Daniel R. White (born August 2, 1953, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American attorney and author. His first book, The Official Lawyer's Handbook,, a satire of the legal profession, was a bestseller in the early 1980s.Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus," Style p.2, The Washington Post, (Aug. 30, 1989). The success of the Handbook, which ranked #1 on The Washington Post bestseller list.
Early life
White graduated from The Westminster Schools, a co-educational college preparatory school in Atlanta, Georgia. He obtained a B.A. in Government from Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude in 1975.
After college, he traveled to Seoul, Korea, where he wrote and edited travel articles for the Korea National Tourism Corporation, an agency of the Republic of Korea.See, e.g., Daniel White, "A Young American Visits Pan Mun Jom," Korea Calling, Vol. XV, No. 5 (May 1976); Daniel White, "Korea Not America," The Korea Herald (February 8, 1976). Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 107 (April 1984). The following year he attended Columbia Law School, where he obtained a J.D. in 1979. He served as Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review,See masthead, Columbia Law Review (1978-79 academic year). which published his first legal writing, "Pacifica Foundation v. FCC: 'Filthy Words,' the First Amendment, and the Broadcast Media,"White, D., 78 Columbia Law Review, No. 1 (Jan. 1978), p. 164. during White's second year. That article, which discussed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" monologue,See Pacifica Foundation v. FCC, 556 F.2d 9 (D.C. Cir. 1977). was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in a related ruling.Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n., 447 U.S. 530, fn. 2 (Mr. Justice Stevens, concurring) (1980). At Columbia, White was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and the recipient of the Archie O. Dawson Advocacy Award, which provided clerkships for the study of advocacy at the three levels of the federal judiciary, including a period in the chambers of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
White served as law clerk to U.S. District Court judge Thomas A. Flannery,Judge Flannery died in 2007. See Patricia Sullivan, "Obituaries," The Washington Post (Sept. 27, 2007). and then joined Hogan & Hartson, where he spent roughly three years. Upon leaving Hogan & Hartson, he spent four years promoting his first book, commencing his career as a public speaker and corporate entertainer, and attempting to become a screenwriter. For several years White practiced law sporadically with the firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback.Originally a spinoff of Hogan & Hartson, Ross, Dixon & Masback passed through multiple incarnations before eventually merging with the Atlanta-based firm of Troutman Sanders. Thereafter, for just over a year, White worked as a legal business consultant for the accounting and consulting firm Arthur Andersen. There he consulted primarily for corporate law departments, where he performed such tasks as a substantive and stylistic overhaul of Exxon's "Guidelines for Use of Outside Counsel".
Career Writing Daniel White's first book, The Official Lawyer's Handbook, ranked #1 on The Washington Post bestseller list and #5 on the Publishers Weekly national list. On the basis of this book The Washington Post called White "the legal profession's court jester"Saundra Torry, "Legal Profession's Court Jester Sees No Bar to Humor," The Washington Post (Dec. 9,1991). and credited him with having "helped launch the current wave of legal humor."Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus," Style, p. 1,The Washington Post, (Aug. 30, 1989). The American Lawyer magazine named White "The Official Lawyer's Comedian".Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 106 (April 1984). The book was re-published in updated form as Still the Official Lawyer's Handbook,Still the Official Lawyer's Handbook was released in 1991 under the Plume imprint of the New American Library, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. . and then released in revised form in Britain, with Philip R. Jenks as co-author.Daniel R. White & Philip R. Jenks, The Official Lawyer's Handbook (Harriman House 1992). . This edition was revised for a British audience, substituting local geographic, political and professional references where appropriate.
White's subsequently published White's Law Dictionary,D. Robert White, White's Law Dictionary (1985). New York: Warner Books. . As with The Official Lawyer's Handbook, White wrote this book under the pen name D. Robert White. a parody of the classic legal lexicon, Black's Law Dictionary; Trials and Tribulations – An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor;Daniel R. White, Trials and Tribulations – An Anthology of Appealing Legal Humor (1989). New York: Plume, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. . and What Lawyers Do – And How To Make Them Work for You,Daniel R. White, What Lawyers Do - And How To Make Them Work For You (1987). New York: E.P. Dutton. . a light-in-tone but essentially substantive book that enjoyed the distinction of becoming a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. White has also written a number of relatively minor volumes,White has said of these books, "They aren't exactly things I go out of my way to publicize. They barely qualify as 'books.'" a nonexhaustive list of which includes The Classic Cocktails Book, The Martini, Really Redneck, The Birthday Book, and Horrorscopes.See e.g., http://www.librarything.com/author/whitedanielr (Jan. 5, 2010). These books were all published by Andrews McMeel. Moreover, White wrote a tribute poem to legal practitioners, An Ode to Litigation,National Law Journal(Feb. 13, 1989) which was met with general acclaim when it appeared in the National Law Journal, and one of its 32 stanzas is quoted in Jennifer L. Pierce's treatise, Gender Bender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms:(1995) Berkeley: University of California Press. .
Journalism Less known as a journalist, White has contributed to such publications as American Bar Association Journal,Daniel White, America's Most Wanted, American Bar Association Journal, p. 92 (October 1989) Cosmopolitan.Daniel White, "How To Find a Good Divorce Lawyer," p._, Cosmopolitan (199_) Of Counsel, Barrister, Medical Meetings,See, e.g., Daniel White, "Management Forum: Common Mistakes in Associate Training," Of Counsel – The Legal Practice Report, Vol. 7, No. 20 (Oct. 17, 1988), p. 4; http://www.aspenpublishers.com/product.asp?catalog_name=Aspen&product_id=SS07303815&cookie%5Ftest=1 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta, The Washington Weekly, Minnesota Law & Politics, Docket (ACCA), Employment Law Strategist, Marketing for Lawyers, and Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report.
At the New York Law Publishing Company, where he worked from 1994 to 1996, White served as editor-in-chief and primary writer for Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, a national newsletter for law firm partners and managers.See, e.g., Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, Vol. 1, No. 12 (January 1996) (published by Leader Publications, A Division of the New York Law Publishing Co.). http://www.lawjournalnewsletters.com/newsletters/home/ljn_partnership.html . The New York Law Publishing Co. is now owned by ALM, formerly the American Lawyer Media. He served as managing editor of two other national newsletters for lawyers, Employment Law Strategist and Marketing for Lawyers, and edited articles for the National Law Journal.See, e.g., Daniel White, "An Ode to Litigation," The National Law Journal (Feb. 13, 1989).
Although his roots lie in legal comedy, White has demonstrated a broader range beginning in 1992–1993, when he served as editor-in-chief of, and primary writer for, Current Comedy, a twice-monthly "Humor Service for Public Speakers & Business Executives"See, e.g., Current Comedy, Vol. 36, No. 19 (Wilmington, DE: Oct. 4, 1993). founded by former television gag writer and presidential speechwriter Robert Orben. White has written jokes for Jay Leno. His parody of Ernest Hemingway's writing style appeared in The Best of Bad Hemingway, an anthology.Daniel White, "Across the Mall and Into the White House," The Best of Bad Hemingway, with an Introduction by George Plimpton, p. 115, New York: Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1989). . Contrasting himself with lawyers who ridicule the legal profession with "lawyer jokes"Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," The New York Times, August 8, 1993. and engage in "lawyer bashing",Ken Ringle, "Wit of Habeas Corpus – Throwing the Books at the Barrister," The Washington Post (August 30, 1989), p. B1. White has said his jabs are soft-gloved and affectionate, because he is "a member of that union", being a lawyer himself and coming from a family of lawyers.
Other activities He has addressed bar associations, medical conventions, law firms, and other gatherings across the United States and abroad.Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," The New York Times, August 8, 1993; Diane Goldner, "The Official Lawyer's Comedian," The American Lawyer, p. 106 (April 1984).
References
Further reading Laura Mansnerus, "Lawyers Aren't So Bad, Really, Says a Humorist, With a Laugh," in "Conversations/Dan White," The New York Times, August 8, 1993. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2DF1E3DF93BA3575BC0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 Carol Krucoff, "Objection Sustained!" The Washington Post, November 9, 1983 "Lawyer Mocking," Time, Vol. 122, No. 22, November 21, 1983 "American Topics – Lawyer's Handbook," International Herald Tribune, Nov. 12–13, 1983