Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
) is an American attorney and author. His first book, ''The Official Lawyer's Handbook,'', a
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
of the legal profession, was a
bestseller
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
in the early 1980s. The success of the ''Handbook,'' which ranked #1 on ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' best seller list and presumably drew on White's personal experience practicing law with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Hogan & Hartson, led to television appearances, speaking engagements, and other books, as a result of which ''
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.
The Westminster Schools
The Westminster Schools is a Kindergarten –12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, founded in 1951.
History
Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School (NAPS), a girls' school a ...
, a co-educational college preparatory school in Atlanta, Georgia. He obtained a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in Government from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, graduating
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
in 1975.
After college, he traveled to Seoul, Korea, where he wrote and edited travel articles for the Korea National Tourism Corporation (later renamed the
Korea Tourism Organization
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is an organization of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is commissioned to promote the country's tourism industry.
The KTO was established in 1962 as a gover ...
), an agency of the Republic of Korea.
The following year he attended
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, where he obtained a J.D. in 1979. He served as Articles Editor of the ''
Columbia Law Review
The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes.
It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...
'', which published his first legal writing, "''Pacifica Foundation v. FCC'': 'Filthy Words,' the First Amendment, and the Broadcast Media," during White's second year. That article, which discussed a ruling by the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
on comedian
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
's famous "Seven Dirty Words" monologue, was cited by the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in a related ruling.
At Columbia, White was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and the recipient of the Archie O. Dawson Advocacy Award, which provided clerkships for the study of advocacy at the three levels of the federal judiciary, including a period in the chambers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
.
White served as
law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
to U.S. District Court judge Thomas A. Flannery, and then joined Hogan & Hartson, where he spent roughly 3 years. Upon leaving Hogan & Hartson, he spent 4 years to promoting his first book, commencing his career as a public speaker and corporate entertainer, and attempting without success to become a screenwriter. For several years White practiced law sporadically with the firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback. Thereafter, for just over a year, White worked as a legal business consultant for the accounting and consulting firm
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...
. There he consulted primarily for corporate law departments, where he performed such tasks as a substantive and stylistic overhaul of Exxon's "Guidelines for Use of Outside Counsel."
Professional
Writing
Daniel White's first book, '' The Official Lawyer's Handbook'', ranked #1 on ''The Washington Post'' best seller list and #5 on the ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' national list. On the basis of this book ''The Washington Post'' declared White "the legal profession's court jester" and credited him with having "helped launch the current wave of legal humor."
This book was re-released in updated form as ''Still the Official Lawyer's Handbook,'' and then released in revised form in Britain, with Philip R. Jenks as co-author.
White's reputation as a legal humorist was fostered by his other books, especially ''White's Law Dictionary,'' a parody of the classic legal lexicon, ''
Black's Law Dictionary
''Black's Law Dictionary'' is the most frequently used legal dictionary in the United States. Henry Campbell Black (1860–1927) was the author of the first two editions of the dictionary.
History
The first edition was published in 1891 by West P ...
''; ''Trials and Tribulations – An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor''; and ''What Lawyers Do – And How To Make Them Work for You'', a light-in-tone but essentially substantive book that enjoyed the distinction of becoming a
Book-of-the-Month Club
Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ch ...
selection.
White has also written a number of relatively minor volumes, a nonexhaustive list of which includes ''The Classic Cocktails Book, The Martini, Really Redneck, The Birthday Book,'' and ''Horrorscopes.''
Less known as a journalist, White has published articles for publications ranging from the ''
American Bar Association Journal
The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is no ...
'' to ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
''. A number of other publications have carried articles by Daniel R. White, including ''Of Counsel, Barrister, Medical Meetings,'' the ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta, The Washington Weekly, Minnesota Law & Politics, Docket (ACCA), Employment Law Strategist, Marketing for Lawyers,'' and ''Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report.''
Although even less known as a poet, White's tribute to legal warriors, "An Ode to Litigation," met with general acclaim when it appeared in the ''National Law Journal,'' and one of its 32 stanzas is quoted in Jennifer L. Pierce's treatise, ''Gender Bender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms'':
Editing
At the New York Law Publishing Company, where he worked from 1994 to 1996, White served as editor-in-chief and primary writer for ''Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report,'' a national newsletter for law firm partners and managers. He served as managing editor of two other national newsletters for lawyers, ''Employment Law Strategist'' and ''Marketing for Lawyers,'' and edited articles for the ''National Law Journal''.
White has also established himself as a freelance editor of non-fiction monographs.
Jokes
Although his roots lie in legal comedy, White has demonstrated a broader range, beginning in 1992-1993, when he served as
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of, and primary writer for, ''Current Comedy'', a twice-monthly "Humor Service for Public Speakers & Business Executives" founded by former television gag writer and presidential speechwriter
Robert Orben
Robert Orben (March 4, 1927 – February 2, 2023) was an American professional comedy writer and magician. He wrote multiple books on comedy, mostly collections of gags and "one-liners" originally written for his newsletter, ''Orben's Current Co ...
.
White has written jokes for corporate executives and Jay Leno. His parody of
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
's writing style appeared in ''The Best of Bad Hemingway'', an anthology.
Entertaining
White has appeared as a legal humorist on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
,
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, and numerous other television and radio shows across the country. He has been profiled in publications such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''The Washington Post'', ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine, and the ''
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
''.
He has addressed
bar associations
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...
, medical conventions, law firms, and other gatherings across the United States and abroad.
Contrasting himself with lawyers who ridicule the legal profession with "
lawyer joke Lawyer jokes, which pre-date Shakespeare's era, are commonly told by those outside the profession as an expression of contempt, scorn and derision. They serve as a form of social commentary or satire reflecting the cultural perception of lawyers.
...
s"Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," ''The New York Times'', August 8, 1993. and engage in "lawyer bashing,"Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus – Throwing the Books at the Barrister," ''The Washington Post'' (August 30, 1989), p. B1. White has said his jabs are soft-gloved and affectionate, because he is "a member of that
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
," being a lawyer himself and coming from a family of lawyers.