The Judge

Judge Nelms

My name is Peter Tierney.  I am a partner at the law firm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman, 7 Blumenthal in Dallas where I have had the privilege of practicing law with Russ Nelms for the past 20 years.  I am honored to have been asked by Russ to speak at his investiture as a federal bankruptcy judge  I number Russ among my very closet colleagues and friends.  I admire and respect him greatly and care for him deeply.

I want to tell you about the Russ Nelms I have come to know.  He is a unique and complex person – seen differently by different people.  I would like to try and capture the whole person.

On the surface it seems straight-forward enough.  Russ is an amiable looking, slightly balding – make that considerably balding – middle-aged man with a lovely family, and a pleasant personality, who, after a quiet and successful private law practice, has achieved the high honor of being appointed to the bench.

Russ was born in West Texas – a boy from Sweetwater.  His family moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where he attended high school.  It was in Roswell where Russ went through the maturation process – I don't really want to go there – I think it's mostly talk.  In any event, he tells me he participated fully in the life of the  student body.  He is particularly proud of his performance as a split end on the Robert Goddard High School football team – the Rockets.  Given his somewhat modest physique, he must have been awfully fast to have survived that experience.

As many of you know, Russ had quite a distinguished military career.  Yes, he went to airborne school in the Army, where he won his wings, attended law school at Texas Tech – on the Army's nickel – where he did quite well – honors, Order of the Coif, and so on – he became an officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps, and ultimately became the chief prosecutor for all branches of the military in Latin America.  His knack for matters military, however, was attained during his ROTC undergraduate days, drilling on the best parade grounds of Texas Tech – what Russ now calls the West Point of the West.

Russ likes to hunt, hike, and attend rattlesnake roundups.  the most famous roundup of them all is right there in Sweetwater, the town of his birth.  He attends that event regularly.  I am from Boston and I am not exactly sure what they do at these roundups, but Russ apparently enjoys them.  I am told by Russ that his son Hunter has also developed an enthusiasm for this event.

On the other end of the leisure spectrum, Russ enjoys bicycle racing.  Ask him to show you his cycling outfits and his extensive stores of cycling equipment – he has enough to open a cycling shop.  Russ can be seen very early each morning as he vigorously pedals the environs of White Rock Lake and Flagpole Hill in Dallas, resplendent in his cycling togs and perched on the seat of his state-of-the-art bike.  Fort Worth will soon have the pleasure of this vision.

His sense of a fun vacation is pedaling furiously up and down the hills of various European countries with his wife Lisa in tow.  Actually, Lisa has become quite an accomplished cyclist herself.  Incidentally, Russ got into cycling long before the Lance Armstrong craze.  Russ tells the story of participating in a race with Lance when Lance was a scrawny 16-year-old kid from Plano who could cycle like hell – believe it or not, it was the tour of Dallas.  Lance did not wait for Russ at the finish line.

Russ's latest interest in things on wheels is his new motorcycle.  I hope this is a passing fancy.

Russ also was our law firm's humorist-in-chief.  He solidified this position when as a young lawyer he first donned the chicken suit.  Most of you probably know of the San Diego Chicken that parades around at many professional sporting events.  Well, when Russ learned that the famous chicken was to attend a Rangers' game, he gathered together a substantially similar chicken suit and assumed his position in the stands.  Inevitably, the San Diego Chicken spotted him, ran into the stands, and commenced a beak-to-beak debate.  Russ tells me that as they carried on for the crowd, the chicken quietly said to him, "I do this for a living – what's your excuse?"

He is also remembered fondly at the firm for his stand-up comic routines at firm get-togethers.  His best performance may have been the Elvis persona he presented at a firm costume party.  I think he believed he actually was Elvis.

Now I'll tell you a big secret.  This fun-loving, risk-taking, sometimes irreverent, gregarious, intelligent man is one of the most grounded persons one could ever know.

As a lawyer he represents the very best of the profession.  He is ethical to the core.  He is serious about his scholarship and unrelenting in getting to the essence of legal issues.  In his practice, he systematically and objectively evaluated matters for clients.  He simply would not present a matter to a court that was not grounded in good sense and supported by legitimate authority – this, of course, did not prevent him from getting poured out from time to time.  He treated his legal adversaries with respect and candor, mixed with disarming one-liners.  Most adversaries would reciprocate.  He firmly believed that earning the trust and respect of his adversaries and the court was crucial to his role as a lawyer and to the integrity of the system.

Russ and I have talked for hours about the confusing world we live in and what it ultimately all means.  Not surprisingly, we came up with few answers.  What I did learn, however, from those conversations was that Russ believes strongly that civic, social, and religious institutions and their traditions are crucial factors to the stability, order, and ethics of a society.  Of course, Russ never put it just that way – but that is where he was coming from.

Russ participates fully in the religious institution of his choice.  He and Lisa attend Saint James Episcopal Church in Dallas.  They actually do far more than attend.  Lisa is the full-time director of education at the church, and I do mean full time.  Russ says she works harder than he does.  At church Russ is referred to as Lisa's husband – but Russ is always there – pot luck, Sunday School, lay reader, the works.

You also learn quickly when talking with Russ that the most important thing to him is his family and friends.  Some close friends that I know use a single word to describe their relationship with Russ:  loyalty.  If you know Russ, you know his mother, his brother, his sister, his wife Lisa, his children Hunter and Hillary, and many of his childhood friends, to boot.  They are a package – it is as simple as that.

Lisa knows and supports this complex man and Russ clearly loves her dearly.  It is wonderful to see them interact.  He has two great kids – Hunter, 16, and Hillary, 11 – I want them to know that their dad talks about them often and is proud of them both.  Hunter, he admires your creativity and uniqueness – I know because I listen to the way he talks of you.  He knows unique people accomplish unique things.  Hillary is daddy's little girl – that will never change.  Hillary, he is particularly proud of your spirit, your enthusiasm, your zest for life.  You both are fortunate to have such parents and, of course, they are fortunate to have you.

When Russ told me he was interested in being a judge I asked what I thought was an obvious question:  why the great sacrifice, with college for the kids yet to come, and a bright and lucrative legal career, still very much in front of you.  I was trying to selfishly convince him to stay with the firm.  He answered me simply – he said he felt that he had a calling, a vocation, to do this – he truly wanted to serve.  I never raised the question again.

 

Congratulations, Judge Russ Nelms!

 

2005