Lawdaddy

Even a vehicle of destruction can tie together a father and child.

For example, "the law" is usually considered a necessary evil, serving to pull families apart through divorce or estate fights or a lawsuit over a business gone bad, even such an evil has its use to bring fathers and children together. But like any business, a father's work can offer a child a look at something grander than otherwise imagined. Martinsville (Va.) Circuit Court Judge Carter Greer, calls his late father, T. Keister Greer, "a lawyer's lawyer," who also inspired him through arguments including one in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law (and legal system) also tie together New York father and son Marquez. Father Raymond made a fairly substantial for years living running numbers in Harlem. Life was good and comfortable enough that son R. David off to prep schools, college, and business and law schools. Of course, there were the occasional drop-ins to the slammer: “I was never mad at him for what he did,” says RDM. “I always understood that we were living the benefits of his activities. I wasn’t raised poor.” And now, a growing part of the son's practice has become the trying to clean up from the dad's choices: trying to keep him out of jail and even suing the City of New York for the air quality (a non-smoke free environment) at the Riker's Island prison.

Tom and Ryan McLelland, the two Utes will be having each other's back in a very different way. Together, they graduated from Ohio Northern University law school in (who knew) Ada (did you know the tiny palindrome town was also in Michigan and Oklahoma), Ohio.

** The law, very different from natural law. Neither are necessarily what a father will lay down when he gets home. **