who appreciate those in the legal profession.  Hey, “I OBJECT!”  On the grounds of, why didn’t I think of this?  Good job Steve and to all lawyers and non-lawyers, have a HAPPY NATIONAL BE KIND TO LAWYERS DAY!