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My Friend Richard
Any time I talk with a young person who has every jot and tittle of his life planned out until the day he retires (this is especially common among the kind of sociopaths who have political ambitions), I always gently advise them that it’s generally more important to have a direction than a plan. It’s great to know what you want out of life, but you always ought to be humble enough to recognize that the road by which you get there — or by which you may get to a place you never though you’d venture in the first place — will almost certainly bend in directions you never anticipated.
Case in point: the college sophomore iteration of Troy Senik, newly immersed in a volume entitled Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism, would have been gobsmacked if you had told him that he would one day carve out a professional niche as a sort of sherpa (or, if you prefer, a poor man’s James Boswell) to the author of that book, a polymath law professor by the name of Richard Epstein who happens to be celebrating a birthday today.
I had never met Richard (or, for that matter, John Yoo) before we sat down to tape the first installment of the Law Talk podcast in February of 2011. Having deep respect for the accomplishments of each — and having long before learned that law professors were not generally inclined towards joviality — I was a tad on the nervous side. After all, if you’ve ever listened to the opening of the show, you know that I’m not exactly striking the most dignified tone in the world. Imagine my relief when both told me that, if anything, they wanted the show to be even looser. Four years later, I’m confident that we’re the only legal podcast on the planet with running gags involving the McRib or Roman riparian law.
In the intervening years, Richard has gone from being a colleague to a friend. That someone with that kind of intellectual heft is also possessed of such a self-deprecating sense of humor, such joie di vivre, and such generosity of spirit continues to amaze me. There are far lesser intellectual lights who wear their erudition much more heavily.
In that time, I’ve also acquired an anthology of Epsteinisms that will never run dry. There was the time that, while suffering through the technical difficulties that are the hallmark of any podcast recorded with the professor, he lamented, upon struggling to figure out the mute setting on his microphone, “I’ve always had problems with binary systems.” There was the time that, finding the legal reasoning of Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes — two of the more conventionally esteemed justices in the history of the Supreme Court — flimsy, he dismissed them with a wave of the hand as “intellectual losers.” There was the time that, while Richard was giving me an economic analysis of marriage, he declared, “People with similar skill sets generally don’t have terribly functional marriages. Do you know why?” — long pause — “No gains from trade.”
We’ve now done more than 70 installments of Law Talk. Early next month, we’ll record the 100th episode of The Libertarian podcast we produce together for the Hoover Institution. It’s hard for me to conceive of a time when I didn’t know Richard — because I now talk with him more often than some members of my own family (that’s probably his loss and their gain).
Richard Epstein is 72 today. He has almost exactly four decades on me. And yet, I’m confident that on the distant day when we put these podcasts to bed it will be because I, not he, will have run out of gas.
When people ask me about the task of moderating Richard, I often cite the old SportsCenter catchphrase: “You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.” The reality, of course, is that neither stopping nor containing is necessary. With a mind like that, you just stand back and let him do his thing. Long may it continue.
Published in General
Make up for your previous neglect and give the book a nice review on Amazon.
While the banter is easy – and thoroughly enjoyed – I’m not certain it makes learning effortless. After a few rewinds, though, it does sink in to this increasingly thick skull. Happy, Happy Birthday Professor, and many happy returns. We all wish for hundreds more Law Talk podcasts. As others have mentioned, it is one of my favorites as well.
Happy birthday, Professor. And thank you, Troy and John Yoo, also, for a delightful show.
Many of Cicero’s orations were originally legal pleadings. He had them transcribed, edited them, and then published them. Listening to Richard Epstein’s explanations must be rather like listening to Cicero in full ad lib mode.
And let’s not make light of Roman riparian law. ‘Quod omnes tangit, omnibus tractari debet’ is one of the foundation stones of Western Civilization, including the civil conversation at Ricochet.
Troy, you don’t do yourself justice. It always seems to me that you are well prepared with interesting material to seed the conversation with and between the Professors.
Law Talk is a joy, and you even succeed in bringing interest to the discussion of sport (mainly because Richard speculating on the incentives and consequences of rule changes is such fun).
Many happy returns of the day to Richard, and many returns of Law Talk!
And, Grendel – agreed. I, too, have seen Paul Rahe’s Hillsdale lecture where he cites that legal principle as a foundation of Western Democracy.
I’ve never heard three personalities that mesh so well with each other on a broadcast.
If it were only Richard it would be exhausting. If it were only John it would be too silly. And if it were only Troy it would be great questions without great answers.
Happy Birthday Richard. Thanks Troy for writing this. If bar associations would assign listening to Law Talk instead of requiring MCLE compliance, every lawyer in America would be a better lawyer today.
There was the time that, while Richard was giving me an economic analysis of marriage, he declared, “People with similar skill sets generally don’t have terribly functional marriages. Do you know why?” — long pause — “No gains from trade.”
This is absolutely fantastic.
Boy, John’s really going to need a thread on his birthday, too.
The Law Talk podcast is fantastic. I listen to every one. Don’t stop; keep up the good work.
Have a happy, Perfessor – your self-deprecation may not allow for it, but you are a gift to listen to. I have no idea how you manage to end your spontaneously organized soliloquies so eloquently, and always, right on the button. How you do this off the cuff, I will never understand – so I will just admire it.
Chris
Actually, I’m really surprised that Troy is not a lawyer. I’ve often referred to him, in my head, as “Law Lad: Defender of the Roman Riparians”, and pictured him standing athwart a small dais.
Closest I could get, Troy. My bad.
Professor, you may have lost your basketball jump shot, but your intellectual run and gun keeps swishin’ ’em from waaay downtown!
All the best to you and your family.
A belated happy birthday to Prof. Richard.
A huge thank you to you, Troy, and both John and Richard for this wonderful podcast. (And the Blue Yeti!)
Agreed with those that find it to be the consistently strongest show on Ricochet, and easily worth the membership fee alone.
Happy Birthday Richard!
Troy- I went to the link for the “Pilot Episode” of Law Talk and the link is broken. I really loved that episode (and even remember exactly where I was when I listened to it) .. Is there any way for us to access that first episode now?