Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Winter 2017, Vol. 43, No. 4 | Page 17

Farewell to zeal
The problem is the word itself. Zeal is
over-the-top enthusiasm. A zealot is one
who has lost the ability to reason, who
blindly seeks some object at practically any
cost. Zeal is suspect. It is not discrete, nor is
it deliberate. It is to be treated as a disquali-
fication, at least to those who do not share
the passion.
Let’s not call it by that name. But let’s not
abandon the need to be forthright, deter-
mined, committed, and brave when that
moment comes when advocacy requires a
strong response to a situation that has criti-
cal impact on our cause. Our fault is that we
are too polite when we should be resolute.
Finding the right temperature for our pre-
sentation is essential. We must be like Gold-
ilocks, and seek just the right dish of por-
ridge, the middle bowl between too cold
and too hot. 25 Luke-warm.
____________________
Paul S. Gillies, Esq., is a partner in the
Montpelier firm of Tarrant, Gillies & Rich-
ardson and is a regular contributor to the
Vermont Bar Journal. A collection of his col-
umns has been published under the title of
Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Oth-
er Ruminations on Vermont Legal History by
www.vtbar.org
the Vermont Historical Society.
____________________
William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator I (Janu-
ary 1, 1831), 1.
2
The Clergy of America: Anecdotes (Philadel-
phia: L. P. Lippincott & Co., 1869), 140
3
James Barrett, “Memorial Address on the Life
and Character of Charles Marsh, LL.D.,” Vermont
Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. II (1870), 38-
40.
4
Michael E. Tigar, Fighting Injustice (Chicago:
American Bar Association, 2002), 4. See also,
Lawence J. Vilardo, Vincent E. Doyle III, “Where
Did the Zeal Go?” Litigation Journal, Fall 2011.
5
Jonathan Edwards, A Preservative Against So-
cinianism: Remarks upon the Examination of the
Oxford Decree (Oxford, H. Clements,1695), 12.
6
John Dryden, “Tyrannic Love,” The Works of
John Dryden III (Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable,
1883), 390.
7
Jeremy Belknap, Hymn CCC, Sacred Poet-
ry: Consisting of Psalms and Hymns Adapted to
Christian Devotion in publick and private (Boston:
Lincoln & Edwards, 1820), 243.
8
Michael Kennedy, “50 Resolutions: Don’t be a
jerk,” Ethical Grounds:The Unofficial Blog of Ver-
mont’s Bar Counsel,, November 7, 2017. https://
vtbarcounsel.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/50-res-
olutions-dont-be-a-jerk/
9
In re K.F., 2013 VT 39, 194 Vt. 64, 72 A.3d 908.
10
In re PRB Docket No. 2007-046, 2009 VT 115,
187 Vt. 35, 989 A.2d 523.
11
In re Cooper, 32 Vt. 253, 256 (1859).
12
MacInnis v. United States, 191 F.2d 157, 159
(1951).
13
Raymond v. Rutland Ry., Light & Power Co.,
90 Vt. 373 (1916). See also In re Esterbrook’s Es-
tate; Child v. Shumway, 83 Vt. 229 (1910).
14
Rudd v. Rounds, 64 Vt. 432 (1892).
15
Niebyski v. Welcome, 93 Vt. 418 (1919).
1
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2017
In re Themelis, 117 Vt. 19, 24 (1951).
State v. Riefenstahl, 172 Vt. 597, 601 (2001).
Baldwin Brothers v. Potter, 46 Vt. 402, 408
(1874).
19
In re D.L., 164 Vt. 223, 237 (1995). The pa-
tience of judges is extraordinary. Once I watched
Judge Ben Joseph in a divorce hearing in Frank-
lin County remain so calm as wife and husban d
both condemned each other and the court in
loud and offensive language. “Calm down,” he
said, many times, allowing the passion to bounce
off the walls of the courtroom and eventually dis-
sipate.
20
State v. Brunelle, 148 Vt. 347, 357 (1987).
21
In re Dewar, 102 Vt. 340 (1930).
22
In re Vitale, 151 Vt. 580, 585-586 (1989).
23
Green v. Woodbury, 48 Vt. 5, 6 (1875).
24
https://www.sec.state.vt.us/media/48954/
Slade1844.pdf
25
Dr. James Begun, formerly of Montpelier, ar-
gued that the Goldilocks story was wrong as a
matter of basic physics. She chooses the Baby
Bear’s bowl because it is just right, as the Mama
Bear’s was too hot, the Papa Bear’s too cold.
But the Baby Bear’s bowl would be the coldest
and the Mama Bear’s just right, if this weren’t
a fairy tale. See Inspiration Laboratories’ web
page, revealing the result of its experiments
with the relative temperature of porridge in dif-
ferent-sized bowls. http://inspirationlaborato-
ries.com/the-three-bears-porridge-experiment-
size-sorting/. The original published version, by
Robert Southey, called her “Silver-hair.” Robert
Southey, “The Three Bears.” http://etc.usf.edu/
lit2go/68/fairy-tales-and-other-traditional-sto-
ries/5105/the-three-bears/. In other accounts,
the big bowl is too hot and the middle too cold.
Either way you take the porridge’s temperature,
the smallest bowl is never going to be the one
that’s “just right.”
16
17
18
place to a calm, steady, patient, preserving
effort to reach the seat of the evil.” 24
17