Posted August 12, 202510:24 am
The Legal Aid Society’s annual Jam for Justice benefit concert comes to the Beachland Ballroom Wednesday, Aug. 20, featuring attorneys, judges and law students who moonlight as musicians.
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland provides legal services at no cost to individuals and families with low incomes.
Signal Cleveland spoke with some of the attorneys and judges participating in this year’s Jam for Justice event to learn more about their musical endeavours and what audience members can expect to hear when their bands take the stage.
The attorneys and judges who willingly subjected themselves to this interview are:
Rich Wesorick, drummer and vocalist for Faith & Whiskey, also a managing partner at Tarolli. Wesorick said “Faith & Whiskey” sounds as though they could be a country band, “but we are ‘70s and ‘80s ‘pack the dance floor’ rock-n-roll!”
Michael P. Donnelly, guitarist and vocalist for Faith & Whiskey and a retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice. Donnelly said his bandmates “don’t care what I did in my past life — as long as I don’t screw up the guitar solo.”
Randall L. (Randy) Solomon, saxophone player and guitarist for The No Name Band, retired partner at BakerHostetler. Solomon’s band has been around for 25 years. “All lawyers,” he said, “Motown and classic rock, music for dancing from the ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond.”
Luke Lindberg, guitarist and vocalist for Luke Lindberg and the Hung Jury, an associate general counsel in Labor Relations at ABM Industries. Lindberg said his band plays a lot of ‘70s rock and folk, but he added, “it honestly just depends on the day and what we decide to play at any given show.”
Michael Scharf, guitarist and vocalist in Razing the Bar, also a professor of law and former dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Scharf said some of the law student members of his band are also professional musicians, and he is “just happy that they let me tag along.”
Has a fan ever told you to quit your day job and become a musician?
Solomon: “No, and, fortunately, neither have any of my law clients.”
Wesorick: “Plenty of fans ask when we are going to turn pro, but my response is usually, ‘How much have you had to drink?’”
Lindberg: “No. And that would be really bad advice that would lead me to significantly question the musical knowledge and/or mental state of that person.”
Donnelly: “No, but [Justice Melody Stewart] has seen me perform many times and has urged me *not* to quit my day job. Now that I no longer have a day job, my wife keeps encouraging me to find more gigs — probably so she doesn’t have to listen to me rehearse at home.”
Have you ever written a song inspired by your law career, like “You Fought the Law and I Won,” or something like that?
Scharf: “I’ve published 21 books, but no hit songs, I’m afraid. But I’d like to write a song called “Lawyers for Peace.”
Lindberg: “[We] have definitely written (and performed) some stuff over the years, but nothing that lame. At least we don’t think so. We have a rule where we try not to write bad songs, so we’re sticking with that rule.”
Donnelly: “Not officially, but if I did, I’d probably rewrite ‘Bargain’ by The Who into a courtroom ballad: ‘That backroom deal’s a bargain … the worst you ever had!’ It’d be a deep dive into the world of plea negotiations, with a killer guitar solo and a strong objection in the bridge.”
Solomon: “Many. For example: When [my firm] represented ‘Timmy the Gorilla’ in the case brought by claimants purporting to represent the interest of Timmy’s infertile mate ‘Kate’ to keep the Cleveland Zoo from moving Timmy to the Bronx Zoo to mate with the Bronx Zoo’s four fertile females, I wrote a song for Timmy to the tune of the Engelbert Humperdink song: ‘Please Release Me Let Me Go.’ Which I followed with a song for Kate to the tune of Hank Williams’ classic, ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart.’
The year is 1978. Warren Zevon is gambling in Havana and gets himself in a bit of trouble with the locals. He calls his dad and asks him to “send lawyers, guns, and money.” Do you take the case?
Scharf: “I used to be an Attorney Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State, so I’d probably pass on that one.”
Wesorick: “I am a patent attorney who doesn’t even know where the courthouse is, so I will not be taking any such case!”
Solomon: “Sure! During my 40 years of handling cases I was often called on to ‘run in the mud’ with difficult cases. I’d be happy to take this on, but only if my Partner, Jose Feliciano, (the lawyer, not the singer), would agree to work on it with me. While Jose is Puerto Rican, he’s pretty comfortable in any Hispanic setting, and he’s a terrific lawyer with nerves of steel!”
Donnelly: “Absolutely. Having been a bit of a rebel without a cause in high school, and calling on my own dad once or twice to bail me out of trouble, I can empathize. I’d take the case — especially if it comes with a backstage pass.”
What about you or your legal career makes you a ‘rock star’ in your daytime gig?
Lindberg: “The primary problem with your question is you’re assuming I’m not just holding onto my day job by a thread to begin with . . .”
Wesorick: “I am a people person, so I endeavor to meaningfully engage my clients to deliver the best possible legal services and advice.”
Scharf: “I recently delivered an Amicus argument before the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague – which was pretty cool.”
Solomon: “While I didn’t consider myself a ‘rock star’ of the law, I am most proud of having been inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and having been recognized as one of the top 50 lawyers in Cleveland and one of the top 100 lawyers in Ohio.”
Source: Signal Cleveland - Rock out with Cleveland attorneys at ‘Jam For Justice’