The Balancing Art

Bill Faulkner, a trial attorney at McManis Faulkner, encourages the firm’s lawyers and employees to be active in local nonprofits that connect with them on a personal level.

For Faulkner, that’s the San José Museum of Art, where he serves on the executive committee of the board of trustees. Modern and contemporary art has been a lifelong interest for him.

“My father was an art professor and artist,” he says, “and he and my mother wrote textbooks on modern art and modern home design for 50 years.”

He adds: “SJMA presents trailblazing contemporary art, has built an important collection of modern and contemporary art, and engages with and across the diverse communities of the area. … Serving on the board, and as a board officer of SJMA for 35 years, provides a wonderful counterbalance to my life as a trial lawyer.”

It helps that the museum is right next door to the firm. It’s a breeze for Faulkner to walk over for meetings or to simply enjoy the art. “My favorite piece is Hung Liu’s Resident Alien. Hung survived the Cultural Revolution in China and came to the U.S. in the early ’80s,” Faulkner says. “She had a great sense of humor … [and] became a beloved member of the SJMA community, but passed away quickly from pancreatic cancer in 2021—just as the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. were simultaneously opening exhibits of her work.”