tipping the scales

I explain to my students that the ethical rules counsel them against trying their cases in the media. I further explain that I have probably won as many cases in my press statements as in my briefs. My favorite example is a case involving the right of a long-haired, twelve-year-old Little Leaguer to play in the all-star game without getting a haircut, as ordered by the commissioner. I needed a temporary restraining order to require that my client be allowed to play in the game, scheduled for the day of the court hearing. I had my students stay up all night writing a brief on the constitutional right of personal appearance. But I also tipped off the local reporters about the interesting dispute that would be heard the next morning in the New Jersey Chancery Division. When the judge called the hearing to order, representatives of all the local papers were in court, pencils at the ready. When the judge issued his ruling from the bench, it was obvious that he was not addressing me or my adversary but the assembl reporters. "This boy's hair is no longer than Sparky Lyle's" (New York Yankee relief ace), His Honor intoned. "It is my ruling that the plaintiff be allowed to play in the all-star game."

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