We’re excited to introduce Justice Art, a new monthly series on our website that highlights the stories behind selected pieces of artwork displayed in our law offices. While our practice is rooted in personal injury, wrongful death, business litigation, and appellate work, creativity has long played an important role in how we understand, prepare, and try cases. This series offers a window into that side of our work—the philosophy, imagination, and humanity that inform what we do in the courtroom.
Each month, we’ll share one piece from our collection along with the story behind it. We hope you enjoy this look into the artistic influences that have shaped our approach to advocacy.
Justice Art, Vol. 1: “Justice Seekers”
By Andy Vickery
As our website documents, both Fred Shepherd and I are longtime aficionados of the “Gerry Spence Method” of trying lawsuits, and are actually both on the faculty of the program at his Thunderhead Ranch in Wyoming that seeks to impart those methods to the next generations of trial lawyers.
Among his many other gifts, Gerry was a very accomplished artist, both painter and photographer. Because he viewed the creativity associated with art as being integral to being an effective advocate in the courtroom, he made each of us spend an entire morning painting. A frequent admonition from him was: “Paint your soul.”
We have a good bit of creative art in our law offices, and so, we have decided to share one piece each month. Our purpose each month will be to share a little bit of the story behind each piece.
The inaugural piece depicted above is entitled “Justice Seekers.” The original was commissioned by me and painted by my ’02 roommate from Thunderhead, David Terry. After spending three weeks with me in the Wyoming wilderness, David decided that, rather than slugging it out in court all of the time, he would like to focus the majority of his professional energies and talents into painting. And so, he became a first-rate painter, of both portraits and other things.
Justice Seekers was his first commission. I gave him the title; he did the rest. The American flag motif is obvious. But what is that yellow stripe? The path to a “pot of gold”? Or perhaps it’s “Off to see the Wizard”?
You tell us. Share your own thoughts and impressions of this piece by filling out the form below.
To learn more about David Terry and see more of his art, click here.
— Andy Vickery