Where Law Meets Music: Cue the Maestro, Esq.

John Reed: [00:00:09] With all due respect to my elementary school and middle school music teachers, I think I preferred legal practice over band practice. Despite how seriously cool I looked playing the snare drum, I don't think my teachers, or anyone in earshot really, were sorry to see me give it up. Let's just say I was better at Prosser on Torts than Ravel's Bolero.

You might think that classical music and the law occupy entirely different worlds. One, driven by artistic expression, and the other by rigid precedent and procedure. Music seeks to move the human spirit and transcend the rational, while law strives for logical consistency and predictable outcomes. But if you dig deeper or listen a little harder, as it were, you'll discover there are remarkable parallels, which we'll talk about today.

What happens when you combine the two? What do you get when you cross a lawyer with a classical musician, jazz player, or choralist? There's no better person to ask than the maestro who gives lawyers the opportunity and forum to make beautiful music together.

Gary Green is the founder and conductor of the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic. Oh, and he has been a successful lawyer for about 50 years, too. He is part alchemist, part bridge builder. He conjures golden sounds from ensembles you might not expect, and he offers lawyers an outlet to feed or rediscover their passion for music.

Welcome Gary. I'm excited to have you on the podcast.

Gary Greene: [00:01:35] And I am excited to be here, too.

John Reed: [00:01:37] Music has certainly been a big part of your life, and your uncle was a significant influence. Tell us about his legacy and what you learned from him.

Gary Greene: [00:01:47] I was brought up in a musical family. My late uncle, Ernst Katz, was a concert pianist, a composer, and a conductor. And back in 1937, he formed what was one of the oldest young people's symphonies in the west, known as the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra of California. And he conducted it for 72 years. 

And he did this at a time in the 1930s when California, and especially Southern California, was undergoing the Great Depression. No jobs, no work, no nothing really for young people to look forward to. So, he thought this would be an opportunity for him to give to the community since he couldn't even get a job in music.

From that moment on, he decided to form an orchestra where there would be no membership charges, no dues of any kind. He would give of his talents and of his time and his of his resources to young people. It became a very, very successful orchestra. Tens of thousands of young people went through this over the many years, and I did. I studied piano initially with my uncle, Ernst Katz, and then I studied the violin, became a violinist. I joined the orchestra. I stayed on for years. I became concert master.

I also got involved with my uncle on how to run an orchestra and what it takes. We didn't have any large organization. Basically, it was just two or three of us in the family that did all of this for all these many years.

John Reed: [00:03:25] So given this inclination you had towards music, piano, violin, when, and I guess, why did you pursue a legal career? When did that come into play?

Gary Greene: [00:03:35] From the time I was very young, I had a career goal and that was to go into politics. From even elementary school, speech classes, debate classes in junior high and in high school, and in college I majored in political science, and I went to law school specifically to have a legal background as an entree into politics.

As soon as I graduated law school, I ran for an office. I learned a lot about politics. I was elected, and then I realized there's a fork in the road here. I still have this urge to be involved politically, but at the same time, I said music is my real calling.

So, at that point, I switched gears, worked much more closely with my uncle and the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra, and that's where my interest got more involved in music as a hobby. My profession is a lawyer, because even though my intent was to use law for politics, I opened a law office right out of law school, and I've had it now for nearly 50 years. 

John Reed: [00:04:41] So let's talk about your day job. What kind of law did you practice when you started out, how it has evolved? What does your practice look like now?

Gary Greene: [00:04:49] I opened up my own practice as a sole practitioner. And I worked with a lot of different attorneys. So, from the very beginning, I had clerked while I was waiting for bar results for an immigration attorney. So that was my first entree into law. And then my next entree was to get involved in some real property. And as a sole practitioner starting out, you take every case that comes along, which at the time sounded good, but it was a disaster after a while because there were too many areas of the law and too many clients in different directions. So, then I started to focus my practice.

It still is mainly real estate, but also a lot of personal injury, primarily because in personal injury I could time my practice and my music. There was another time period where I specialized in family law. That's a scenario of the law where you get calls day and night and very, very difficult to maintain a time schedule so I could free myself up for music.

So, it went on to personal injury and interesting cases. I will never pass up an interesting case because that's my background, if something comes along. Matter of fact, one of the interesting cases along the way was I represented a witness in the O.J. criminal trial.

John Reed: [00:06:14] Representing a witness in the O.J. Simpson trial. That was a media circus, as we all know. It was highly televised. What was involved in your counsel of that witness, and what was your view and impression and experience?

Gary Greene: [00:06:30] I represented this witness who was the tow truck driver, John Meraz, who moved the Bronco at a critical time. And this was very early in the case. Matter of fact, I appeared in pre-trial in court and I also appeared in the trial representing him. Early on when the defense was looking for perhaps a fall person before the case went on, he could have been the fall person as they were looking to prove did he tamper with evidence in the Bronco. So, it was quite significant. It was fascinating being on the inside of this case when the whole world was watching it from the outside.

And I was in this tiny courtroom, which you would not have known from the television cameras. And it was so small that literally I was bumping up against the jurors. I was the closest one to the jury box, and I had a very good sight of the jurors to observe what was happening and had a feeling early on that this would end up in acquittal.

John Reed: [00:07:33] That's fascinating. I mean, you were inside the fishbowl, so it's a perspective that nobody's really heard about. Any other greatest hits in your past bag of tricks?

Gary Greene: [00:07:43] I had other interesting cases. One of the very first cases I had was being involved in an air crash case, which was the PSA crash in San Diego in 1978. 

John Reed: [00:07:59] You're three years out of law school and you're handling this case?

Gary Greene: [00:08:04] Yes. I was handling it with a colleague of mine who also just graduated law school. It was a good friend of ours who was a lawyer who was on that plane and killed in that crash, so we represented the family. We were in Los Angeles, and of course, the case was down in San Diego. And as recent graduates of law school, we were thinking a little differently on spotting issues than the premier lawyers in that area. So, we said to ourselves, wait, instead of bringing a case in tort in San Diego (site of the accident), why don't we do it on contract where the ticket was sold here in Los Angeles? And we did. And it totally shocked the defending insurance companies. We ended up going up on appeal on the case and we set the law through that case, coordination and consolidation of cases. 

John Reed: [00:08:59] That's pretty ingenious, though. Pretty creative approach.

Gary Greene: [00:09:02] Thank you.

John Reed: [00:09:02] Let's talk about your other career. What is the origin story of the L.A. Lawyers Philharmonic?

Gary Greene: [00:09:09] So I had music and I'm also practicing law. And one day I was introduced to a judge who happened to be a trumpet player. He was a Superior Court judge in L.A. County. And we got to talking, and he told me he even brought his trumpet to chambers and he was very much involved in music. 

And during the conversation he was telling me, well, this other judge plays violin. This other judge plays viola and this one and that. I said, that's kind of interesting. I wonder if we could bring all these lawyers, judges, musicians together and form a group.

We had an opportunity to do so at the Metropolitan News Person of the Year dinner back in 2009. I was invited to perform with lawyers and judges. So, we put the word out in the legal papers, to the bar associations, and I was absolutely surprised. Within a week I had more than a hundred responses from lawyers in the L.A. region, beyond just L.A. County, who were musicians and wanted to get involved.

I looked at their credentials, and then was even further shocked. It's not that they played an instrument maybe in school, and they let it go. These were people who went to Julliard, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute, San Francisco Conservatory, Thornton School of Music, and so many other music schools. These were really musicians.

So, I held my first rehearsal with about 30 musicians, 30 lawyers and judges, and I was, again, shocked how well they played. I mean, in just like a one rehearsal like this, these are really musicians. So, I started asking them, "Well, you play professionally like a professional. What attracted you to law?" And they all had the same answer. "We wanted to be professional musicians. We couldn't make a living. We went to law school."

John Reed: [00:11:09] Gotta eat somehow.

You talked about judges. Tell me about some of the lawyers and what their practices were like as well as the instruments they played.

Gary Greene: [00:11:17] When I formed the orchestra, I was very fortunate. For some reason, I had all the necessary instruments covered for the arrangements. We had the woodwinds, the flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoon. Right away, at the beginning we had trumpets, trombones, French horns. Tuba even. And the percussion instruments. Violins, violas, celli instruments. I had a little of everybody, and once we started playing, we got the word out, more people came to us.

The areas of law that these musicians were involved in... across everything. From criminal defense to prosecution, to civil lawyers and various areas of law. From large law firms to sole practitioners. It ran the gamut, which was really nice. And judges. So that means every once in a while, one of our players would have to ask, I may be appearing before my trumpet player or before my violinist or something like that. So, it made life, you know, kind of interesting and fun.

John Reed: [00:12:16] I need to recuse myself. I've jammed with counsel. 

Gary Greene: [00:12:19] Oh, that, that comes up. And then one of my favorite stories about that is, of course, the judge announces it, and I announce it. At that point I formed a chorus. He happened to be in my chorus, and there's a recess and the attorney on the other side comes up to me. I'm figuring, well, okay, he wants to accept the recusal and uh, and go on to another court. No, no. He comes up to me, he says, Hey, I play guitar. Is there any chance for me to be in your group?

We have a variety of lawyers in all kinds of fields, and we have all the different instruments. And beyond the instruments. I might add this, when I started the group, it was a symphony orchestra, and within a couple years I was getting correspondence from a number of attorneys and judges saying, "You're doing something wonderful. We really like it. We don't play an instrument. We sing. Is there an opportunity for us?"

And I gave it some great thought. And I got in touch with an attorney who was a choral director, and we got together and said, maybe we can form a chorus to go along with the orchestra. And this was in 2011, I believe. So, two years after I formed the orchestra. We put word out and there you go again. More than a hundred responses come in, and we auditioned every one of them. And we picked out a beautiful set of singers, and I gave it the name Legal Voices of the L.A. Lawyers Philharmonic. In short, we call them Legal Voices. And we made our debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall the same year that I formed the chorus, and we performed the great finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

John Reed: [00:14:12] Between 1975 and 2009, while you're practicing, were you performing on your own? How were you keeping up with your music? 

Gary Greene: [00:14:21] My uncle, who was the founder conductor of the Junior Philharmonic, gave me the opportunity to conduct that orchestra as a teenager. And then I became concert master of that orchestra, which is first violinist, and I had an opportunity to conduct. So, for all those many years, from the mid-seventies until 2009, I was playing actively as a violinist and conducting, and, which was a little more unique, I had the opportunity with my uncle's orchestra to know everything about managing an orchestra. And I auditioned, I would say, several thousand musicians over those years, too.

John Reed: [00:15:04] Not only was there the orchestra and the chorus, there was another group you formed. Tell us about that.

Gary Greene: [00:15:12] When I formed the orchestra, we were performing about ten concerts a year for the first three years, which was a tremendous, tremendous effort. And I also tried to land the orchestra in interesting places. We performed everywhere from the law library to City Hall in Los Angeles. We played for many bar associations in various places. We also performed early on for the Radio Television News Association Golden Mic Awards. And we did that for a couple years and everybody liked it.

It came around for the next year, and they said, our program is so successful. We don't have enough room to fit an orchestra in the banquet hall with the award ceremony. Can you cut your orchestra down to about 15, 17, 18 musicians? And immediately I said, well, I can't take an orchestra which has all these arrangements. It'd be very difficult to cut it down like that. I said, let me give it some thought.

And what I came up with was the idea of a big band, similar to the big band going back to the 1930s and 1940s. Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and those kind of bands, because the size is 17 musicians and a band leader. So, I put word out again to the legal community. I said, now we need musicians who are jazz oriented and big band oriented, because they're not really the same musicians you find in an orchestra. And again, I got a tremendous response, and I was able to form a big band with the presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, Arthur Gilbert.

I call him our key man or a man on the bench. He's the piano player with the band. And he is really a key person there. Not only is he a great piano and jazz player, but he also, together with his wife, Barbara, invited us into their home for weekly rehearsals. So, we had a place to rehearse. We called upon musicians that were more jazz oriented, and we formed this big band. We had our first performance for the Golden Mic Awards at the Radio News Association.

And word got out that we had a big band, and I was told, wait, the American Bar Association that year, I think it was 2012, is running a competition of lawyer bands from around the country. And everybody heard our band, which was a top playing band, big band, and said, why don't we apply for this? So, we put in an application, and the first stage was you had to receive responses from, I don’t know how many people, but thousands of responses from around the country, to be selected to be one of five bands to go to the final rounds in Chicago.

Well, we made that. We got enough votes from our colleagues that we were selected to be one of five to go to Chicago. And there were five, we were one of five bands. One of the bands was a hometown band in Chicago, big band like ours. Others were smaller rock bands.

And we flew off to Chicago for this, it was the American Bar Association Convention. We were to perform in the Chicago Art Institute, which is a classic place. And all five of us were going to perform in different areas of the Institute. All the attorneys attending the bar convention were going to be there that night for this big celebration and listen to the bands and vote.

I was told before we went to Chicago, we had no chance. We had no chance because we're competing against the hometown Chicago band, right? Okay, so I took that with sort of little tongue in cheek, but I said, yeah, it probably would be difficult. And we're a new band.

Well, we hit a grand slam. We took first place, and from that moment on, the band, which is called Gary Green Esquire and His Big Band of Barristers is known as America's number one legal band. 

John Reed: [00:19:23] It's the Cinderella story, and Gary, here's the thing: you did this within a three to four year period. You went from zero to three ensembles. How was your practice going at this time? Did you kind of have to dial back a little bit to start these things and nurture them?

Gary Greene: [00:19:41] You're talking about those three groups. But at the same time, I was also conducting the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. My uncle passed away in 2009, and I continued that on. So, I had another orchestra, entirely different, no lawyers, young people. So, I was doing all that and practicing law.

Well, the one thing that I guess I'm fortunate about is, I do not need a lot of sleep. And people joke about that, but really you can find me working 1:00, 2:00 in the morning and sometimes even later. So that helped in coordinating all these groups. So it was, it was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun. We had so much fun with all those concerts. 

But what I also want to add to that: it's not that we were just rehearsing and just playing. We were playing in some of the finest venues that there are here. Yeah, we took the band to Chicago. We had the orchestra play right from the inception in Walt Disney Concert Hall, one of the finest concert halls in the world really. We played the Shrine Auditorium, and we played Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We played Royce Hall at UCLA. We played at some of the best venues.

The other thing is we're not taking simple, easy music to play. This orchestra plays the same music that a professional orchestra plays. And not only that, some of the most complicated music. In this last year alone, we performed Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. It's written for orchestra and chorus, considered one of the most complicated pieces for chorus, if not the most, and one of the most complicated for orchestra. Beautiful performance of that within the last year.

And then I went beyond that and a couple months ago at Walt Disney Concert Hall, we performed Carmina Burana, one of the favorite compositions of the 20th century. Complicated like anything. Changes meter, sometimes every few measures. It's written for full orchestra, it's written for soloists, it's written for a small chorus, and a children's chorus. And we put them all together. And it was probably one of our best concerts ever, just a couple months ago.

John Reed: [00:21:59] I think most everybody listening to this and beyond is familiar with the term herding cats when it comes to lawyers. You've got them in one room. I get that. You worked your magic and brought them together. Do they defer to you? Are you truly the maestro? Do you have them working off your baton?

Gary Greene: [00:22:16] I received an award within a few years after I formed the orchestra, and it's right here in my office and it has this motto on it, and that might explain how I work with lawyers and judges. It says, "A man with a briefcase and a baton: the only lawyer from whom judges take direction." 

The award was presented to me by the Metropolitan in Los Angeles on the occasion of their Person of the Year Dinner, and I was made Person of the Year for 2010.

John Reed: [00:22:52] Congratulations. That's great. That's great.

You talked about these very complicated, sophisticated pieces that you perform. Are you making the decisions? Is there a little bit of democracy? Are you accepting suggestions from people in the various ensembles?

Gary Greene: [00:23:06] I make the decisions on the musical programming for the orchestra, and it's been very successful because of my background that I had with my late uncle, Ernst Katz, in the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He came up with this idea back in the 1930s that a musical program to a general audience should be a variety. So, his programs have always included classical symphonies and Broadway music in the same concert. And for that reason, his orchestra always had capacity crowds. And that's what I have with this one.

When I performed Carmina Barna a couple months ago, prominent classical piece, that brings in a certain audience. They come from everywhere to hear this when they know it's being performed. What else did I put on the program? I figured I've got to have a little variety. Not everyone may have heard of Carmina Bana. So, what did I do? Phantom of the Opera. And what it does, it brings a mix in audiences. And, and that, to me, is very important.

Our audiences are really a full composite of our community in every aspect. Of all economic strata, of all political persuasions, of all religions, of all races. It brings everybody together, which always is significant for me because I think about that.

At the one time where people of all kinds, especially in today's society, they have different beliefs and different ideas. They're all listening at the same time to the music. And that to me is where music can probably play one of the best ingredients in bringing our community together.

And I might mention something about Phantom of the Opera. We had one of our lawyers sing the solo parts, and this lawyer, Michael McGuire, practicing in Beverly Hills, won a Tony on Broadway for the original cast of Les Mis.

John Reed: [00:25:05] You, you've got quite the lineup. 

What do you think the draw has been all these years for all these lawyers and judges? What does their participation give them?

Gary Greene: [00:25:15] Every one of the members, they have a real passion for music. They were brought up with it, and that's what they have, and they want to have an outlet. And that's what I've done when I formed these different groups, giving everybody this outlet.

And it's very important because our profession as lawyers is stressful. There's no doubt about it. No matter what aspect you're involved in law, there's some stress. This is a perfect release. Once a week we get together and we play music. Our minds are a hundred percent on the music, on nothing else.

And that's what brings people to our rehearsals, to our music, to our concerts. Because it's not only pleasurable, but it's also relaxing and gives a lot of relief to a lot of the stresses in society.

John Reed: [00:26:02] I have to imagine a lot of these people never thought they'd have this opportunity again, whether it was being so classically trained at one of the schools you mentioned, one of the conservatories, or playing in high school and not picking it up. Or not picking it up seriously for a number of years. You gave them something, you gave them a platform that maybe they didn't think they had. Is that fair?

Gary Greene: [00:26:23] Many of our members have come up to me and thanked me for this because they put away their instruments. They may have been practicing law, judges, and they put them away for years, and all of a sudden I did give them an opportunity to bring out those instruments again and do what they really wanted to do and play music. Yes, it was very successful from that point of view too.

John Reed: [00:26:49] If I recall, there was somebody who played for your uncle that later joined your philharmonic.

Gary Greene: [00:26:55] And actually he's also a member of my big band. That's Bob Hirschman. Bob joined the Junior Philharmonic Orchestra under my uncle's baton in 1954. I have a picture of him with that orchestra then. Bob went on to become a professional musician. He played with Stan Kenton, among others, and he's a lawyer, and a long-time practicing lawyer as well. Fits right into our picture and plays with me today. 

John Reed: [00:27:28] That's such a testament to your uncle's legacy as well as your draw and, and what you're offering.

You've traveled quite extensively, and as you said, you may have started in the small venues of the law library, but you're playing the big, big arena tours now.

Gary Greene: [00:27:43] We also did a special performance in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in their great hall. And when I was there, I was told that the only other band performing there was the marine band. So, it was a really great thrill for us.

One of the things that the orchestra did was we did a soundtrack for a radio rebroadcast of a program called We Hold These Truths. Our performance was on the 75th anniversary of the original performance, which was to commemorate the Bill of Rights and Constitution. The original performance of all things took place in December of 1941, right after Pearl Harbor, and it was broadcast on all the networks nationwide with a list of major celebrities, and it included the New York Philharmonic and Leopold Stokowski conducting.

I was asked to do the remake with our orchestra. It was pretty neat, and from that broadcast, we were invited to participate in an international radio competition. We also won that competition and won a gold medal for that in 2017. There was only one other orchestra that won an award at that particular award ceremony besides the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic. It was the New York Philharmonic.

John Reed: [00:29:14] You're in good company.

Gary Greene: [00:29:16] Because we have a profession in law, music is not our bread and butter. It's not like it's just a job and we get paid. We all volunteer. Because we have this passion, we probably play with more passion than any other orchestra. That's why we do it. We've been very successful in a lot of our performances, almost all to capacity houses, wherever we went.

We're continuing on doing some fun and great things. This coming year, we're going to look forward to going back to Walt Disney Concert Hall. It'll be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, so we're going to do something special on an Americana program.

While we have not traveled outside of the country, we have attracted people from outside of the country to our orchestra. Early on, I read about a Supreme Court Justice in Sydney, Australia, who was also a composer, and his works were performed by the London Symphony. He read about us because there was an Associated Press article that made it around the world telling everybody about lawyers and judges in music.

And he read that article and we became friends and in contact, and then I listened to his music, and it was really good music, and I asked him if he could send something to me and we would play it. And he did. And he came out for the performance at Disney Hall, and we performed one of his concerti. It was great.

But at the same time as we were performing his music, I was contacted by an individual who was an attorney, a composer, and at that particular time, the sitting president of the Republic of Croatia. And he wanted his music performed by us in Disney Hall. I had to say, we've got to wait until next year when we go back to Disney Hall. And he was patient, sent me the music, and we did perform his music. He sent a whole delegation out from Croatia. It was very successful and very enjoyable. That gave us an opportunity to spread our wings around the world. 

John Reed: [00:31:30] I'm curious to get your perspective on the similarities, the common patterns, and some of the distinct differences between music and the law.

Gary Greene: [00:31:41] Many of our musicians, many of our lawyers, as growing up were introduced to music long before they were introduced into law. And music is a phenomenal training ground for all education. It requires discipline, it's responsibility, and to a certain degree, if you're going to be a professional, it requires perfection.

The very same ingredients are needed for law, they're needed for medicine, they're needed for careers. And so, music is, if you think about it in that sense, is a very logical way to introduce people into law. Same methodology, same study, same discipline. And I encourage all young people to get involved in music for whatever career they go into.

John Reed: [00:32:34] Let's talk a little bit more about your ensembles giving back. Have there been any performances that have been special because of their connection to certain causes or charities?

Gary Greene: [00:32:46] Over the now 16 years of the orchestra, we've performed for many, many charities, including the American Diabetes Association, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Hollywood Remembers World AIDS Day, Inner City Law Center, Magen David Adom, Public Counsel, the Salvation Army, Shriners Hospitals for Children, The Thalians, UCLA Center for Autism, and many, many others.

Probably the concerts that brought us the most attention was a few years ago when we were invited to be one of several orchestras around the world to perform on instruments—violins, violas, celli, and some basses—that were recovered from the Holocaust. While the people did not survive, the instruments did, and they were refurbished by violin makers in Israel, and they were loaned to different orchestras.

A couple years ago, they were loaned to our orchestra, and we put on this concert called The Concert of Hope, and it had two meanings really. One is we performed music that was actually played on those instruments. I did a lot of research. I found music that was composed in some of the concentration camps where the composer did not survive, but the music did. And we performed other music that we know was played on those instruments. That was a big part of that concert.

The other part of that concert was we were set to do a performance just before COVID for the City of Hope, which is one of the world's greatest cancer hospitals. We were to perform a premiere of a piece dedicated to the City of Hope. And we did that at the same concert. Very, very successful. And we raised funds for both those causes. 

John Reed: [00:34:49] For your musicians that were playing those instruments, what was their experience? What did they feel from that?

Gary Greene: [00:34:57] It was a very emotional evening for everybody, but especially those violinists that played those instruments. When you play an instrument and I as a string player feel, especially as a violinist, it becomes part of you. 

John Reed: [00:35:14] Hmm. 

Gary Greene: [00:35:14] And to hold an instrument that you knew somebody had a lot of passion, and giving a lot to and, lost everything in the holocaust, was a tremendous emotional feeling. We had these instruments brought in from another performance just before ours in Chicago, and I sent one of our violinists out to bring back the instruments and see to it. And to this day, she's still moved at that trip that she had to take and then perform on one of those violins.

John Reed: [00:35:46] That's outstanding. That's fantastic.

What aspects of your music have enhanced or informed your legal career? What is it about your music that's made you a better lawyer? And I guess vice versa. What about being a lawyer has made you a better musician, conductor?

Gary Greene: [00:36:05] The connection between music and law is such that when I go to a rehearsal and I go to a concert, 100% of my attention is on what I'm doing with the music at that time. And that's the case with every one of the musicians. You can't be doing two things at the same time if you're concentrating on music.

When you leave the music and you go back to law, you're refreshed. You don't have to think about the music, but now you are fully refreshed to attack the law the way you should be all the time. And I think music is a tremendous assistance in that.

John Reed: [00:36:43] So is that family connection to the music continuing? Is there anyone else in your family that's involved?

Gary Greene: [00:36:49] I do have a niece who is a professional singer, and my daughter is a violinist as well. My daughter, Deborah, is the executive director of all my musical events. Basically, Debra coordinates everything with all the musicians, everything for the concerts, and for the music. Small organization, but we do get a lot done in a big way.

With the philosophy I learned from my uncle, Ernest Katz, and the Junior Philharmonic who never had an audition for your membership charges, I carry down the same with the Lawyers Philharmonic. Everybody's a volunteer, and there are no charges for this group. We're able to make it with the assistance of our sponsors and our ticket sales, and we're still able to donate tens and tens of thousands of dollars to various charities. 

We're fortunate to have a few sponsors who assist us when we do have expenses. And we do, we have rental for a rehearsal hall. We rent auditoriums all the time. Music and things of that sort. We have a few of our members who are sponsors. We have Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company. We have the José Iturbi Foundation. We have law firms: Oldman Sallus Gold, Winestock Manion, lawyers Raquelle de la Rocha and Bruce Altshuler. Steven Martinez, who is an audience member who sees what we do, and in loving memory of his wife, he became a sponsor of the orchestra, too.

John Reed: [00:38:28] I'm glad you gave them a shout out. It's important what they're doing for you.

So, what's next on the performance schedule?

Gary Greene: [00:38:34] On October 18th, 2025, we're doing a performance at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena as a tribute to the victims of the Eaton Altadena Fire.

We had a concert scheduled for early in 2025, and with the terrible Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires that took place in January, we had to postpone that concert. A number of our members lost their homes. They lost everything. Some of our members, judges and lawyers, the only thing some of them took out with them besides the clothes on their back were their instruments. And others did not.

Our piano player, presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, Arthur Gilbert, where we rehearsed in his home. His home was totally destroyed. He lost his Fazioli piano, which is one of the great pianos and that's where we rehearsed from the time I formed the big band.

Another judge, Justice Helen Bendix, lost her home. She did take her instruments with her, and a number of lawyers lost their homes and lost everything. We put together a little fund for those that lost their instruments.

But the interesting thing is, after the fire and very shortly after these people really lost everything, these were the first of my orchestra and choral and band members that contacted me, contacted me to say, when's our next rehearsal?

Because they realized that the music will actually help them, and it would be a good means of getting back to society and putting their mind in something positive. For them, we really started rehearsals right away, and we got the orchestras going. And we went on just a few months later to perform this great concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where we did Carmina Burana and we did Phantom of the Opera.

Our fabulous Fall concert on December 6th at John Adams Performing Arts Center, and the featured works there will be, again, a variety of classical and Broadway. We're going be performing the Mozart Requiem, and we're also going to be doing the Sound of Music, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary.

John Reed: [00:41:12] Well, Gary, I only got as far as third or fourth, or maybe last chair in the eighth grade percussion section. But you have given me a wonderful and different musical education today.

Congratulations to you and your ensembles for what you've achieved, and thanks for spending some time with me today.

Gary Greene: [00:41:27] John, it's my real pleasure and since I know your musical background, I want you to know we have a definite place for you in all our musical organizations— and that's the audience. 

John Reed: [00:41:39] Oh, good. I thought you were going to say the triangle player, 'cause I wouldn't even want that job. 

Well, thanks again, Gary. I appreciate it.

Gary Greene: [00:41:44] Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity too.

John Reed: [00:41:49] Hey, listeners, I think you know what's next. No matter where you found Sticky Lawyers or you may be listening, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever, please take a moment and click a button: like, comment, share, whatever. You pick. It's a quick and painless way to tell us how we're doing, and wouldn't that be a nice thing to do?

Until next time, I'm John Reed and you've been listening to Sticky Lawyers.