Back in my day!

Back in my day, son, courtrooms weren't just halls of justice—they were dens of defiance, arenas of argument where the air was thick, not just with the tension of legal battle, but with the smoke of a dozen cigarettes. Lawyers, with the gravitas of generals and the nerves of steel, could be seen pacing the floor, a trail of smoke marking their passage as they wove their arguments. And yes, in the quieter corners, you might catch the distinct sound of a seasoned attorney, a spittoon his only witness, as he contemplated his next move while indulging in a chew of tobacco.

These were the days when the tools of the trade were not just statutes and precedents, but the very persona you projected. Smoke and spit were not seen as vices but as vestiges of a rugged individualism, a mark of a professional comfortable in the trenches of legal warfare.

But times have changed, son. The smoke has cleared, and the spittoons have been relegated to curious relics of a bygone era. Today's battles are no less fierce, but they're fought in the sterile glow of computer screens, amidst the soft hum of electronic devices. Our challenges have evolved—from mastering the art of persuasion in a haze of tobacco to navigating the digital frontier, where evidence is as likely to be found in a cloud as it is in a dusty file cabinet.

The adversaries of justice, too, have adapted, finding new shadows to lurk in and new systems to exploit. Fraud, cybercrime, and a myriad of sophisticated legal issues have emerged, demanding not just a sharp legal mind but a mastery of technology and a strategic approach to information warfare.

And yet, despite these changes, the essence of what it means to be a trial lawyer remains unchanged. It's about standing up for the little guy, about entering any courtroom, ready to fight for any client, at any time. It's about believing, down to your bones, in the right to a jury trial—the cornerstone of our great nation.

So, while the courtrooms of today may lack the smoke and the spit, they are filled with the same passion, the same commitment to justice, and the same unwavering resolve to never settle for less. Because, at the end of the day, whether armed with a cigarette and a spittoon or a laptop and a legal pad, it's not the tools that define us but the battles we choose to fight and the lives we strive to protect.