St. Louis man creates holiday to honor lawyers

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Apr 5, 2008 by Kelly Wiese

Nearly every group or cause has a special holiday -- all but lawyers, it seems. Steve Hughes decided that needs to change.

So the St. Louis area man, who's not a lawyer himself, has declared April 8 as National Be Kind to Lawyers Day.

"It's about time lawyers got a little bit of loving," he said.

Hughes got his start in advertising and now runs his own business, Hit Your Stride, teaching presentation skills to others. A Chicago law firm was his first client and he has worked with many since, and found attorneys aren't that bad.

"It's such a chided and maligned industry, and yet we all go to lawyers and need them desperately in some parts of our lives," said Hughes, whose company is based in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood.

He has created a Web site, www.bekindtolawyers.com, that includes fun quotes and lists famous lawyers, including St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa, but also pokes gentle fun.

"Specific stats about the good deeds of lawyers are forthcoming. In truth, the data got hung up in legal," the site proclaims.

The site also offers suggestions for celebrating Be Kind to Lawyers Day. High on the list? Take your favorite lawyer out to lunch or change the ringtone on your cell phone to the "dah-dah" sound from Law & Order. Also a keeper: abstain from telling lawyer jokes for the day. He also recommends people work to slip lawyerly talk into their conversations, sprinkling them with "Strike that from the record" and "You're out of order!"

Hughes does have some legal lineage. His grandfather, who died when he was small, once served as a judge in the St. Louis area, he said.

Hughes does programs regularly for legal organizations, and says he figures his tips on how to give effective presentations apply well in a boardroom or a courtroom. He's is speaking to NALP, the National Association for Legal Career Professionals, later this month and will make a presentation at the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis' Bench and Bar conference at the Lake of the Ozarks in May.

But on April 8, Hughes won't be able to take his favorite attorney pal out to eat. He will be in Philadelphia on business, but says he'll still observe his self-created holiday, starting by not telling lawyer jokes and discussing the day on his blog.

BAMSL executive director Zoe Lyle had not heard yet about Be Kind to Lawyers Day. But she said it's a great idea, and she has been amazed in her year or so leading BAMSL at how much lawyers donate their time to everything from pro bono legal work to serving on school boards and various civic groups.

"I as a citizen didn't realize how much attorneys did for the good of the community. I think it's a good idea," Lyle said. "All professions have their issues and end up being made fun of. That's just part of the career track."

Hughes also said he has submitted his event, timed to fall between April Fools' Day and Tax Day, to Chase's Calendar of Events, which compiles an annual list of special holidays and observances. But not everything makes the cut with Chase's. The Chase's Calendar, now published by McGraw-Hill Companies, considers several criteria in determining whether to include something on the list, such as the authority of the group observing it, how many years it has existed, uniqueness and the level of promotion associated with the day.

Hughes may have some luck. Chase's current calendar does not list any other special observance days for April 8, just some historical milestones.

Some pages on the Internet indicate someone declared a "Love Litigating Lawyers Day" in August, but there's scant information on whether anyone actually observes it.