From the Wool-sack: a Fond Farewell

• Publication year: 2004
• Pages: 32
• Citation: Vol. 33 No. 9 Pg. 32

33 Colo.Law. 32 Colorado Lawyer 2004.

2004, September, Pg. 32. From the Wool-Sack: A Fond Farewell

Vol. 33, No. 9, Pg. 32

The Colorado Lawyer
September 2004
Vol. 33, No. 9 [Page 32]

Departments
From The Wool-Sack
From the Wool-Sack: A Fond Farewell
by Christopher R Brauchli

This marks the last appearance of one of the longest running columns in The Colorado Lawyer. From its first appearance in the October 1974 publication of what was then a much smaller publication as "From Our Readers," the column has appeared, until recently, on a monthly basis, with few omissions

When it first appeared, my pen was directed at lawyers legislators, judges, and miscreants, the last frequently including the former. In 1985, I began writing a weekly satirical column for a local newspaper, and that column was soon being published in other papers around the country including, for a period, the Los Angeles Times, where it appeared on a weekly basis. As the column's circulation grew, its focus changed. It was inspired less by legal events than by current events, a trend that was accelerated when it was syndicated by the Knight Ridder News Service that now distributes it to newspapers around the country

Over the last few years, I have suggested to the editors of The Colorado Lawyer that they select only those "Wool-Sack" columns that did not have a particular political bias, but those have been increasingly few and far between. The Colorado Lawyer Board of Editors has concluded that it will no longer run these "opinion" pieces and, with that decision, "From the Wool-Sack" will cease to exist.1

It has been a wonderful thirty-year association, and I will be forever grateful to Arlene Abady; her former assistant, Darlene Johnson (née Emery); and Leona Martinez for their support and encouragement in the development of my journalistic career. Were it not for our long association, I would never have had the opportunity to become a real live, full-fledged columnist. For that opportunity, I will always be grateful. I am also grateful to my many colleagues at the Bar, office staff, and other non-lawyers who have thanked me for my efforts. I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to call a law office with which I have never had contact and, upon identifying myself, be greeted with kind words about the column.

From the Wool-Sack: A Sampling

As the column draws to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to offer a reprise of five of the columns written when the column was law-related. They have been drawn from a publication entitled "Sense as Nonsense," a collection of the columns published in 1988 by Continuing Legal Education in Colorado, Inc. (copies are still available).2 The proceeds from the sale of that book were donated to Legal Aid. The collection was broken down into six sections under the titles, "The Laws," "The Laws: Those Who Make Them," "The Laws: Those Who Use Them," "The Laws: Those Who Abuse Them," "The Laws: Those Who Interpret Them," and, finally, "Tools of the Trade." A sample from each of the first five sections follows, in hopes that they will once more give pleasure to members of the profession and other readers of this publication.

The Laws

The following column from "The Laws" was published in June 1976.

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"I have no wife, no parent, child, ally, to give my substance to;

but whom I make must be my heir: and this makes men observe me.

- Ben Jonson, Volpone

One cannot expect legislative draftsmen to be always mindful of the effects of statutory changes on familial relationships, but lawyers whose clients are affected thereby should be aware of their impacts. The Colorado Probate Code provides for the use of a memorandum for disposition of personal property. The effect of this provision has never been analyzed. Although at first blush, it would appear to be a boon for the layperson, since it eliminates the need for frequent visits to the lawyer if one changes one's mind about who gets the silver spoon, the silver tray, etc., it in fact deprives the crotchety client of the very real need to impart his displeasure with members of his family to someone else. This someone else, as we all know, historically has been the lawyer.

In the good old days, a disgruntled great-uncle who felt slighted by an unmet grand-niece's failure to remember his eighty-fifth birthday could with great glee and a like amount of clamor enter his lawyer's office the day after the event and announce in a nonavuncular voice that he was not giving the sterling silver platter to the thoughtless grand-niece after all but was instead leaving it to the last surviving member of his Civil War regiment and that his will should forthwith be changed accordingly. This had a salutary effect upon the aging great-uncle. Not only did the grand-niece's oversight give him the excuse to visit his lawyer, which many aging clients seek, but by paying his lawyer money to change his will he was able to make an outward visible sign of his displeasure with his distant relative. The fact that the distant relative might never be aware of the will change in no sense diminished the pleasure.

The client who is represented by a capable lawyer no longer has this avenue of release open to him. As we all know, if the uncle possesses a well-drawn will, it makes reference to a memorandum which the uncle has in his possession. Upon becoming displeased with the great-niece or any other beneficiary for that matter, the client's sole recourse is to quietly tear up the memorandum in the privacy of his own bedroom and redo it without imparting his displeasures to a soul. The old memorandum will not even be available at death, as was the codicil, to let the distant relative see the results of the uncle's ire.

A further adverse effect of this statutory change is to encourage great-nieces to be rude and thoughtless since, knowing that great-uncles can no longer derive that pleasure from disinheriting them to which they were entitled under pre-Probate Code days, they will be less inclined to be considerate and thoughtful.

On the off chance that some readers of this column may be distant relatives of someone childless and wealthy, a word of caution is in order. Although the Colorado Probate Code clearly encourages rudeness and thoughtlessness in prospective recipients of personalty, it will be the ill-informed residuary devisee who believes that it has the same effect on him. The residuary devisee should continue to maintain the outward show of love and affection that has heretofore characterized his actions since the Colorado Probate Code has not taken any of the fun out of disinheriting residuary devisees.1

1. Although recognition of the validity of a holographic will executed in Colorado may be said to have the same effect on residuary devisees as a memorandum has on recipients of personalty, its use is not sufficiently widespread to cause a problem. Should it ever become widely used it would, of course, have such an effect and courtesy and love towards ancestors would soon cease to be a part of our culture. In addition, estate planners would suffer a present substantial loss of income, which to many readers of this column would be worse than an anticipatory loss of love and affection.

June 1976

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The Laws: Those Who Make Them

The following column, written in February 1978, addressed the fact that the legislature in days gone by met in short sessions one year and long sessions the next. That was a state for which many long today since, in short sessions, its members did considerably less mischief than in the long sessions. It also addressed the great difficulty the legislature had in getting statutes updated in a timely fashion.

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The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon

human experience for the benefit of the public.

- Samuel Johnson

A frequently asked question is why legislative sessions are described alternately as short and long. Many myths have arisen as to the reason for this, the most persistent of which is that in the short session the...