Michael S. Greco
Remarks at Presentation of Portrait of the
Hon. Reginald C. Lindsay to the United States District Court
United States Courthouse
Boston, Massachusetts
September 24, 2010
I am pleased to say a few words about my good friend Reginald Lindsay.
My friendship with Reg goes back about 40 years -- to 1971 – when he was a first-year associate
at Hill & Barlow and I a law student/summer lawyer who joined the law firm two years later,
after a federal court clerkship. Our offices were next to each for fifteen years, so we were in daily
contact, we worked together on many litigation and other matters, and we enjoyed each other’s
company. Reg and I became partners of the firm the same year.
Our Hill & Barlow colleagues back then included outstanding lawyers, future judges, and three
future governors --- Michael Dukakis, William Weld and Deval Patrick (A fourth Hill & Barlow
alumnus, Endicott Peabody, had served as governor in the early 1960s). There were trial lawyers
of great skill and integrity, and mentors, in the Litigation Department who were wonderful
models for the firm’s young lawyers – a role into which Reg himself naturally grew in the years
to come, not only for lawyers at our firm but for others throughout the City of Boston.
Back then lawyers at Hill & Barlow, as at other law firms, in addition to excellent work on
behalf of clients engaged in numerous and varied public service activities – such as teaching at
area law schools and universities; serving as presidents of bar associations and on non-profit
boards of directors; and representing individuals and public service organizations in significant,
oftentimes unpopular, but socially important pro bono cases. The firm’s excellence and public
service mission were well known on law school campuses and attracted outstanding applicants to
Hill & Barlow year after year. Reg was one of those outstanding applicants from Harvard Law
School.
Over time, Reg took his place in the long line of distinguished lawyers who practiced law and
also served the public good while at that great firm during a 107-year history, which came to an
end in December 2002. Those lawyers exemplified, they embodied, the role of “Lawyer as
Public Citizen.”
When we first met and throughout the 1970s Reg was a powerful and graceful athlete who
enjoyed participating enthusiastically in sports, such as the H&B softball team. Reg had blazing
speed and a rifle arm. He had boundless energy and enthusiasm.
The malignant tumor in his back, that his doctors did not detect for years during the late1970s
and early 80s, and that after its removal confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, did
not defeat Reg. He refused to let it defeat him. He showed no anger or ill will toward the doctors
who had failed correctly to diagnose his condition. He continued to try cases and work as hard
as ever. He never complained. He never lost his warm, gentle, and generous disposition or his
caring for others. His joyful sense of humor remained intact. I never heard him utter an unkind
word about anyone.
During our years at Hill & Barlow I asked Reg one time what it was like growing up in the
segregated South in the 1950s and 60s. He said, simply, “It was hell.” That’s all he said. He
expressed no bitterness or self-pity. He just worked hard and did the best he could. And his
best was extraordinary – in high school, at Morehouse College (graduating Phi Beta Kappa), at
Harvard Law School, at Hill & Barlow and on the federal bench.
But it was not always easy.
Hill & Barlow partner Dick Renehan recalls a case in which he and Reg, then a young associate,
were representing a young white male defendant on criminal charges in the Ipswich District
Court. When the elderly trial judge entered the courtroom and took the bench he began to
address Reg, who was sitting at counsel’s table with Dick, assuming that Reg was the defendant.
Dick quickly informed the judge of his error. Reg reacted with great composure, even found
humor in the event, and often re-told the story in future years.
I mention this incident as one of many indignities that Reg had to deal with on a regular basis.
We knew he felt them, but he didn't talk about them, nor did he allow them to turn him into a
bitter person. He always maintained his dignity and composure. He didn't give in -- he just kept
going.
Hill & Barlow partner Lisa Goodheart, who as an associate worked with Reg on many litigation
cases, remarked the other day: “When I picture Reg in my mind, I always see him smiling. He
had such an incredible smile, and was so quick to laugh and see the humor in a situation. And
what a storyteller he was. It was so much fun to listen to him.”
Reg was generous by nature. Hill & Barlow young lawyers loved to work with him not just
because of his skills and judgment, but also because he was very generous in giving them
significant responsibility in his cases, and because he made it so enjoyable. In and out of the
firm Reg also had a knack for introducing people to each other, for sharing with them what was
important to him, and for getting people to connect with and reach out to other people.
For example, he introduced friends to his beloved Morehouse College Glee Club, and to the
important charitable work of Partners for Youth Disabilities, on whose board of directors he sat
for many years. At Hill & Barlow, he loved bringing a class of Boston middle school kids to the
firm and talking to them about what being a lawyer was like. He kept a picture of those kids in
his office. As a judge he spoke with groups of young people in the same way, about what goes
on in a courtroom, and about the role of a judge. He invited many of his colleagues to participate
in these activities with him.
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In his own way, of course, Reg was educating young people about our justice system, and the
importance of respecting it. He was also encouraging the young people to consider becoming
part of the justice system in the future, as a lawyer or judge.
For someone so accomplished and respected as a trial lawyer, Reg was extraordinarily modest
and humble. In 1993 Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry appointed an 11-member
Commission to help them encourage, identify and recommend to President Clinton candidates to
fill five vacancies on the US District Court. I served as a member of the Commission.
I urged Reg to apply. In his typical modest and polite fashion, he smiled and told me I was
crazy. He said he was “not in the same league” as the outstanding applicants who would be
applying, and that he would not apply. We talked again the next day, and the day after, and
during the following two weeks. He continued to resist. Finally he did apply and the rest, as the
saying goes, is history. I recused myself from the Commission’s consideration of Reg’s
application.
The Commission received applications from scores of outstanding lawyers and state court
judges. At the end of a thorough, six-month candidate review process, Reg was one of the dozen
applicants that the Commission recommended to our two Senators, and one of the five that the
Senators recommended to and were nominated by President Clinton. The American Bar
Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave Reg its highest rating -- well
qualified.
I did not ask Reg what had caused him to change his mind about applying for the judgeship. But
his moving remarks at the induction ceremony at Faneuil Hall perhaps provided the answer.
In his remarks Reg talked about the men and women who had nourished him and inspired him
during his youth. He spoke about the love, guidance and inspiration that his beloved
grandmother had given him.
Then he spoke about the inspiration provided by Benjamin E. Mays who, in Reg’s words, “spent
27 years lighting candles in the dark as president of Morehouse College.” Reg recalled how Dr.
Mays repeatedly had admonished his Morehouse College students with these words:
The tragedy in life does not lie in not reaching your goals. The tragedy lies in having
no goal to reach. It is not a calamity to die with your dreams unfulfilled, but it is a
calamity not to dream. ... Not failure, but low aim is sin.
As I heard Reg speak those words, I smiled inwardly, thinking that perhaps he had recalled Dr.
Mays’ words as he was deciding whether to apply for the judgeship. And in remembering, and
becoming a judge, Reg, like his mentor, has inspired countless others – particularly young
persons of color and those with disabilities – to aim high.
Reg’s appointment to and service on the United States District Court meant a great deal to a
great many people, in our own community and outside Massachusetts. It also meant a great deal
to Reg, as a black man who had grown up in Alabama at the time that he did. Reg was thrilled
and honored by the privilege of serving as a federal judge.
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To Reg, the power of the federal court was not the main point. The main point was the use of that
power to do something in particular -- and that was to be courageous and fair when it counted, in
order to do justice.
The Court was fortunate to have him. The lawyers and litigants who appeared before him were
fortunate to have him. And we, who admired and loved him, were fortunate to know him.
The portrait unveiled here today will remind all who gaze upon it of a good judge, and a caring
human being.
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