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Entry Archive
the dark ages
I’ve been getting a bunch of emails, and now calls, regarding this case, asking why I argued the case. Such is life in the Google-enabled world, at least for anyone with a blog. But I don’t want to talk about it. The following will have to suffice, and anything beyond the following, please look, and talk, elsewhere.
I volunteered to argue the appeal in this case pro bono out of respect for the perseverance of the plaintiff, John Hardwicke, and because I know first hand that his claims are true. I was proud of my argument and grateful for the support of a great law firm, Piper Rudnick. I am of course extremely happy that we won, and that we were able to pursuade the court of the absurdity of holding that a charity would be immune from even intentionally wrong acts. There are very few times in a lawyer’s life where simple justice is realized (well, few times in this lawyer’s life). I will cherish this moment for a long time.
posted by [ Lessig ] on [ Apr 3 04 at 10:52 AM ] to [ eye ] [ post diffusion: No trackbacks + technorati ]
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Comments on “the dark ages”
It seems to me quite typical of a choirboy organisation to have members that perpetrate such abuse. One solution would be to place the name of the charity on the Sex Offenders List, and so enabling further restriction and policing of their activities.
Congrats!
Wow. I never imagined that someone I look up to so much (that being Larry) would end up being legal counsel against my alma mater, the American Boychoir School. I can’t say that I disagree with the lawsuit, because I know that terrible things have happened to people such as John. I am torn, however, because I believe it would be a great tragedy if legal liability were to bankrupt the school. My three years at the American Boychoir were some of the most amazing years of my life. I had unparalelled musical experiences, toured all over the US and Europe, recorded on 3 CDs, and so on (for more about my life and my experience at the American Boychoir, see my web page). And for the record, I have deep and profound respect for the headmaster and the head choir director who were there at the time.
Like I said, I have extreme sympathy for those who had a worse experience than I did.
I have actually been contacted by John Hardwicke before, and I am on his email list that he sends updates to about his legal affairs. He also maintains this web site regarding the longstanding allegations of the choir. The problem I have had in my contact with him is that his site in particular doesn’t seem focused on goals, it seems to exist solely to circulate allegations. From my perspective victims such as John should decide what they feel they are owed and make it their goal to see the situation righted. Whether that’s an admission of guilt, an apology, money, whatever; just specify what needs to happen for the situation to be rectified. After all, the people who work at the school now aren’t the people who perpetrated these wrongs, they’ve just inherited a messy problem. There should be some course of action that will be a reasonable measure for the current administration to rectify what has happened.
Those are my two cents.
Joshua,
There’s no chance that this case would be pressed as it has if there weren’t insurance involved.
Thank God for lawyers like Professor Lessig who care about justice and truth.
I attended the Boychoir School from ‘64 - ‘68, the end of the Bryant era. When the sex abuse scandal broke into the news a couple of years ago, I found John Hardwicke’s email address on the School website’s alumni chat area. I contacted him to express my great sadness in learning about what happened to him and others during the 70s. The scandal also revealed that terrible things had happened during my era, too. Clearly, part of the abuse pattern was targeting a very small number of boys, so that few people were aware.
Joshua Haberman’s comments above are very insightful. I too am disturbed that the price for what happened to John will be borne by people – boys, parents, teachers, and staff – with no connection to those who caused John’s pain. I have tried to open dialogue with John to explore these issues, to no avail.
Joshua comments about the lack of goals reflected in John’s website. I too have wondered what John is ultimately seeking. My fear is that John Hardwicke’s deep, dark pain is leading him down a path that will 1) financially devastate a good school led by good people with no connection to the dark times, and 2) not abate his deep, dark pain, no matter what the result. I fear too that John’s ultimate desire may be to destroy the institution whose employees caused such devastation in his own life. I believe that that victory would come to feel very hollow for him in the long run, especially since no price will be borne by the actual perpetrating and enabling individuals.
I wish both John and Professor Lessig well in their work to seek satisfaction for the great evil done to John Hardwicke at the Boychoir. You are both acting out of a deeply felt desire for justice. I also hope that both of you can understand that Joshua Haberman, myself, and I’m sure many others, want to see justice done for John and others without creating a legal injustice – the destruction of a good school – a school that’s far better now than it was during my time or John’s time there (I agree with Joshua about the School’s leadership during his time – the best it’s ever been).
I believe there is another path that can be followed. I don’t know what it is. But I believe it is there to be found, if it is sought first within.
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