Walkowiak, Vincent S.

English

Southern Methodist University

SMU Law ReviewVolume 63 | Issue 3 Article 72010Fred Moss, A Personal ReminiscenceVincent S. WalkowiakFollow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/smulrThis Tribute is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in SMU Law Review byan authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu.Recommended CitationVincent S. Walkowiak, Fred Moss, A Personal Reminiscence, 63 SMU L. Rev. 943 (2010)https://scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol63/iss3/7FRED MOSS-A PERSONAL REMINISCENCEVincent S. WalkowiakW E all have that friend, or sometimes just an annoying acquain-tance, who reminds us of something we are alleged to have saidyears ago. Very seldom is the attributed comment supposed tohave been made as long as thirty-two years ago. Fewer and fewer of uscan even claim to remember that far back. Fewer and fewer of us havefriends to remind us of something we are supposed to have said from thatlong ago. But the rarest kind of reminder is the reference to a commentwe made that is even truer today than it was when we were supposed tohave said it. That, however, is exactly what recently occurred to me. Iwas having a conversation with someone I knew when I taught at SMUwhen I was reminded of something it is claimed that I said in 1978 duringa friendly argument with a then-colleague regarding one of our newlyhired faculty. I was quoted as having said, "the better you get to knowFred Moss, the more there is to like about him." I only vaguely remem-ber the circumstances in which it was claimed that I said this, but I hope Idid because I think it is as true today as it was when I am reported tohave said it. That I don't fully remember the circumstances in which itwas said will not necessarily stop me from recalling the events as best Ican nor from claiming credit for having said it.I was hired some years prior to 1978 to teach Trial Advocacy, amongother courses, because the regular Trial Advocacy instructor was on leaveat another law school. I had been asked to substitute for the universallypopular Professor Jim McElhaney who was on leave to Cleveland StateUniversity, a leave from which he did not return by his decision (but thatis another story). I was asked by the Dean, John Galvin, to teach theTrial Advocacy course both semesters, along with other assigned teachingresponsibilities. I had already modified the Trial Advocacy course tomore closely meet my own skills and was extraordinarily gratified by thesupport the course and I received from the Dallas Bar and the DallasJudiciary (both state and federal), but this double teaching assignmentwas otherwise limiting the types of course I could teach in what was mypreferred substantive area. Dean Galvin, as astute a judge of characterand ability as anyone and one of the best deans in the country, much lessone of the best deans (perhaps the best) Southern Methodist Universityever had, recognized the virtue of hiring an additional Trial AdvocacyProfessor. Dean Galvin identified (with the assistance of the Faculty Ex-ecutive Committee) a candidate to teach the second Trial Advocacy943SMU LAW REVIEWCourse. At the time, the candidate was receiving his LL.M. fromHarvard University. That he was a teaching assistant for Professor Rob-ert Keeton (later Judge Robert Keeton), one of the founding organizersof the National Institute of Trial Advocacy was itself a valuable recom-mendation, but the candidate came with other credentials as well, includ-ing a stint as a prosecutor in the District of Columbia. That candidatewas Fred Moss.I had the opportunity to work with Fred for six years when we wereboth on the Southern Methodist faculty and we alternated semestersteaching Trial Advocacy. We cosponsored and cocoached the SouthernMethodist University Mock Trial teams and the school mock trial compe-tition. I spent many Saturday mornings with Fred and the various teammembers preparing for the state and national mock trial competitions. Ido not think the students ever realized we did this without additionalcompensation or that our time and energies were donated. CertainlyFred would never have mentioned it. We co-authored a chapter on ex-pert evidence for one of the books I edited on Product Liability for Mat-thew Bender, and he was, I believe, instrumental in recommending me asa faculty member to the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. The onlyreason I do not say it was a certainty that Fred influenced my associationwith NITA is that Fred has never taken credit for recommending me (orwas it blame?). Our association as the Director and Team Leader for theNational Institute of Trial Advocacy, Southern Regional Basic Trial SkillsProgram is illustrative of the kind of person Fred Moss is.When the Southern Regional Basic Trial Skills Program for the Na-tional Institute of Trial Advocacy was relocated to Dallas, Fred and Iwere going to split the duties for the regional. As the senior and mostresponsible member of our NITA team, it was his decision to decidewhich of us was going to be the Director and which of us would be aNITA team leader. Fred chose to be the Director, basically, an adminis-trator. He gave me the showiest, easiest, and much less tedious assign-ment of being one of the Team Leaders. The Director contacts faculty,sets the schedule, arranges classrooms, makes sure exhibits and studentsare in the right rooms, makes sure faculty show up (it is, after all, a volun-teer activity), pays the bills, and generally sees to it that the program runssmoothly. While it was a waste of Fred's considerable teaching talents, Ithink everyone who participated in the courses during the years that heran it would admit Fred did a superb job as Director. He tolerated andsupported the volunteer faculty, who could, and frequently were, a hand-ful. They were after all trial lawyers, most in active practice, some lawprofessors, and judges; and, all were fun to be around. The more fun theywere to be around meant they created more headaches for the Director.Following his tenure as the Director of the Southern Regional BasicTrial Skills Program and long after I had left SMU and returned to prac-tice, Fred turned the Directorship of the Southern Regional Basic TrialSkills Program to Renee McLellan. He then proceeded to bring the[Vol. 63944Fred Moss - A Personal ReminiscenceNITA's Southern Regional Deposition Program to Dallas and run it. Thevolunteers who taught in that program were not surprised to find that itran as smoothly as had the trial program as Fred's administrative skill wasonce more on display. This is not an attempt to "compliment" Fred theway General Douglas McArthur complimented Dwight D. Eisenhower("He was the best damn clerk that I ever had."); it is quite the contrary.It is an effort to illustrate how diverse Fred's talents are. While Fredfrequently taught in these NITA courses or demonstrated some of thetechniques that were being taught in the courses to the lawyers who at-tended them, it was principally his organizational skill, good humor, andresilience that was on display to those of us who taught in or attended thecourses. We received the benefits of his hard behind-the-scenes work andefforts. Organization is one skill of a good trial lawyer; while we werefulfilling our one assignment, he organized it all. Because I never knewFred when he was with the United States Attorney's Office, I never sawhim in active practice, but I did see what kind of professor he was. Beingable to communicate and educate is another skill that most every goodtrial lawyer has.That Fred was a good teacher and a good communicator is evidencedfrom the manner in which the students applauded and rewarded histeaching efforts. Others who taught with him for longer periods or werein his classes can describe in greater detail his academic skills and accom-plishments. This is, after all, a personal reminiscence. In addition to ourjoint teaching efforts in NITA and with the school mock trial team I did,however, have the assignment, or rather the opportunity, as the chairmanof his tenure committee, of formally reviewing Fred's substantive lawteaching technique and ability. As chairman, I was expected to (and did)attend his classes and report (along with the other Tenure Committeemembers) our opinion of Fred's ability as an instructor of SMU's lawstudents. Though certainly different from the manner in which I taught, Iwas not surprised when I attended his classes. He was as good a teacheras I expected and the attitude, enthusiasm, and participation of his stu-dents reflected that fact. He was as good as we thought he would be.And that may be the hallmark of Fred Moss. He is the kind of personyou expect him to be when you meet him. There are no surprises there.He is totally without pretense and, despite his accomplishments in manylegal fields, almost embarrassingly modest. He is a devoted husband andparent. It has been said that a woman measures love by how much sheloves another, while a man measures love by how much he is loved. I donot claim to know if that is true, but if it is, Fred can be content that he istruly loved by Martha Moss. Her devotion and attention to him, espe-cially during the period of his bypass operation was a warm and caringdisplay of affection and a clear example of how much he is loved by her.He, of course, has that same level of devotion to her. Of course it isdifficult not to like Fred. He has few faults.2010] 945SMU LAW REVIEWIn fact, the only shortcoming I have witnessed is his apparent lack oftemper or mean-spiritedness. While his wife's beloved turkey stuffingwas destroyed at the hand of another, I personally witnessed not anger inhim but instead abject disappointment on his face as he recognized hisloss (weeks or at least days of turkey stuffing supplemented meals) aswell as the apparent total lack of remorse on the face of the miscreant.He did not even banish the perpetrator from his house (though I did wit-ness that on subsequent Thanksgivings Fred never let him handle theplate containing stuffing again). Fred is considerate to a fault, and it hasbeen reported that he would not even waken an annoyingly loud snorer,despite the fact that the snorer was depriving Fred of his own well-de-served night's sleep.Considerate to a fault, Fred is as consummate a friend as he was anexcellent colleague. He never carps or nags despite what he may feel,and I have never heard him say "I told you so." He is always dependable,a quality much neglected and often overlooked. A scholar, teacher, par-ent, husband, friend, I believe it is worth repeating to say that the betteryou know Fred Moss, the more you like him.[Vol. 63946Essay(ALAS. It*

Fred Moss, A Personal Reminiscence

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Fred Moss, A Personal Reminiscence

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