They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. It isn’t a problem for me as I don’t know where Gotham City is and its hero doesn’t leave it. I did break the rule and meet a hero, and it went as one might expect. I don’t regret it, but now that he is dead I am reflecting.

I met Gerry Spence twice, both times at the Trial Lawyers’ College. The original TLC, not the reboot- more on that in a minute.

For context, I met Gerry well past his peak. He was as charming as he had ever been. He was a living legend and at TLC he was surrounded by younger lawyers who were in awe of him. In group settings he didn’t take center stage, content to stir the pot and start spirited discussions that he then slid out of to watch with a grin. When he did give a lecture, his voice was booming and held the room.

Unfortunately for me, I had a bit less admiration for him when he spoke. He admitted to being a little racist and was noticeably misogynistic in his comments. Given that he was in his 80s we looked past those defects. A younger man would not have gotten a pass but he did.

Gerry Spence influenced me as a person and as a lawyer. I initially applied to the then six week long College shortly after law school and didn’t get accepted. I kept the “personal” rejection letter he sent, only to learn later that all of us rejects got the same form.

TLC exclusively taught criminal defense lawyers and plaintiff’s lawyers- lawyers for the people Gerry would often say. The setting was his Thunderhead Ranch near Jackson, Wyoming. It was beautiful, so remote that cell service didn’t reach it and one was more likely to see a moose than a passing car. Students really had no choice but to immerse themselves in the coursework as there were few distractions.

The College format changed a couple of decades in, allowing attorneys to graduate by completing several shorter courses. I was in a bit of a crisis when I celebrated a big zero birthday at his ranch on my first such course. I had lost a rear end car crash case for a client- as close to a slam dunk as we get in my practice. I had been experimenting with a method that had scripts coming out of my mouth that weren’t my words and the jury knew it. I was second guessing my career and my identity.

The foundation of the TLC method was psychodrama. I was skeptical as psychos and drama are two things I strive to avoid. I overcame my misgivings and went all in for the experience. We students stepped outside of our comfort zones every day with some of the most insightful teachers I have met. In all, I spent three separate weeks in pilgrimages to Thunderhead Ranch.

I got up before the sun came up and hiked to the top of Spence Mountain most mornings on a path that Gerry was said to walk each day until well into his 70s. We stopped at the pile of rocks that past students had carried up and I left my own there. It is not overstating to call it a magical place with magical experiences.

I brought a flat green rock back from the Mountain and carried it in my pocket for several years, till it broke in half. In writer’s terms, that was foreshadowing.

In the last decade, there was contentious litigation between the Trial Lawyers’ College and the Spence Foundation. The outcome left TLC homeless and left me with a hole in my heart.

I am still a little angry and a lot disappointed with the end of TLC’s relationship with its founder but I keep an autographed picture of Spence and some trinkets from TLC in my office.  A wise friend reminded me that I shouldn’t toss aside all of the good that Gerry Spence did, for me and others, on account of his part in the destruction of one of his greatest accomplishments. Human heroes are still human after all. The lives of lawyers he touched and clients he helped through them are his real legacy.  RIP Mr. Spence.

©2025 With All Due Respect. Spencer Farris is the founding partner of The S.E. Farris Law Firm in St Louis, Missouri. He still avoids psychos and drama when he can. Comments or criticisms about this column may be sent c/o this publication or directly to him via email at farris@farrislaw.net.