Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is winning me over as a season. Gratitude and gravy, family and friends, a time to reflect on blessings and lollygag. 

As author, Holocaust survivor, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel said, “For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her face.”

I’m grateful for old friends and new friends, thank you. 

Book Recommendations 

Did you see the movie Searching for Bobbie Fisher? The child prodigy who was the subject, Joshua Waitzken, burned out on chess and turned to martial arts. He became a champion, again.  In a previous blog post I said I was going to read his book. I’m glad I did.

The Art of Learning, an Inner Journey to Optimal Performance is the story of how Waitzken succeeded spectacularly in two seemingly different endeavors. The lessons learned are universal.

Sloane, enjoying eighth grade, read To Kill a Mockingbird for school. I’m re-reading it. Harper Lee’s novel is even better than I remember, working on many levels. Both the far right and the far left have tried to ban it so you know it’s an awesome book. 

Our family will be watching the movie this Thanksgiving at Urban Ocean even though Sloane thinks there is something wrong with B/W movies.

ML Law 

I’m blessed to represent good people, albeit in challenging circumstances.  

Recently I was pleased to resolve a case against Seattle for nearly two million dollars. The family wanted justice and also wanted the city to change their policies regarding a “blacklist” used in 911 call responses. We accomplished both goals.  

Now I’m moving forward against Tacoma in a case where my client was paralyzed in a preventable shooting.  

You can read more about these cases and more on our website blog and media section.  

My case against Boeing for the crash of the Boeing 737 Max 8 in Ethiopia may finally be headed for trial in 2024. I’ll keep you posted on our firm website or firm Facebook page.  

I’ve been commenting on legal issues for various media, including KIRO radio and KING 5 where I’m currently on a panel discussing the Manny Ellis trial. Oh, and ML Law has a Google business page. I’d appreciate your review, thanks.  

In my New Year Newsletter, I’ll be sharing some firm announcements. Let suspense build. 

Band Camp 

Martial artist Bruce Lee said, “Instead of buying your children all the things you never had, you should teach them all the things you never knew.”  

For example, I’ve taught Sloane about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Cure, Talking Heads, The Smiths, Jane’s Addiction, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, The Replacements, X, U2, R.E.M. – Sloane has hung out with Peter Buck in his guitar room – and the band we will seeing in Seattle on November 26: Depeche Mode. See you there? 

In response, Sloane made me listen to Taylor Swift. Did you know Tay Tay did a cover of “American Girl?” Give it a listen. Seriously. 

China Syndrome 

Finally, Chelsea is back after two weeks in China where she traveled with Bates college students on a tour. Sloane and I did not burn down the house. We dined out.  

Thank you to everyone who wished Chelsea and me a happy 16th anniversary. We will hoist a toast to you and all of our friends and family this Thanksgiving.  

Thanks for reading.

What’s “the best live rock album ever” according to music critic Nik Cohn at The New York Times?

Hint: it features a 15-minute version of “My Generation.”

Yes, “Live at Leeds.” The Who. There are only six tracks on the original LP, while the CD has 14 songs. Both versions include the Eddie Cochran classic, “Summertime Blues.”

“Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do. But there ain’t no cure for the Summertime Blues….”

Ah, summer of 2020. I can hardly wait for the songs, movies, and books of this period in history.

Personal Injury Lawyer

Much of my time has been spent representing 50 victim families in the two crashes of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft in Indonesia and Ethiopia. We’ve settled some of our cases. We are still working on others. Whether by settlement or trial, our goal is justice for the victims, accountability for Boeing, and safer skies for everyone. You can read more at my lawyer website or a Tacoma Weekly front page story.

For half of 2019 and early 2020 I was in Jakarta and on Bangka Island getting to know our clients and the culture. Also, truth be told, I took a few days off to visit Bali. For pictures see my Instagram.

Book Recommendations

This blog began more than ten years ago as a vehicle for spreading the word about books, movies, and music. I’m short on recommendations this month, but Sloane has a couple.

At 14 Maria Sharapova became a professional tennis player. At 17 she won Wimbledon. And at 18 she was the number one female tennis player in the world.

Her biography is titled, Unstoppable, My Life So Far. I’ve been reading it with Sloane. Five stars, Sloane says. Recommended for all ages.

Sharapova herself says, “This is a story about sacrifice, what you have to give up. But it’s also just the story of a girl and her father and their crazy adventure.”

It’s also a story about the importance of a positive attitude, hard work, resilience, and luck. Therefore, it’s an outstanding book to give to the children in your life. And to the adults.

Over the Christmas break, Sloane read Sisters and Champions, the True Story of Venus and Serena Williams, a children’s book. The Williams sisters are tennis stars who competed with Sharapova and share the same commitment and work ethic.

You can see more of my book recommendations in my updated Links page, which includes dozens of book reviews for The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Oregonian, and The Seattle Times, among other publications.

Thanks for reading.

Chelsea and I went fully digital with our New Year card this year. If you missed it, lament not, it’s still online.

We appreciate all of you who stay in contact with us through the email list, thank you.

In case you don’t recognize the giant Adirondack chair in the picture, it’s a Seabrook landmark. One of the things you’ll find in our new year update is a link to the Instagram for our new Seabrook beach place.

The setting is almost too perfect, like The Truman Show, and yet it works.

Steve Jobs on Trust and Destiny

You will also find a Steve Jobs quote, which I’ll repeat here. As my friends know, I love starting a new year. I always try to find the right quote to kick the year into gear. in 2019, I went with Brad Paisley. For 2020, Steve Jobs.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life and karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Lion Air Update from Chicago

I’m writing this on an airplane on my way back to Seattle from Chicago where the temperature was in the teens. I was hoping for snow, but only saw a few minor flurries. We have been mediating our Lion Air crash cases with Boeing in a series of sessions at the offices of Perkins Coie.

Boeing moved their headquarters from Seattle to Chicago in 2001 and many say this was when the cultural problems began at Boeing. Seattleites in particular say this. One of my hopes in this case is that safety and solid engineering return to their proper place as guiding values for the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer.

The flight from Seattle to Chicago is about four hours, or about 20 less hours than Seattle to Jakarta. Chicago is also a different world than the Northwest, but less different, of course, than Jakarta and other places I’ve visited in Indonesia. I’m looking forward to meeting more people and visiting more places in 2020.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page,” said Saint Augustine.

I am soon traveling again to Jakarta to see our clients. We represent 46 victim families in the Lion Air crash. I have grown to love the people, city, and culture.

People often ask me if working on these cases has made me wary of flying? No. But I do check what sort of aircraft I’m boarding. Tonight it’s a Boeing 737-800. This is part of a fleet of aircraft generally referred to as 737NG, or Next Generation. They have a good safety record.

The main culprit in the two crashes of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft was a computer system unique to the Max. If you want to see a flock of grounded 737 Max planes, check my Facebook page.

The Art of Not Giving a Fu*k

Meanwhile, somewhere over the midwest, I’m reading Mark Manson‘s book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which is actually about giving a fu*k about things that matter and only things that matter. In this, Manson is reminiscent of Marcus Aurelius who said, “You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve. Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it. Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.”

Manson is also reminiscent of Stoic scholar and marketing maven Ryan Holiday, though Manson is a less sober version of Holiday. I mean sober in the figurative sense, but it might be true in the literal sense as well, judging from Manson’s personal stories.

Saddled with an unfortunate last name, Manson tells his readers things we may not want to hear, such as, “you are not special,” “happiness is a problem,” the most meaningful moments in our lives involve pain and struggle,” and, the capper, “it’s all right to die.”

I find his book as entertaining as it is edifying. If you like profanity with your philosophy and humor with your self-help, Manson is your guy.

Speaking of things to not give a fu*k about, I’ve been too busy of late for politics, but I did pen a brief blog entry about statecraft, the lost art of politics, on my lawyer website.

The Trick is Not Minding

And speaking of Charles Manson, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , which loosely re-imagines the Manson murders, picked up 10 Oscar nominations, including, of course, Best Director. Though Academy Awards are not what they used to be — nine films are nominated for Best Picture — the world still watches. The question is will Tarantino finally win Best Director?

Lawrence of Arabia is available on my flight. I love the movie. In one of my favorite scenes, Peter O’Toole lights a match and lets it burns to his fingertips. A colleague, thinking it’s a parlor trick, does the same, but it’s painful and he quickly drops the match.

“That damn well hurts,” he says.

“Certainly it hurts,” Peter O’Toole replies.

“Well, what’s the trick then?”

“The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.”

I need to add that scene to one of my Zen Lawyer stories.

Much as I love the movie, Lawrence of Arabia is not fit for viewing on a small screen. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, on the other hand, is better on a big screen, but still enjoyable on an Apple laptop.

Airport Books

An interviewer called Never Mind Nirvana, my third published novel, “an airport book.” I took this as a high compliment. To me, an airport book is one you can read in a single sitting.

I would say the same about Manson’s book. It’s an awesome airport book.

Thanks for reading.

Matt Nagle at the Tacoma Weekly wrote a smart cover story about the transition. It’s a good read, though I might have titled it, “Planes Trains and Automobiles.”

Life Quotes

One of my rules is to not read about myself. I broke the rule for this article. People suggested I post it and another one of my rules is to not post anything I have not read. So rules were in conflict. This happens. I improvise.

Pablo Picasso said, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” You can justify a lot of liberties with that line.

Among the things I like in the article are the quotes, including one from playwright Tom Stoppard. “Every exit is an entrance someplace else.” Other favorite quotes include advice and observations from Marcus Aurelius and Steve Jobs.

The story is another example of why weekly papers are surviving as dailies are dying. There’s a market for stories without contrived drama, hysterical headlines, and fictionalized “news,” aka tabloid journalism. That said, we might as well accept the tabloid tone of our times and keep in mind it’s all just entertainment.

Lion Air Update

The article covers our lawsuits against Boeing in the crash of Lion Air Flight JT 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302. Both crashes were due to defects in the new Boeing 737 Max 8 plane.

You can read more about it in the blog of my lawyer website, including a previous post, “Global Safety.“

I also discussed the Lion Air crash with 60 Minutes Australia, Q13 Fox News, Yahoo Finance, and other sources. There is international interest. The safety of everyone who flies on Boeing airplanes is at stake.

Jakarta to Chicago to Denver

As I told Matt, I’m blessed. In my career as a lawyer, I’ve had numerous opportunities to vigorusly advocate for people on cases of concern to the community. It’s cool to simultaneously help individuals and make everyone safer.

So far this year, I’ve spent more than three months in Indonesia. I’ve grown fond of the country and the people.

I have also been in Chicago for federal court hearings and to mediate with Boeing. I like Chicago, lots of energy. Also, my new gig took me to Denver. They preserved and restored some beautiful old brick buildings. Charles Herrmann and I played a rollicking game of shuffleboard in Union Station.

Book and Movie Recommendations

Back in the Northwest, two of my good friends had movie premieres in a one week period. Garth Stein’s bestselling novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, is in theaters now. So is Where’d You Go Bernadette, a movie starring Cate Blanchett, based on the bestselling novel by Maria Semple.

Some of you were smart and supportive enough to snag copies signed by Maria and Garth at my campaign fundraisers, thank you. The movies are not as good as the books, but see them anyway. Support local artists. This is a good policy even when they have already sold boatloads of books.

Sloane made her red carpet movie premiere debut wearing a gray and pink dress, purple eyeglasses, and black Beatle boots. She was also featured in Matt’s Tacoma Weekly article. She turned nine in August. You can see birthday pictures on my Instagram, which is my main social media these days.

One final movie recommendation for this month: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Quentin Tarantino, the world’s most accomplished cinema geek, nails period details, bends and blends genres, and entertains you every second of the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute film.

I found the buddy story between Brat Pitt and Leonardo DeCaprio to be particularly engaging. Australian actress Margot Robbie makes the most of her supporting role as Sharon Tate. And, like other Tarantino movies, the script is chock-full of quotable lines.

“You know, you’re kind of pretty for a stuntman.”

Thanks for reading.

Some news is fake, but it’s still cool to wake up in Jakarta and see your case on the front page of The New York Times next to a teaser about an old friend and fine writer, Bret Ellis.

After reading the interview, which was more profile than dialogue, I am not sure how Bret has calmed down. I suggest you buy his new book to find out. I did.

Lion Air Update

The New York Times got it right in their story about Boeing, “Days of Silence and Mistrust.” Their investigative reporting has been top drawer.

Local papers usually do not have the resources or talent for true investigative reporting, but Dominic Gates and colleagues at The Seattle Times have written a series of first-rate, fact-based stories. Gates covered the initial filing of our lawsuit against Boeing.

Meanwhile, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is grounded worldwide. First, Lion Air Flight JT 610 crashed after takeoff in Jakarta on October 29, 2018. Second, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crashed after takeoff in Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019.

The circumstances surrounding the crashes are highly similar. I did an interview with 60 Minutes Australia discussing Boeing’s reaction to the unprecedented back-to-back crashes of a nearly new passenger aircraft.

The computer software that overpowered the pilots and drove both planes into fatal high-speed dives is called MCAS. At a press conference in Jakarta, I likened MCAS to HAL, the villainous computer in 2001: a Space Odyssey. Fortunately, there were some pop culture aficionados in the audience that understood and nodded.

““Liability will not truly be in dispute here. Boeing is at fault. Their equipment failed. Their planes crashed twice,” Mark Lindquist, an attorney who is representing the families of 26 victims of the Lion Air crash, told Yahoo Finance.

Public Safety and Personal Injury Law

I am honored to be representing victim families from both crashes. This has been a natural transition after a 23-year career as a prosecutor, from local safety to global safety.

In addition to aviation disasters, I represent victims and victim families in small plane crashes, wrongful shootings, government negligence, sexual assault, and other incidents causing death or serious injury. My focus is on cases against large corporations and the government.

For updates on these lawsuits, you can go to on my personal lawyer website, Facebook, Instagram, or my previous posts on this blog. Many of my cases impact public policy and corporate conduct.

Please contact me if I can help with anything. Tell your friends, too, thanks.

And thanks for reading.