30 min
Episode 34: John Simpson: Growing Ip as a Military Brat in the Segregated South Duane Morris DEI 360 Podcast with Joe West
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- Business
Joe West talks with Duane Morris Partner John Simpson about his remarkable experiences and lessons learned from growing up as "a military brat" in the segregated South, attending Harvard after being accepted by the U.S. Air Force Academy and West Point, to getting drafted during the Vietnam War and choosing to be a platoon leader, knowing it was the "most dangerous job in the Marine Corps." After his military service, John attended Columbia Law School, where his civil procedures professor was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Those contrasting experiences, living through the civil rights movement and serving in the military during the anti-war protests sweeping college campuses, shaped John into the nationally recognized trial lawyer he is today, with a focus on animal law. He finds parallels between Duane Morris and his approach to law: "We're not afraid to go to trial, and if we get to trial, we're going to bury the other side. So if you want to win a case that nobody says can be won, we are the people you hire. This is what we do and we do it well." For younger lawyers finding their own paths, John advises: "If you're a trial lawyer, you've got to be all-in on your client's point of view and you've got to empathize. You've got to, as we used to say, hug the cactus."
Joe West talks with Duane Morris Partner John Simpson about his remarkable experiences and lessons learned from growing up as "a military brat" in the segregated South, attending Harvard after being accepted by the U.S. Air Force Academy and West Point, to getting drafted during the Vietnam War and choosing to be a platoon leader, knowing it was the "most dangerous job in the Marine Corps." After his military service, John attended Columbia Law School, where his civil procedures professor was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Those contrasting experiences, living through the civil rights movement and serving in the military during the anti-war protests sweeping college campuses, shaped John into the nationally recognized trial lawyer he is today, with a focus on animal law. He finds parallels between Duane Morris and his approach to law: "We're not afraid to go to trial, and if we get to trial, we're going to bury the other side. So if you want to win a case that nobody says can be won, we are the people you hire. This is what we do and we do it well." For younger lawyers finding their own paths, John advises: "If you're a trial lawyer, you've got to be all-in on your client's point of view and you've got to empathize. You've got to, as we used to say, hug the cactus."
30 min