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Clients often want to know a little about the background and experience of their attorney.... but seldom get to ask. Let me take this opportunity to tell you a little about me beyond what is on my home page. You can also check to see what I look like by clicking here.------------------------------------------ Education
I graduated from Indiana University in 1978 with a double major in Journalism and Economics, and a minor in Anthropology. (As a child my ambition was not law but archeology.) I went to the University of San Diego Law School on a Kaplan Merit Scholarship, winning the AmJur Torts Award for scholastic excellence ("torts" are private wrongs allowing the victim to recover in civil court -- such as your typical auto accident or products liability case), graduating in 1981. While in law school I was on the staff of the Regulatory Law Reporter, and interned in environmental law with the San Diego law firm of Wharton and Pogalis.
Legal Experience
Right after law school, I worked as a research assistant for Federal District Court Judge Robert Miller in Indiana. I've also worked with Legal Services, in Barbourville, Kentucky, with the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund. I initially began practice in association with Sorrick, Guthrie & Guthrie, and from October of 1995 through September of 1997 in association with Paul Sorrick and Alan Beard (no relation). Alan Beard relocated his office in October of 1997 and Paul Sorrick and I shared office space until his death in October of 1999. I used to joke that Paul has been practicing since before I was born.... but he actually had, and I will miss him greatly.
Here in Chattanooga I belong to Chattanooga Trial Lawyers, Chattanooga Bar Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Tennessee Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers, helped found Chattanooga's Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), have been on the legal committee for the Chattanooga chapter of the A.C.L.U., and belonged to the American Bar Association until resigning because of the group's growing political activism unrelated to the legal profession. I've also written for Chattanooga's Senior Neighbors on the subject of the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and for about three years regularly contributed a legal column in the local publication "For Moms Only".
Nature of Practice
My practice is a general litigation practice -- meaning I sue people and represent folks in court, or represent those who will end up in court (or jail) unless something is done. I handle personal injury, divorce, criminal law (with a great deal of DUI work), estate challenges, domestic relations cases (custody, support, etc.), employment discrimination and anything in Juvenile Court, particularly cases of neglect or abuse, including sexual abuse. I also prepare some wills and trusts, though this is only a small portion of my practice. There are a number of areas of law or types of cases that I will not handle because I either know nothing about it or I am familiar with the area of law an simply have no interest or willingness to address: landlord/tenant, collections, patent, copywrite, labor management, corporations, or car repair problems (unless we can show actual fraud).
Pre-Legal Experience
Instead of going into practice after law school, I went into broadcast journalism, working in TV news in five different cities, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Tucson, Arizona, Albany, New York, Springfield, Missouri, and coming to Chattanooga in 1988 as assignments editor for WTVC, NewsChannel 9. As a reporter I belonged to I.R.E., an association of Investigative Reporters & Editors, and won the Tucson Education Association School Bell award in 1985 for the best story on public education, the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) regional spot news award for 1988 for the best large market spot news story, and the 1987 Associated Press national spot news award for the best spot news story in the nation. I also worked for a time as a lobbyist before the Indiana General Assembly.
Personal
I grew up in Mishawaka, Indiana. (My high school's 25th anniversary reunion photo, from August of 1998, has me in the back row, five from the far left, two to the left of the tallest guy in the center of the back row, in the center of the back row... the "tall guy" is Bob McDowell.) Growing up there in northern Indiana I became a fan of the Chicago Cubs... a true character building experience, since the Cubs last won a World Series in 1908.
Though I moved to Chattanooga in only 1988, it has since then very much become home; and I have bought an old home in North Chattanooga... meaning I'll be in one stage of renovation or another for the next ten years or so. Prior to moving here, I'd lived in 11 cities in 14 years, with several of the moves related to my former career in TV news... television news has a way of becoming a nomadic life.
Occasionally those who have never worked in TV news ask me if I miss reporting. Simple answer -- no. It's more frustrating than rewarding, job security is non-existent, and the pay is poor relative to fields with comparable education and experience. At times it could actually be exciting and enjoyable, and winning the Radio & Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) regional Spot News Award in 1988, and the Associated Press national Spot News Award in 1987 were certainly highlights... but law is far and away more challenging and interesting.
The jobs that helped me pay for school, and that convinced me to finish school, included stints as a security guard, lumberyard work, a couple of factory production jobs, a drop forge foundry, opera stage crew, and the back of a garbage truck.
Along the way to Chattanooga I was a charter member of the Bloomington, Indiana, N.A.A.C.P., helping found a chapter where one never before existed; worked with In.P.I.R.G., a Ralph Nadar consumer group in Indiana; was active with the University of San Diego Center for Public Interest Law, monitoring California's regulatory agencies; trained as an amateur boxer; tutored fellow law students in torts; and have owned seven motorcycles, only giving up riding in 1992, which was the same year I helped direct the media efforts of Zach Wamp's first Congressional Campaign. Though I remained active in Zach's efforts in 1994 when he won the office, I consider myself to be a Libertarian as opposed to being a Republican or Democrat. (For more information on libertarian thought and the Libertarian Party click here.) And while I have not joined yet (lethargy is a powerful force), I do intend one day to join the National Rifle Association (the N.R.A.) and strongly support their fight to protect our right to bear arms (click here for more on why).
Because I have no children of my own, I am often asked why I have such a strong interest in child custody cases, why I so often urge prospective divorce clients to gut it out and stay married for the benefit of their kids, and in particular why I argue so forcefully on parental rights issues. It is because of a sense of family coming from my parents, Miles and Ann Beard, shown here in 1999, both in their eighties, after fifty years of marriage and raising six kids (four of the six kids, along with Mom and Dad, are shown here from May of 2000, that's Jo Ellen Cornelius in front of me and behind Dad, and Billie Ann Guerin behind Mom and in front of Rex, and by scrolling down you can see my younger brother Rex and I with Dad.). The more my practice exposes me to screwed up families, delinquent kids who are the product of worthless parents, and criminal defendants who are only following in the path of their family elders.... the more I treasure my parents. They were not perfect and never pretended to be, but they taught me nearly all of the important lessons I have learned in my life, not by preaching at me, but simply through my observation of the way they lived their own lives. There is no way I will ever be able to repay them all that I owe.
While I no longer do much of it, I love creative writing. As I get more of my work entered on the computer I will add to the list below linking to things I have written. And as I am able to persuade my friend, watercolor artist Sylvia Monde', to let me get digital images of her paintings and prints, I will also add them -- at the moment the only one I have is a painting I commissioned her to do a few years ago called, Little Green Eyes. (Eventually I hope to persuade her to have her own website I can link to, but I've been trying to talk her into that for about three years now....)Creative Writing:
The Economic Safety Net, written 1994, published in The Freeman, July 1995.Political Writing:
Debtor's Prison -- The Poor Person's Best Friend, written 1997.
The War On Drugs -- Eulogy For Fred Foster, 1999.
Welfare -- A Blueprint For Opposition, 1994.
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