Law School Alumni Questionnaire

Name:                             

Email:                              
Name of Spouse:     

2. What are the names and ages of your children (grandchildren)?

Jessica Marsh, deceased Heather Marsh Courtney Marsh, deceased Robin Marsh, deceased

I realized suddenly that it was answering this question, when I was tired, that really is what put me in a sad frame of mind.

I'm still creative, still a solid trial attorney (just got a verdict for approximately $72,000.00 on a $7,332.00 loss and a settlement offer of $15,000.00, so I'm still nailing my work) and still a good mediator and team builder. Focusing on loss to begin the day just isn't the way to go to answer a questionnaire.

3. What are your current educational pursuits?

Very modest.  A little teaching, a little MCLE, an occasional article. I am involved with a Spanish Language Law Review  ../camara/index.htm is the web site I keep up for them.  I'm also trying to do a little fundraising for them ../adr9/024a.htm

4. With how many of your law school classmates have you stayed in close contact?

None.  I follow-up on some, but everyone has their own lives and interests.  I find that non-BYU friends and lawyers are by far the best in terms of staying in close contact and keeping up correspondence.

5. With how many of your law school professors have you stayed in close contact? 

None.  Some have tried to keep in contact, but they've been too busy (though they do guilt well, from time to time, explaining how they mean to write but find their lives too busy and too important.  I understand).  I still keep up with some of my non-law school professors.  They seem to be much better at it.

6. What are your avocational pursuits?

I haven't really had any since 1993.

7. What do you do just for fun?

I used to windsurf, practice Shotokan karate, play chess, and write poetry.  Now I go for walks with my family. I still read sometimes, and write sometimes. I make up stories for my daughter about panthers and cats and dragons and elves and sharks and heros and trolls and such. (Some day I may collect some on-line at ../story/index.htm).

8. What is your area of specialty in the law?

Litigation, ADR

9. Do you plan to retire? If so, at what age?

No.

10. If you plan to retire, what are your post-retirement aspirations?

Service and missionary work, just like my parents (who are serving their third mission). I can't think of any thing I would find more satisfying.

11. Since graduation from law school, what church and/or community service have you been involved in?

See http://adrr.com/smarsh/smresume.htm

12. Since graduation, what government or civic positions have you held?

See http://adrr.com/smarsh/smresume.htm I've also don other things, but a resume starts to look crowded if there is too much on it.

13. List the three areas of service that have brought you the greatest satisfaction? (In order, with the most satisfying listed first.)
1. 
2. 
3. 

14. List any significant writings and/or publications since law school.

See http://adrr.com/smarsh/smresume.htm I've over forty publications listed, and more that those that I have not listed.

15. In what area of life do you feel you have made the greatest contribution?(If family, please also include a second area.)

To be honest, I feel that I've been pretty much a complete failure at making any "great contribution." Most of my children have died, so I can't say I've contributed much there, and the other areas are all hollow by comparison. I look at my life and feel that I have made no "greatest contribution" to anything and can not say that I matter outside of my immediate wife and child.  I'm not sure that it matters that much, either.  Very little is as great as it seems.  Oz (either the long or the short spelling) has a lot of lessons, whether it be the man behind the curtain or the "look on my greatness, ye mighty and despair."

16. In regard to the area of life named in Question 15, what ways (if any) has your study of law affected your ability to make a contribution in that area?

It helped me prepare for failure.

17. What historical person associated with law do you hold in highest esteem?

Abraham Lincoln

18. What contemporary lawyer (well-known or not) do you most admire?

See http://adrr.com/law0/oth5g.htm

19. Please tell us about the person listed in Question 18. (i.e. profession,city, state, and why you admire this individual.)

See http://adrr.com/law0/oth5g.htm

20. What course in law school do you most regret not taking?

I can't think of any course that I regret not taking.

21. What course in law school has proven most valuable in your practice?

Tax from the "Needleman."  I learned a number of good ethics lessons in ethics from Tax 1 and 2.  I only regret that I was unable to bridge the gap that existed between myself and the professor, who I honestly admired and liked. He is the one professor I felt that I was unable to connect with whom I wanted to connect with.

22. What course in law school has proven most valuable in your private life?

The class I took "across the street" on tutoring writing.  It let me help people on a regular basis and I really enjoyed that. Writing is the heart of law.

23. If you could take one more course--taught by anyone at all, living or dead--what would it be and who would teach it?

I'd like to be taught hope again.  I have been able to teach that to others, but seem to have lost the feeling in my life recently, though I suspect that it might just be that this is August and the memory of Robin's death haunts me during that month.

24. What is the most significant lesson you learned during law school, in or out of the classroom?

I spent a fair amount of time in the writing lab in the main library (across the street).  While I was there, I was amazed at how easy it seemed to be to help people turn their lives around.  I'd done it before, but during law school I learned that it was a process that applied to most people, at any stage or state in life.

25. What was the funniest thing that occurred during your three years at law school?

Reciting from the Wood Chair of Law, the first chair of law at BYU endowed by a sitting class at the law school.

26. What work of fiction has most affected your view of the law?

27. What work of nonfiction has most affected your view of the law?

Liar's Poker How to Turn the Other Cheek and Still Survive in Today's World (Suzette Haden Elgin)

28. It is said that every person has one book in them. If you were to begin writing yours now, what would the title and plot line be?

I think what I have in me now is an RTS game, Age of Nations (gunpowder to 1945).

29. Any additional information relating to your activities since graduation:

Not much.  My children were my heart and soul.  Kind of organized everything around them, then most of them were gone.

Journal Entries Index

Robin Journal One September-October 1997	six.htm September 1998 to February 1999	ten.htm August-November 2000	Summer-Christmas 2002
two.htm November/December 1997	seven.htm May-August 1999	eleven.htm January-July 2001	A New Year 2003-2004 Memorial Day
three.htm December 1997 to March 1998	quest.htm Alumni Questionnaire	twelve.htm October-November 2001	Guestbook Leave me a comment
four.htm March 1998	eight.htm August 1999 to February 2000	Thanksgiving 2001	my blog: http://ethesis.blogspot.com/
five.htm May-August1998	nine.htm March-July 2000	Spring-Summer Wallace 50th Anniversary

Guestbook -- Leave a Comment (tos)

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