Patterico's Pontifications

1/1/2016

Please Help Me Thank Bruce Godfrey for His Efforts on Behalf of Free Speech

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:00 pm



New Year’s is not typically considered to be a time of Thanksgiving. But I say: one should give thanks at every opportunity. I am sympathetic to the notion of self-improvement, and having a day to remember to form better habits. But one of the best habits one can form is to remember to be grateful for what you have.

And I want to ask you a favor. It’s really important to me that you take a moment to help me out. It won’t require you to contribute any money. Just a moment of your time.

I have spoken to you before about Ron Coleman, one of my pro bono attorneys on the absurd and censorious Kimberlin v. Frey case. I have also mentioned to you before that I am also represented pro bono by the amazing Bruce Godfrey of Jezic & Moyse LLC. (For previous mentions of Bruce, see here, here, and here). But I want to take this opportunity — and it will likely not be the last — to especially thank Bruce Godfrey for all the time he has spent defending me in this case.

My lawyers don’t want me to talk a lot about the case, but it is in a discovery phase — in which we have to be careful to protect people’s privacy, given that the plaintiff has a history of criminal violence and frivolous litigation.

Bruce has put in a ton of time towards that effort. Would you like to know how much time? Today, on New Year’s Day — a day most people take off entirely to nurse a hangover, watch football, and be with loved ones — Bruce Godfrey has been working on discovery matters in my case. He’s not doing this for pay. Bruce is doing this out of principle: the principle of helping someone he doesn’t even know, so I can fight a case brought by a convicted bomber and perjurer.

So here’s the thing. Pro bono sucks. Working pro bono over the holidays — and believe me, today is not the first day Bruce has worked over these Christmas holidays for free, not by a long shot — that really, really sucks.

This is where you come in.

I have readers in and around Washington, D.C. I have many more readers with friends, relatives, and business colleagues in and around Washington D.C., including Virginia and Maryland. If you personally have a need for the services of a lawyer in the greater D.C. area, I ask you to consider contacting Bruce Godfrey. If you know someone who has a need for the services of a lawyer in the greater D.C. area, I ask you to talk to them, right now, and tell them to consider calling Bruce Godfrey. And even if you just know someone in the greater D.C. area, who has no need for the services of a lawyer — just send them an email with a link to this post. And tell them: hey. I know you don’t need anyone now. But if you’re ever interested in hiring the kind of lawyer who works during the holidays and on New Year’s Day, out of principle, keep this guy in mind.

And tell them Patterico sent them.

At the very least, send one of his partners an email and tell them that you appreciate Bruce doing this, and that you will keep the firm in mind if you ever learn of legal work in or around D.C.

Bruce, and his firm linked above, handle criminal defense cases, traffic defense cases, car accident cases, and especially employment law for matters in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

(It goes without saying that the same applies to Ron Coleman of Archer & Greiner and the Likelihood of Confusion blog. If you have intellectual property issues, he’s your guy. If you have any other issues in New Jersey or New York, consider his firm, which handles pretty much everything.)

Look: if there is any fairness in this world, I will win this case, a judge will sanction Brett Kimberlin to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, he will crawl back in a hole and leave me and my friends alone — and actress Jennifer Lawrence will be so impressed that she will throw a party in honor of my attorneys Bruce Godfrey and Ron Coleman.

But while that stuff might not happen (except for me winning the case), it really would be nice if Ron and Bruce ended up benefitting from all the hours they have put in.

Think of it this way. This is a fight that benefits each and every one of you — anyone who wants to speak freely on the Internet. If Brett Kimberlin can make people pull down their truthful speech about his past simply by filing frivolous lawsuits — and take a look around to see all the people and Web sites that have already caved and pulled down their posts about him; you might be surprised! — then free speech means nothing. As long as someone is willing to abuse the system. Here. In the United States of America.

I haven’t asked for much while fighting this fight. But I am asking you to do this. Not just to leave an appreciative comment or think warm thoughts, but to act: to talk to people you know in D.C. and spread the word.

Think of it as your own personal contribution to this effort on behalf of free speech.

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE: Thanks to Instapundit for the link!

50 Responses to “Please Help Me Thank Bruce Godfrey for His Efforts on Behalf of Free Speech”

  1. If you act based on this post, please let me know what you did. I would appreciate it.

    Patterico (39da75)

  2. I almost want to go back east and stir up some trouble, just so that I could retain the services of these fine gentlemen. I make snarky comments about lawyers and our litigious society as much as anyone, but I know an awful lot of really impressive people who have chosen a career in the legal world and I am continually in awe at what they accomplish.

    JVW (d60453)

  3. I will, Patterico. This is serious business. I’ll do what I can, and tell you about it privately.

    Simon Jester (220a7b)

  4. I almost want to go back east and stir up some trouble, just so that I could retain the services of these fine gentlemen. I make snarky comments about lawyers and our litigious society as much as anyone, but I know an awful lot of really impressive people who have chosen a career in the legal world and I am continually in awe at what they accomplish.

    I appreciate the sentiment, but really, if you could just spread the word in their jurisdiction, that would be something. Think about it. Most of us know people everywhere. We just have to give it some thought.

    Patterico (39da75)

  5. Bruce, thanks for the good things you’re doing.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  6. On the first day of the year, it is wonderful to read about people who work hard, with no recompense, to help a worthy cause. I really appreciate this story, Patterico. Best wishes to you and your family.

    Simon Jester (220a7b)

  7. On the first day of the year, it is wonderful to read about people who work hard, with no recompense, to help a worthy cause. I really appreciate this story, Patterico. Best wishes to you and your family.

    Bruce Godfrey, Ron Coleman, and Ken White are enough to restore your faith in humanity — and even lawyers!

    Patterico (39da75)

  8. Thank you for letting us know about Bruce Godfrey’s work, Patterico. I will put on my thinking cap, and at the very least, will email him a thank you. He sets a fine example of selflessness and service. Two dying art forms in this day and age. It would appear you are in the best of hands.

    Dana (86e864)

  9. I have followed the history of Kimberlin’s harassment at another blog, and will keep my fingers crossed that the wheels of justice will grind Kimberlin into the exceedingly fine protoplasmic pulp he so richly deserves to become.

    Good luck, Sir!

    Pete (85ffe6)

  10. 16. …Bruce Godfrey, Ron Coleman, and Ken White are enough to restore your faith in humanity — and even lawyers!

    Patterico (39da75) — 1/1/2016 @ 6:28 pm

    I differ, but only slightly. I never actually lost my faith in humanity. Right now there’s a soldier, airman, sailor, marine, or coastie standing duty. I haven’t checked the weather in Afghanistan, have you? Something tells me that in the alpine passes, blizzards are likely. Of course they’re not all standing their watch in Afghanistan. No matter where they are, cold, wet, and hungry, they never forget to call you sir or ma’am and to say please or thank you.

    It would be wrong to thank them. They are after all doing what they set out to do. It is right to salute them. After of course they salute you should you outrank them. Because then you’re doing the same thing they are. Guarding the f***ing country.

    Here’s where the faith part comes in. As in keeping the faith. Protocol demanded I receive a salute from an enlisted man before I returned one. But reality taught me I wasn’t therefore the better man. Every time I passed Camp Pendleton going north or south I’d, no kidding, bow my head as I passed Basilone road. You will notice no great push to name anything after me, as they did after my paisan Manila John. And Manila John never reached my exalted rank. The thought haunted me my entire career. If the opportunity presented itself I’d have to return the favor. So I spent the next twenty years getting ready.

    Having taken the long way around the barn, I am impressed by the fact these attorneys spend their holidays getting ready. Are any of these lawyers qualified to serve before the Supreme Court? That would be useful information to have.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  11. Steve57, I felt much the same way, though I never served.

    When I lived in San Diego (and my parents in Orange County), I would often drive back and forth crossing Camp Pendleton.

    I would stop off at the Denny’s in Oceanside right at Camp Pendleton, since it was often late and I was a little sleepy.

    And I used to arrange to pay for a couple of servicemen’s meals when I left.

    There are lots and lots of people who sacrifice for others. And while we can sound off immediately when things aren’t to our liking, we are sometimes awfully quiet about the good that others do.

    It was a small thing, but I wanted to say “thanks.”

    So Patterico’s request that we recognize Mr. Godfrey is a very good idea.

    Simon Jester (220a7b)

  12. bring the beat back

    happyfeet (831175)

  13. happyfeet,

    Please stop commenting in this thread. Thank you.

    Patterico (39da75)

  14. Thank you, Patterico.

    Dana (86e864)

  15. Tell my older sister, I will. Lives in Maryland and works in D.C. she does. No, no, no ,no, no, ask me not what she does! Shhhhhhhh! But knows and works with a lot of people she does! Tell her who recommended though, I cannot! Favors the Dark (liberal) side of the Force, but Yoda still senses good in her, and working to turn her back to the Light side I am!

    Try to re-establish contact with other Jedi that Yoda knows from his time living and training Padawans in the D.C. area I will!

    Yoda (feee21)

  16. happyfeet?

    Ever even get on you own last nerve, do you? Tire of hearing your own voice constantly you should!? According to the 5th Amendment, have the right to remain silent you do! Exercise that right will you!

    Yoda (feee21)

  17. 18 of 48 comments! More tiresome than even nate, you are!

    [Yoda refers here to a barrage of rudely off-topic comments from happyfeet. They have been deleted. This note is inserted for posterity, as a reminder of how happyfeet urinated repeatedly all over this thread. — P]

    Yoda (feee21)

  18. There will be threads to remember the military. There will be threads to decry leftists. This is a thread to appreciate my lawyers. It is common courtesy to keep in mind what I am doing with the post and why it is important.

    Patterico (a26d38)

  19. The words to watch for in a post are “it’s important to me.” I don’t say such things that often. When I do, please do me the courtesy of recognizing that I mean it, and try to understand why I am saying it.

    Patterico (a26d38)

  20. Pat, I am all about giving you the courtesy you demand. My previous amounts to nothing. It was an explanation, not an excuse.

    Thank you for laying everything out in plain language. Now that I know, I will abide by the house rules.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  21. Patterico, all I can say is I hope the day comes when you are free of this sh1theel. Hopefully with a ruling against him as a veracious litigant.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  22. If it’s not completely weird to enail a partner and express thanks, I will do that. (Most of the people I know in DC are lawyers, work for lawyers, or are married to lawyers. But I will keep him in mind on the off chance that someone I know needs a recommendation for an employment attorney in DC.)

    bridget (37b281)

  23. My thanks to Bruce Godfrey and the other lawyers involved in this fight for justice.

    Unfortunately, the circles I associate in are likely to not be able to afford a decent lawyer, like the 5 families I know who have gone through he** because of an evil, mean, and ludicrous SLAPP suit.

    But yes, thanks to those helping out.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly) (deca84)

  24. So my thanks will be limited to saying so, and not referring business is because of lack of opportunity.

    Maybe some big fish in the DC area look to see what is on here, and the request will indeed be fruitful.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly) (deca84)

  25. I was about to comment but I guess I had better not.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  26. Mike K,

    Go ahead.

    I have pared a few comments from this thread so it looks more like the spirit I was looking for. Since happyfeet declined my invitation to stop commenting here I simply nuked his comments subsequent to my request.

    Steve57, I left yours but I was and still am just asking for some positive focus on these gentlemen, OK?

    Mike K, if your comment was focused on something positive having to do with these wonderful lawyers, please don’t hold back. If it wasn’t, then maybe this isn’t the ideal thread for the comment.

    Patterico (39da75)

  27. I take it I’ve been banned.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  28. No, not at all, Steve57. I left your main comment and another and just pared away some from you and me discussing a topic that distracts from the message of the post. Let us speak of it no more here. You are not banned and your sentiment is understandable but I think you now also understand mine.

    Patterico (39da75)

  29. OK, I’m not banned. I’ve just been pared.

    So, what can I do to make it up?

    My opening comment @10 was that I differed only slightly. In that I didn’t need these fine attorneys to restore my faith in humanity as I hadn’t yet lost it.

    I didn’t mean that to take anything away from anybody.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  30. Thank you for explaining things, Pat. Sometimes I’m a little slow. I honestly didn’t thing I was going off on some weird uninvited tangent.

    I’ll speak about it no more.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  31. I probably overreacted. I want this thread to be the kind of thing these gentlemen and their partners would be pleased to read through. Your sentiment was not pared but our squabbling over it was, OK?

    Patterico (39da75)

  32. I owe you a drink, Pat. Next time you’re in Dallas, or I’m in LA.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  33. I was there a week ago…

    Patterico (39da75)

  34. Your loss. I was in Oakland for Christmas.

    Now, if you can make it back for the Dallas Safari Club Convention we can talk.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  35. Many thanks to these gentlemen for performing important work. Kimberlin is a stain on humanity and a hot corner in Hell awaits him.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  36. It was about lawyers but probably not sufficiently celebratory. See you next thread.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  37. So here’s the thing. Pro bono sucks. Working pro bono over the holidays — and believe me, today is not the first day Bruce has worked over these Christmas holidays for free, not by a long shot — that really, reallysucks.

    I hope none of the foregoing erases what I tried to say in way of admiration for these attorneys. I believe I did say they are one of the legs of the table. A table that we all need.

    Steve57 (17e737)

  38. I have no connections back there to help out, but I want to thank Mr. Godfrey, helping our blogger specifically and the internet in general.

    I worked in court many years and came away with a great appreciation of the tough work ethic and honorable practice of our lawyer corps. They are often mocked or hated, but so many like Mr. Godfrey quietly keep on keepin’ on for the good of their clients.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  39. Thank you, Bruce Godfry, for keeping our host safe from the clutches of evil! You are, indeed, a lawyer’s lawyer.

    felipe (56556d)

  40. It was about lawyers but probably not sufficiently celebratory.

    My 2 postings were, in Patterico’s words, pared since I admit they certainly wouldn’t have made a person feel good about the judiciary (and the court system, far too tolerant of ambulance chasers everywhere, has become big business) and human nature in general.

    My point was that it’s troubling that all the pro-bono work done by the good guys is even necessary to begin with. Yes, of course, people like Bruce Godfrey deserve full praise. But that there’s a need and reason for that response in the first place reminds me of how surprised the public becomes when a good Samaritan story crops up in today’s era (post-meaning-of-is-is) — and which wouldn’t have been as uncommon or unexpected decades ago — since honesty and integrity are increasingly quaint, old-timey concepts.

    Mark (f713e4)

  41. Gahhh! Godfrey, not Godfry!

    felipe (56556d)

  42. Much appreciated, Mr. Godfry. As I am one who speaks freely. And would probably end up attached to a sturdy oak branch with a hemp rope if not for lawyers like you.
    Thanks.

    mg (31009b)

  43. {Sending Good Thoughts Godfreywards from the other side of the Pond}

    Alastor (501985)

  44. I feel like Axel Foley in “Beverly Hills Cop” when he snarks, “Yeah, I buy ALL my art there.” 🙂

    Mitch (bfd5cd)

  45. I think the ranchers in Nevada need your help.

    mg (31009b)

  46. Oregon.

    mg (31009b)

  47. I sent one of the partners there an email. Since I live in NOVA, I’ll send them work next time someone around me needs a lawyer.

    David Mastio (43f20b)

  48. Thanks, David!

    Patterico (39da75)

  49. UPDATE: Thanks to Instapundit for the link!

    Patterico (39da75)

  50. I had a hell of a time finding a lawyer to take my 1A case, and when we lost and Oakland University threatened sanctions for lawyer fees, mine ran in fear. Disgusting.

    Joseph Corlett (858c6e)


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