Widener Law School in Harrisburg, PA, is sponsoring a conference on February 24th entitled The Lawyer as Poet Advocate: Bruce Springsteen and the American Lawyer.
The conference announcement explains the connection: "In his music, Bruce Springsteen has consistently embraced the lost, the left-out, and the passed-over, and he has never failed to recognize how much of him they are. A remarkable storyteller with great sensitivity to detail, Mr. Springsteen is able, in the duration of a single song, to draw his listeners into the life of his subject and then to invite those listeners to comprehend and embrace the essential truths contained in that life." Does this description fit the lawyer’s role as well? "Like the poet, the American lawyer is called to discern what is real and what matters, certainly for his client, but also in his own life and work. The American lawyer even can resemble that poet from Bruce Springsteen's Jungleland who reaches "to make an honest stand" haunted by the fear that ultimately he may "wind up wounded, not even dead." An all-star lineup of lawyers, judges, and law professors will be on hand to discuss lawyers and the gritty streets of Asbury Park. (Pennsylvania and Delaware lawyers can get 6 hours of CLE credit.)