by Irene Daniel
Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. Tomorrow would have been the 90th birthday of the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcon, Senior Associate Justice of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. I, like most people who worked for him, just called him Judge or Jues; mostly Judge. He left this world on January 31, 2015. Somehow, my world just doesn't seem the same without him in it.
I had the esteemed honor and privilege of working in his chambers as a Judicial Extern during the fall term of my third year in law school in 1989.I learned more in one semester under his careful tutelage than in all of my other classes in law school combined; and that takes some doing because most of my law professors, like Judge Alarcon, were truly brilliant. It was a real thrill for me.
He took great pains to push me into improving my legal writing and I owe him a tremendous and eternal debt of gratitude for really caring about what kind of lawyer I would be. He swore me into the Federal District Court; another historic milestone for me. And in 2006 when I celebrated my appellate victory in The Fifth District Court of Appeals for the State of California, I knew I owed it all to him. From opening brief to oral argument, his mentoring was with me all the way.
Since our Leo birthdays were just one day apart, we celebrated them together on occasion when as many of his former law clerks and externs were available in the LA area would throw him a little birthday party at Barragan's, an old favorite Mexican restaurant in Echo Park. On one very special birthday, I got to have him all to myself for lunch at Barragan's for my birthday. As well you might imagine, the staff of Barragan's treated him like a king, reserving his special booth in the back of the bar, and serving a dish named after him: frijoles al Jues.
My favorite thing about this man was not his genius, nor the fact that he really enjoyed finding extraordinary talent in unlikely places. Many of his externs were not at the head of the class or on law review, as is usually the case with such coveted opportunities. But he had the confidence in himself to trust his own judgment and people-reading skills, and to cultivate the raw talent he often found in us. Perhaps it is this confidence that so enabled my favorite thing about him, which was his infinite kindness and compassionate tone. You see, the Judge always had time to be kind.
He was no push-over, mind you. He was on a Supreme Court short-list twice, a testament to his legal genius and professionalism. He was an exacting task-master and set extremely high standards for all of his law clerks, externs and support staff. And we were so inspired by him, as well as encouraged by him daily, that we always wanted to put forth our best effort. None of us wanted to let him down. He inspired us by his example of courtesy and respect for all persons with whom he came into contact. Always. I never heard him say a cross word or respond in like-kind to any slight or discourtesy on the part of others. People who knew him much better than I did will tell you the same thing.
The Talmud says that the highest form of wisdom is kindness. If this is so, then Arthur Alarcon was one of the wisest persons I will ever know. How lucky I am to have had a mentor such as him. His emotional wisdom, more than his intellect, is what I remember most about him; and what I most wish I could emulate.
So when I hear Donald Trump say that we have no time for political correctness, and insist that his insults to women, Mexicans and everybody else, are just "in good fun" or "telling it like it is," I think of Judge Alarcon. He was a conservative Republican too, and yet I never heard him insult anyone. He loved to laugh and could be quick with a joke, but those laughs were never at the expense of someone's feelings.
True leadership is about inspiring others, not bullying them. It is possible to elect people who know how to solve problems without insulting and demeaning thousands of people every day. I wonder why it is that so many Americans would choose cruelty over class, divisiveness over compassion, and insults over inspiration.
Insulting people is easy. Maintaining a lifetime of leadership and professionalism based in the wisdom of kindness is not. If it were easy, everyone would do it. I'm so glad I had this example of unrelenting kindness early in my career. I wish everybody had a Judge Alarcon in their lives. Maybe this world would be a better place.
Happy Birthday, Judge. Thanks for everything -- the opportunities, the mentoring, the laughs, the birthdays. But more than anything else, thank you for your example. I remain forever in your debt.
Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
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