Daniel R. White

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Daniel R. White
Born (1953-08-02) August 2, 1953 (age 72)
Atlanta, Georgia
Nationality American

Daniel R. White (born August 2, 1953 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American attorney and author. His first book, The Official Lawyer's Handbook,, a satire of the legal profession, was a bestseller in the early 1980s. [1] The success of the Handbook, which ranked #1 on The Washington Post bestseller list.

Contents

Early life

White graduated from The Westminster Schools, [2] a co-educational college preparatory school in Atlanta, Georgia. He obtained a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude in 1975.[ citation needed ]

After college, he traveled to Seoul, Korea, where he wrote and edited travel articles for the Korea National Tourism Corporation, an agency of the Republic of Korea. [3] The following year he attended Columbia Law School, where he obtained a J.D. in 1979. He served as Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review , [4] which published his first legal writing, "Pacifica Foundation v. FCC: 'Filthy Words,' the First Amendment, and the Broadcast Media," [5] during White's second year. That article, which discussed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" monologue, [6] was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in a related ruling. [7] At Columbia, White was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and the recipient of the Archie O. Dawson Advocacy Award, which provided clerkships for the study of advocacy at the three levels of the federal judiciary, including a period in the chambers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

White served as law clerk to U.S. District Court judge Thomas A. Flannery, [8] and then joined Hogan & Hartson, where he spent roughly three years. Upon leaving Hogan & Hartson, he spent four years promoting his first book, commencing his career as a public speaker and corporate entertainer, and attempting to become a screenwriter. For several years White practiced law sporadically with the firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback. [9] Thereafter, for just over a year, White worked as a legal business consultant for the accounting and consulting firm Arthur Andersen. There he consulted primarily for corporate law departments, where he performed such tasks as a substantive and stylistic overhaul of Exxon's "Guidelines for Use of Outside Counsel".

Career

Writing

Daniel White's first book, The Official Lawyer's Handbook , ranked #1 on The Washington Post bestseller list and #5 on the Publishers Weekly national list. On the basis of this book The Washington Post called White "the legal profession's court jester" [10] and credited him with having "helped launch the current wave of legal humor." [11] The American Lawyer magazine named White "The Official Lawyer's Comedian". [12] The book was re-published in updated form as Still the Official Lawyer's Handbook, [13] [ better source needed ] and then released in revised form in Britain, with Philip R. Jenks as co-author. [14] [ better source needed ]

White's subsequently published White's Law Dictionary, [15] a parody of the classic legal lexicon, Black's Law Dictionary ; Trials and Tribulations – An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor; [16] and What Lawyers Do – And How To Make Them Work for You, [17] a light-in-tone but essentially substantive book that enjoyed the distinction of becoming a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.[ citation needed ] White has also written a number of relatively minor volumes, [18] a nonexhaustive list of which includes The Classic Cocktails Book, The Martini, Really Redneck, The Birthday Book, and Horrorscopes. [19] Moreover, White wrote a tribute poem to legal practitioners, An Ode to Litigation, [20] which was met with general acclaim when it appeared in the National Law Journal,[ citation needed ] and one of its 32 stanzas is quoted in Jennifer L. Pierce's treatise, Gender Bender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms: [21]

Journalism

Less known as a journalist, White has contributed to such publications as American Bar Association Journal , [22] Cosmopolitan . [23] Of Counsel, Barrister, Medical Meetings, [24] the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta, The Washington Weekly, Minnesota Law & Politics, Docket (ACCA), Employment Law Strategist, Marketing for Lawyers, and Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report.[ citation needed ]

At the New York Law Publishing Company, where he worked from 1994 to 1996, White served as editor-in-chief and primary writer for Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, a national newsletter for law firm partners and managers. [25] He served as managing editor of two other national newsletters for lawyers, Employment Law Strategist [26] and Marketing for Lawyers, [27] and edited articles for the National Law Journal. [28]

Although his roots lie in legal comedy, White has demonstrated a broader range beginning in 1992-1993, when he served as editor-in-chief of, and primary writer for, Current Comedy, a twice-monthly "Humor Service for Public Speakers & Business Executives" [29] founded by former television gag writer and presidential speechwriter Robert Orben. White has written jokes for Jay Leno.[ citation needed ] His parody of Ernest Hemingway's writing style appeared in The Best of Bad Hemingway, an anthology. [30] [ better source needed ] Contrasting himself with lawyers who ridicule the legal profession with "lawyer jokes" [31] and engage in "lawyer bashing", [32] White has said his jabs are soft-gloved and affectionate, because he is "a member of that union", [31] being a lawyer himself and coming from a family of lawyers.

Other activities

He has addressed bar associations, medical conventions, law firms, and other gatherings across the United States and abroad. [33] [34] [ relevant? ]

References

  1. ↑ Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus," Style p.2, The Washington Post, (Aug. 30, 1989).
  2. ↑ "The Westminster Schools". Archived from the original on 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  3. ↑ See, e.g., Daniel White, "A Young American Visits Pan Mun Jom," Korea Calling, Vol. XV, No. 5 (May 1976); Daniel White, "Korea Not America," The Korea Herald (February 8, 1976). Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 107 (April 1984).
  4. ↑ See masthead, Columbia Law Review (1978-79 academic year).
  5. ↑ White, D., 78 Columbia Law Review, No. 1 (Jan. 1978), p. 164.
  6. ↑ SeePacifica Foundation v. FCC, 556 F.2d 9 (D.C. Cir. 1977).
  7. ↑ Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n., 447 U.S. 530, fn. 2 (Mr. Justice Stevens, concurring) (1980).
  8. ↑ Judge Flannery died in 2007. See Patricia Sullivan, "Obituaries," The Washington Post (Sept. 27, 2007).
  9. ↑ Originally a spinoff of Hogan & Hartson, Ross, Dixon & Masback passed through multiple incarnations before eventually merging with the Atlanta-based firm of Troutman Sanders.
  10. ↑ Saundra Torry, "Legal Profession's Court Jester Sees No Bar to Humor," The Washington Post (Dec. 9,1991).
  11. ↑ Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus," Style, p. 1,The Washington Post, (Aug. 30, 1989).
  12. ↑ Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 106 (April 1984).
  13. ↑ Still the Official Lawyer's Handbook was released in 1991 under the Plume imprint of the New American Library, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. ISBN   0-452-26694-7.
  14. ↑ Daniel R. White & Philip R. Jenks, The Official Lawyer's Handbook (Harriman House 1992). ISBN   1-897597-00-2. This edition was revised for a British audience, substituting local geographic, political and professional references where appropriate.
  15. ↑ D. Robert White, White's Law Dictionary (1985). New York: Warner Books. ISBN   0-446-38259-0. As with The Official Lawyer's Handbook, White wrote this book under the pen name D. Robert White.
  16. ↑ Daniel R. White, Trials and Tribulations – An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor (1989). New York: Plume, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. ISBN   0-452-26558-4.
  17. ↑ Daniel R. White, What Lawyers Do - And How To Make Them Work For You (1987). New York: E.P. Dutton. ISBN   0-525-24478-6.
  18. ↑ White has said of these books, "They aren't exactly things I go out of my way to publicize. They barely qualify as 'books.'"
  19. ↑ See e.g., http://www.librarything.com/author/whitedanielr (Jan. 5, 2010). These books were all published by Andrews McMeel.
  20. ↑ National Law Journal(Feb. 13, 1989)
  21. ↑ (1995) Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-20108-8.
  22. ↑ Daniel White, America's Most Wanted, American Bar Association Journal , p. 92 (October 1989)
  23. ↑ Daniel White, "How To Find a Good Divorce Lawyer," p._, Cosmopolitan (199_)
  24. ↑ See, e.g., Daniel White, "Management Forum: Common Mistakes in Associate Training," Of Counsel – The Legal Practice Report, Vol. 7, No. 20 (Oct. 17, 1988), p. 4; http://www.aspenpublishers.com/product.asp?catalog_name=Aspen&product_id=SS07303815&cookie%5Ftest=1
  25. ↑ See, e.g., Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, Vol. 1, No. 12 (January 1996) (published by Leader Publications, A Division of the New York Law Publishing Co.). http://www.lawjournalnewsletters.com/newsletters/home/ljn_partnership.html Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine . The New York Law Publishing Co. is now owned by ALM, formerly the American Lawyer Media .
  26. ↑ "Employment Law Strategist". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  27. ↑ "Marketing the Law Firm". Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  28. ↑ See, e.g., Daniel White, "An Ode to Litigation," The National Law Journal (Feb. 13, 1989).
  29. ↑ See, e.g., Current Comedy, Vol. 36, No. 19 (Wilmington, DE: Oct. 4, 1993).
  30. ↑ Daniel White, "Across the Mall and Into the White House," The Best of Bad Hemingway, with an Introduction by George Plimpton, p. 115, New York: Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1989). ISBN   0-15-611861-0.
  31. 1 2 Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," The New York Times, August 8, 1993.
  32. ↑ Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus – Throwing the Books at the Barrister," The Washington Post (August 30, 1989), p. B1.
  33. ↑ Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," The New York Times, August 8, 1993; Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 106 (April 1984).
  34. ↑ "Daniel R. White, Esq. - Professional Education Group, Inc". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-02.

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