Dec. 24, 2010

Ethics Lecture Goes Broadway

Ethics lectures aren't usually cause for song and dance, but the Joseph A. Ball/Clarence S. Hunt Inns of Court managed to make the mundane into music with their performance of the original musical "My Fair JD" on Dec. 7 at the Kyoto Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. More than 140 attorneys, judges, and members of six local Inns enjoyed the musical reminder of the Inns' mission to emphasize ethics, professionalism, and excellence in law. The hour-long musical featured an original script by Long Beach Superior Court research attorney Angela Villegas and 25 songs arranged by former Los Angeles Master chorale member Paul Bent. Lyrics to beloved Broadway tunes were recast to reflect the struggles two young associates face at firms with different practices when it comes to ethics. Eliza Do-Rightly, played by Kate Harvey-Lee of the Blumber Law Corporation, lands a job with the morally balanced firm Kaplan Spaulding, while sole practitioner Mark Edwards' Henry Higgins goes to work for the crooked firm Lawler, Holler & Dollar. While he serenades the audience with tales of hoading clients' money in "It Might As Well Be Mine," (adapted from Roger and Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring"), Eliza belts about the ethics of handling client funds in "Dough, Ray, Me." Despite their ethical differences, Eliza and Henry fall in love, pitting their firms against one another. Just like in the musicals, the good guys prevail, and issues of discovery abuse, incivility, and ethical conflicts are addressed and solved through song.