As Easy as Beethoven’s 9th

Brett Weiss believes singing at some of the nation’s best-known venues helped prepare him for his career as a lawyer. Both jobs “share a performative aspect,” he says.

“Knowing how to hold the stage is something that helps me every time I stand up in court,” says Weiss, 65, who has performed with choirs in venues like Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. “You’re able to tell a story, to command the scene, to hold your audience. You’re not worried, ‘Oh my gosh. People are looking at me. What are they thinking?’”

And, he adds, “Once you’ve worn tights on stage, you don’t care what people are thinking about you.”

Weiss is managing member of the Weiss Law Group, a firm focused on individual and business bankruptcy cases. He has practiced law for more than four decades, but he has been performing even longer. Having enjoyed stage success in junior high and high school, he joined the university chorus, appearing in musicals by Gilbert and Sullivan, taking the stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and performing and recording Handel’s Messiah at Washington National Cathedral with a 100-piece orchestra playing 18th century instruments borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution.

“I had some incredible experiences,” Weiss says.

He briefly thought of pursuing a singing career, but he saw how challenging that path was for even the most talented of his acquaintances.

“I looked at how hard they were working and how difficult that life really was and is,” he says. “There are moments of incredible joy, when you’re on stage and everything clicks and you’re on the same wavelength as the orchestra or the band or whoever you’re with; and then there’s what you do the rest of the time.”

A constitutional law course sparked Weiss’ interest in a legal career. In the two decades following law school, as he built his practice, Weiss continued to perform as an alum with the Maryland Chorus, singing Beethoven’s 9th more than 25 times, mostly with the National Symphony Orchestra.

“Some lawyers don’t like talking about the performative aspects of the practice, thinking it sounds as if you’re minimalizing the importance of the issues they’re arguing or the importance of our clients,” he says. “But if you have experience on stage, it makes [courtroom work] much easier.”

Weiss’ current legal work involves consumer and business bankruptcy cases. He’s also taught law, co-wrote a book on Chapter 11 filings, and addressed Congressional committees investigating issues including student loan debt and credit challenges.

“I enjoy what I’m doing. It lets me combine performance with the intellectual aspects of law,” Weiss says. “Unless you get involved in conducting or composing, you don’t have as much of that in a performing career.”

Performance not only made Weiss comfortable, but also confident that he knows what an audience wants to see and hear. “Some people would rather poke hot needles into their eyeballs than speak in public,” he says. “I can talk to anyone about anything and enjoy it. For me, that’s pleasurable.”

The popularity of courtroom dramas has also brought the two disciplines closer—a phenomenon some refer to as “the CSI-ification of law,” Weiss says. “If you don’t deliver something like they’ve seen on TV or in the movies, [the jury] doesn’t think you’re as good. That’s not true, but that’s what they expect.”

Weiss remembers representing a man who alleged he had been beaten by police officers. Before addressing the jury, Weiss draped the man’s bloody shirt on a courtroom chair for a bit of drama. “I made sure the jury could see it as I was talking,” he says. “I was setting the scene.”

He’s also aware of the impact clothing can have. “That’s costume. I might wear a bright tie and shirt if I want to get one point across, or I might dress more conservatively if I think that’s the image I want to convey,” he says.

And then there are the words—or script, in a way. Weiss remembers an opponent in a personal injury case “going up to a podium in front of the jury and standing there and reading his opening statement in a whiny voice that was not very pleasant to listen to and then he sat down.”

When Weiss stepped forward to speak, he put the podium to the side and leaned casually toward the jurors, saying, “OK, folks. Now let me tell you what really happened,” he recalls.

Voice training has taught him ways to hook a crowd. “You learn when you need to speak softly and slow down your delivery to draw people in,” he says, “and when you need to be more forceful in tone.”

Weiss’ life is still filled with music. He listens to everything from Broadway standards and orchestras to Disney songs and classic rock. His four daughters, ages 24 to 33, also make sure he stays up to date.

“Now they send me texts saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got to listen to this!’”