I was called to jury duty recently. As luck would have it, I was selected from a venire of about 80 fellow San Franciscans to be in in the first group of 12 to be screened to possibly become a juror. I sure was hoping to be excused. For the self-employed, jury duty puts a hole in the receivables for however long it lasts. The judge’s questions were relatively standard: What kind of work do you do? Have you any problems with the legal system? Know anybody involved in the litigation? When she got to me, I told her I was an employment lawyer and I was concerned that I might be familiar with a potential witness. I explained that the leadoff witness appeared to be wearing a National Park Service uniform and that I routinely teach classes for federal supervisors in that agency, among others. She asked, “What do you teach?” I replied with my practiced elevator-ride shorthand summary, “I teach how to fire bad government employees.” Her response was quick: “Professor, you have important work to be doing. You are excused.” The whole room broke into applause. As I walked down the aisle toward the back door, people reached out to give me high fives. So, how’s your day going? Anybody thank you for being in our business? If not, come to one of our seminars. We’ll clap for you every day because if you’re working in Federal employment law, you are working on the right side of history.
