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Real Lawyers Have Blogs

The Library at LexBlog, a Field of Dreams for Legal Professionals and the Public Worldwide

By Kevin O’Keefe

“If you build it, he will come.” The voice in the corn whispered to Ray Kinsella.

In founding and going the distance in business (law firm, virtual legal community, legal publishing platform) I always believed, “If you build it they will come.”

You look to ease someone’s pain. À la what Ray did for Doc “Moonlight” Graham who shared his dream,

“Well, you know I… I never got to bat in the major leagues. I would have liked to have had that chance. Just once. To stare down a big league pitcher. To stare him down, and just as he goes into his windup, wink. Make him think you know something he doesn’t. That’s what I wish for. Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingling in your arm as you connect with the ball. To run the bases — stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third, wrap your arms around the bag. That’s my wish, Ray Kinsella. That’s my wish.”

Others cannot see what you see as the founder. When his brother-in-law couldn’t see the players on Ray’s field and told him he’d go bankrupt, Karin, Ray’s daughter saw the possibilities,

“Daddy, we don’t have to sell the farm. People will come. They’ll see it on TV or something, and they’ll come from miles around. They’ll pay twenty dollars for a ticket, and they’ll sit in the bleachers and watch the game! People will come, Daddy.”

Terence Mann then spoke from the infield (substitute legal professionals, for people, and the law, for baseball, for effect),

“Ray, people will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. ‘Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,’ you’ll say. ‘It’s only twenty dollars per person.’ They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.

And they’ll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.

People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game — it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Followed by John Kinsella, Ray’s father and major league ball player who had walked out of the corn, starting this dialogue:

John: “Is this heaven?”
Ray: “It’s… Iowa.”
John: “Iowa?”
Ray: “Yeah.”
John: “I could have sworn it was heaven.”
Ray: “Is there a heaven?”
John: “Oh, yeah. It’s the place where dreams come true.” Ray: “Maybe this is heaven.”

I told my team last week we’re building a Field of Dreams with The Library at LexBlog.

Imagine making real the dreams of ordinary people everywhere—dreams of meaningful access to the law, the backbone of our society and societies worldwide, and to affordable legal help for far too many has never been within reach.

With AI and a caring team, I believe this is possible.

And for a snot-nosed kid who wanted to be a lawyer since he was a little kid because he wanted to help people and leave the world a better place, maybe The Library is his field of dreams.