Saying Goodbye to Pat McHale

(I'm sitting at Barista Parlor just off Division St. having a latte.  They play vinyl hear, which is cool.  Actually, everything about this place is cool.  And the coffee is phenomenal.)

This morning, I arrived early to the 6th floor of the Metro Nashville Courthouse for a hearing I had at 9 a.m.  My practice, when I'm appearing in court, is to arrive early because I don't like to feel rushed. It's an old habit.

I sat down on a bench and opened my iPad to get caught up on recent appellate cases and news from the Tennessee Bar Association.  Sadly, I saw a notice that Pat McHale, an older lawyer I knew in passing, had recently died.  I didn't know Pat well at all but he was an acquaintance and we bumped into each other occasionally over the past 25 years.

When we had a case or two together while I was working downtown for a law firm, he was really nice to me.  Those interactions helped teach me it was okay to be nice to and laugh with an opposing attorney in a case.  What we do isn't life or death, after all.  I'd like to think I've taken that lesson I learned from Pat and applied it to the relationships - most of the time, anyway - I have with opposing attorneys.

When I was in court last week in Nashville, I exchanged greetings with several lawyers with whom I have had cases over the years.  It always makes me feel good when that happens and I think it's good for clients to see me involved in those type of interactions, as well.  It makes me feel like, by and large, I'm practicing law the right way or at least the way that I want to do it.

Get along with other lawyers, argue or fight hard when you have to, but with an air of civility and professionalism.  Between the lines stuff, you know, like in sports.  Never hold grudges.

One of the things that Pat McHale and I bonded over was a mutual love of music.  Whenever I saw him, we talked about what we listening to at that particular point in time.  That made our relationship unique, I think.

Pat was his own man.  The last several years, he wore sandals with his suit - Birkenstocks, I think.  Nobody does that, of course, but that was just Pat.  I loved it.

I last ran into Pat when he mediated a workers' compensation case for me a few years ago.  He was working at the Tennessee Department of Labor then and it was nice to see him and spend some time together.

R.I.P. Pat McHale.  Thanks for teaching a young lawyer a thing or two.