About RJ Smith
RJ Smith has been an editor for Los Angeles Magazine and The Village Voice, and a contributor to Spin and Details. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, Grand Royal, and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of four books, including The One: The Life and Music of James Brown and the upcoming Chuck Berry: An American Life. A former Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute and Community Scholar at USC, Smith lives in Los Angeles.
Articles written by RJ Smith
Turning Over the Soil
Whether in law, cattle or politics, Todd Graves knows if you strategize too long, you’ll never get the hole dugAs a lawyer, Todd Graves tries to think like a farmer. Say you’re putting in a fencepost. Get a bunch of folks with advanced degrees together, and they might have diverse, elaborate ideas on the best way to dig the hole. Studies might be commissioned, experts consulted. “Sometimes people strategize so much they lose sight of the need to just begin,” Graves says. “I can’t predict everything in a lawsuit, but at some point, you just have to put in a spade and turn the soil over.” …
Cream of the Crop
Cannon and Dunphy have built powerful legal careers from lessons they learned growing up in WauwatosaIt was the mid-’50s, and William Cannon, who was 6 or 7 years old, was teaching himself to ride a bike using the old ride-and-fall-and-ride method. Making his way down the street of his Wauwatosa neighborhood, he spotted a red-haired, freckle-faced kid of about 4 watching. “Trying to ride a bike, eh?” asked Patrick Dunphy. How far they’ve come. Cannon and Dunphy now have decades-long careers as personal injury attorneys in Brookfield, about 10 miles from where they began a lifelong …
Justice Net
Why so many lawyers do pro bono work—and why so many people still slip through the holesGlenn D. West remembers vividly a pro bono case his firm litigated years ago for a woman on the verge of losing her mobile home. The bank, he says, had executed the mortgage unfairly, in violation of homestead laws. “Whenever I am involved in one of these matters, I am reminded of what Andrew Beckett said to Joe Miller in Philadelphia when he was asked what he loved about the law,” says West. “‘It’s that every now and again—not often, but occasionally—you get to be a part of …
Uncaged
IP specialist Jennifer Ko Craft thinks way outside the box—or any other many-sided shape you throw her wayAlthough Jennifer Ko Craft won’t say a single word about it, the Vegas intellectual property lawyer recently found herself at the center of two legal brouhahas within the Kardashian/Jenner clan. The first occurred when the fiancé of Rob Kardashian attempted to trademark her soon-to-be-name: Angela Renee Kardashian. Those who had already trademarked “Kardashian”—the Kardashian family—were less than thrilled. That’s because, according to Forbes, the Kardashians control a brand …
The Incredible Shrinking Jury Trial
For better or for worse—depending on your perspective—lawsuits and criminal cases are increasingly being resolved outside the courtroomFor Ann-Marie Ahern, the wakeup came last February as she prepared for a jury trial in an age-discrimination case. The federal court personnel didn’t just give Ahern and her team a generic “glad to see you”—it felt more like they were putting out bunting and swag bags to make sure everyone had a memorable experience. “[They] were so accommodating and welcoming,” recalls Ahern, who represents workers in her employment practice at McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman in …
The Classic American Urban Story
“Lifetime Detroiter” Saul Green fights every day for his city and its peopleFrom the 25th floor of the Miller Canfield office tower, planted downtown on the Detroit River, you can see what Saul Green sees every morning. It’s the two sides of Detroit: hip revitalizations, such as the waterfront, along with fraught residential districts and the ghosts of industries past. As a member of his firm’s litigation and trial group, Green, former U.S. attorney and deputy mayor—not to mention lifelong resident—has spent a considerable part of his life trying to make …
The Green Team
The eco-friendly environs of the Romano Law GroupAt first glance, it’s hard to guess that a law firm is housed in the four-story, 33,000-square-foot structure known as EcoCentre, located in Lake Worth a mile from the ocean. No dark wood paneling lines its corridors; no imposing rows of legal volumes fill its walls. The building is flooded with light and full of greenery; and in the middle, a 12-foot waterfall gives off a gentle roar. The tour guide showing the eco-friendly building? More than likely, the head of Romano Law Group, John F. …
Family Ties
How Craig Bashein helped the Chardon High victims’ familiesClosure. It’s sought after, craved, and sometimes beyond reach when a family tragically loses a member. On Feb. 27, 2012, in a snowbelt school in the northeast corner of Ohio, morning announcements were ending. A football coach was taking study hall attendance in the Chardon High cafeteria when a teenager pulled out a handgun and shot six students, killing three. The shooting was a national story; prayer vigils were held and President Barack Obama offered his condolences. A year later, Craig …
Practicing Peace
For environmental lawyer and guardian ad litem LeAnne Burnett, it’s not about competition; it’s about relationshipsLeAnne Burnett is sitting on the floor, not poring over Superfund case notes or reading the latest headlines on fracking—a big deal in her part of the country—but instead, playing Legos with a 9-year-old boy. She’d been appointed to represent the child as guardian ad litem in a case involving a custodial parent with substance abuse problems—something she unfortunately knows something about. She was trying to gain his trust. They talked about school and dogs, and then Burnett mentioned …
Walking Tall
Riyaz A. Kanji goes to bat for tribal clientsRiyaz A. Kanji stands at his Michigan-made Steelcase treadmill desk, eyes forward. He’s wearing shorts, running shoes, a casual shirt. An office treadmill is a great way to expend a lot of energy without going anywhere, but Kanji has already traveled an impressively long distance to get to his office at Kanji & Katzen in Ann Arbor. He was born in 1964 Kampala, Uganda, just two years after the city became the new capital of the recently independent Uganda. Kanji’s East Asian family had …
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