Sorrell Trope Project
Stories about Sorrell
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From:
Hon. Kenneth Black (ret.)
About 25 years ago in the mid-1980's, Sorrell was representing a woman in a post-judgment modification of support OSC. Opposing counsel, Robert L. Brock, had been a commissioner in the LASC Family Law Department from 1947-1954. In closing argument, Brock argued outside the evidence. Instead of merely objecting that Brock's argument was outside the evidence, Sorrell told a story. he said, "I remember when I was a young lawyer, back before this building (the Stanley Mosk Courthouse) was even built, back when the courthouse was a little green bungalow across the mall, and I was arguing outside the evidence. The commissioner said to me, 'Son, you can't argue ouside the evidence.' That commissioner's name? Robert L. Brock".
From:
Edward J. Thomas
Family Law Section President
California State Bar
Speech Acknowledging Sorrell Trope's Receiving the California State Bar Lifetime Achievement Award
There is a person in this room to whom every family law lawyer owes a debt that can never be repaid. In no small part, it is because of this man that we are able to practice family law at the level we do. More importantly, he, more than any other lawyer, is the reason we are able to charge our clients the outrageous hourly rates we charge. If for no other reason, God bless him for that.
Most of you are too young to remember how it once was and why you owe this man what you owe him. Because the individual of whom I am speaking can be such a cantankerous son-of-a-bitch, those of us who do remember and know precisely what we owe him forget to send a thank you note.
The Greeks trace their origins back to Adam. The Jews trace their origins back to King David. We in family law trace our origins back to Sorrell Trope. I don't want to suggest that Sorrell is old, but rumor has it that, as a child, Sorrell knew both Adam and King David on a first name basis.
Sorrell's accomplishments are nothing short of legendary. He was the first family lawyer in the United States to start a major law firm that specialized in family law. For years, his was the largest such law firm in the world. His list of former partners and associates reads like a Who's Who of Family Law in Southern California and includes names like Ron Anteau, Bruce Cooperman, Suzanne Harris, Pat DeCarolis, Steve Knowles, and a long list of others too numerous to mention.
Sorrell set the original gold standard for trial preparation in family law cases, and he taught a whole generation of family law lawyers, who in turn taught the next generation of family law lawyers, how to try a family law case. Before there were family law departments, he forced trial judges to treat a family law case like the serious civil litigation it is by bringing to family law cases a level of analysis and sophistication that was simply not present before he arrived on the scene. In no small measure, it is because of Sorrell that the California State Bar was forced to recognize family law as an area of specialization and that every county in this state now has a separate family law department.
I would tell you more about Sorrell's incredible credentials, but, knowing Sorrell as I do, he will undoubtedly do that himself. Like most great trial lawyers, among his almost unbelievable gifts and talents, you will not find either modesty or humility. A few years ago, I, in front of Sorrell, was giving hm a hard time by telling another lawyer about how, when Sorrell started practicing law, they had just invented the telephone. The lawyer responded by saying, "For crying out loud, the next thing you are going to tell me is that Sorrell was born in a log cabin." Without skipping a beat, Sorrell interrupted and said, "Oh no, that was Abe Lincoln. I was born in a manger."
Purely as a result of the law of averages, every few years the California State Bar does something right, and when it does, it is generally long overdue. This was the case this past year when the Family Law Executive Committee of the California State Bar voted unanimously to give Sorrell its rarely given Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is not given every year, and it is the highest and most prestigious award the California State Bar can give to a family law lawyer. When I first told Sorrell about his receiving this award, he was kind of disappointed that the vote to give it to him had been unanimous. He figured that, if he had really been doing his job, somebody on hte committee would have hated him enough to vote against him. He only felt better when I told him that, when it came to my vote, it was a close call.
Ladies and gentlemen, please stand and recognize (i) the recipient of the highest award the California State Bar can give a family law lawyer, (ii) a great trial lawyer (and the only lawyer who has ever "out-hometowned" me in my own home town), and (iii) a colleague, friend, and AAML Fellow--Sorrell Trope.
From:
Carolyn Kozuch DeFrancesco
I admit that I do have a few amusing "Sorrell stories" dating from my law clerk days in 1984 through my going away lunch in 2001. However, I must say that as time has passed since I left LA and the practice of law, what has impressed me the most is the indelible imprint of Sorell's work ethic on my life. People sometimes would say to me as time went on that Sorrell must be like a father to me. That always struck me as odd since I was very close to my father and I was not looking for a "father figure" at work. However, as we all know, ST runs a very tight ship, and there is no time for drama or other nonsense. Many people know he was always an early riser. Many was the day when the phone would ring at home at 6:59 a.m. and I knew he had been waiting by the phone to call at a more "civilized" hour than he truly wanted. When he was in trial, i was often charged with bringing his mail to his home, and I would always hope to be invited in for a drink so that I could listen to his stories, and his sharp and incisive take on how the day in court had gone.
Now that I have returned to work in development at a university, I am struck by how well my training has held up. Sorrell is maniacal about returning phone calls, a very useful lesson for those of us willing to learn it, and which served me well on every occasion. He is also a proponent of tackling the most difficult job first, another great strategy. I have written Sorrell a couple of notes over the last few years, thanking him for the professional manner and polished style with which he ran our office. Nowadays, working in what to me is my usual routine often results with my being the first one in, the last to leave and the one who goes in on Saturdays. His example has also paid off as I have helped to raise four stepchildren during the past ten years. They all know what to expect when I start a sentence, "The senior partner in my law firm used to say..."; they are going to hear another story about how to do things the right way the first time, and be prepared, be prepared, be prepared. For anyone who is still wondering, the myth of the "trial box" is no myth. Sorrrell expected us to prepare for a trial so thoroughly that he could absorb everything he needed to know from a well prepared box of files containing everything from the Exhibit List to the closing argument. And yes, he could get ready for a trial in one night.
I should add that if you know Sorrell at all, you know that he is very generous; in particular, his loyalty and kindness to the Buhai Center made a huge impact on me as I grew to understand the world of charitable giving while working at Trope and Trope. All I can say again is thank you, Sorrell, from the bottom of my heart.
From:
Penny St. John
Sorrell is a good storyteller and that has no doubt contributed to his success in the courtroom. I have known Sorrell for about 24 years. I have heard great stories from him and about him.
Although Trope and Trope represents a large number of high earning clients, Sorrell did not turn away clients with a smaller estate. I brought a client to the firm who was of relatively mdest means and asked if we could take her on. Sorrell answered me by telling me a story about a client of his long ago. This client was a housekeeper for a living. One of Sorrell's colleagues asked why he would take on a case with so little money involved. he explained his philosophy that if you o a ood job for the client with the smaller estate, it may bring in clients who have larger ones. As it turned out, the housekeeper or someone she knew worked for Cary Grant. He later became a client.
Sorrell has always had a work ethic that involved nearly constant attention to his law practice. Once when I asked him for time off to travel to Italy with my husband, he asked, "Didn't you go there last time?" I told him I had traveled there two years ago. "Why do you need to go back?" he asked. Then he told me (I'm paraphrasing and I don't know the right Yiddish word) "I have a place in Veil. My family wants me to go there. I went last winter. The first day, I got up and went skiing. I don't ski alone anymore since some meshugenah ran into me. I hire an instructor to ski in front of me. Then I went home. The next day I got up an went skiing and came home. The third day I woke up and said to myself, "What the hell am I doing here? I could be at the office!"
Sorrell had a practice of gathering his entire firm for a meeting every Monday at 5pm. The firm was so large that several of us had to drag chairs into the conference room. Sorrell would give the firm directions and give some instruction to the young associates. These often involved a story about dealing with clients, experts or opposing counsel. These were memorable and entertaining and I may send them in as stories, but I cannot post them on the website!
Congratulations on a lifetime of achievement, Sorrell!