Rick Bowen

       Upstairs from the Tenant’s Union was the Neighborhood Justice Center.  Spencer Blaw (see Tribute before) used to hang with the upstairs crowd as well, playing poker, and this led to my knowing Rick Bowen.  Rick, like me, was a brand-new lawyer, having just passed the bar exam.  From the beginning I never did any advertising, just a law card that read: “Andy’s Law Office – Where the Meter Isn’t Always Running.”

One day Spencer shows up at my apartment/office with Rick’s law card: “Currently Working the Streets.”

Spencer says, “Maybe you two guys should get together.”

Later that afternoon Rick and I met for a beer.  Two months later, we rented a University Avenue storefront.  Five years later we bought a building down the street and called it “The People’s Law Center.”  Fifty–three years later Rick and I still office together on University Av., still often grab a beer, share war stories, and gossip about the ladies.

In most ways our politics were a perfect fit:  Both with a keen sense for injustice, both believing the rich as well the poor deserve good representation, both honest-types and both more or less tolerant-types.  But Rick is a Republican!  A tolerant-type Republican, thank goodness, because “The People’s Law Center” overnight turned into the “Andy Dawkins for State Rep Campaign Headquarters.”  In a chapter further on, I tell more about that campaign.  Suffice for here, the opportunity to run for office came suddenly and Rick hardly had a chance to contemplate all that might mean, but to this day I love that he never complained about the office all of the sudden having dozens of people trouping through every day.

Whenever somebody gets in trouble with the law, including myself (a DWI), I recommend Rick – and always hear back: “Highly satisfied.”  Rick has command of every nuance of the rules of criminal procedure.  Rick knows which prosecutors, which judges, should be approached which ways.  Most important, he is convincing – a great attribute for being a lawyer!   Best of all, he cares more about helping people than getting paid a lot – most his clients come from the poor side of town.   And to top it off, he’s got the Emma Goldman thing going – Rick’s the long-time Commissioner of our Rotisserie Baseball League.

photo caption above:  That’s a photo of my shingle facing the street.  On the sidewalk it reads Andrew J. Dawkins Attorney at Law.  Passersby could see me at my desk just below the sign – a real storefront law office.