Law and Magic Blog

Another Lawyer-Magician!

Another lawyer-magician! Theron M. Christensen is a prosecutor in Ames, Iowa, a magician and creator of magic. and the author of Plotting Astonishment (2020).

He appeared on the October 21st, 2022, episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us.

Another Law Professor/Magician: James Hagy @LoyolaLaw

In his faculty profile, available on the Loyola University (Chicago) School of Law, law professor and magician James Hagy explains that magicians have skills that lawyers can use. "As a magician, you’ve got to make eye contact, be audible, and hopefully be entertaining … while also hiding the rabbit!" 

Read more about Professor Hagy here. Read here about the newly issued revised and enlarged edition of his work Early English Conjuring Collectors. 

Another Lawyer/Magician: Frederick (Fritz) Lanham

Frederick Garland (Fritz) Lanham (1880-1965), was a lawyer, U.S. Congressman, actor, writer, and amateur magician. More about him here, in this biography from the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas. 

Via @zvisrosen (Twitter).

Another Lawyer/Magician @Lawyer/Magician

Christian Mizner graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law and practices with Donner, Applewhite, in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. 

Ken Trombly on Houdini and the Spiritualists @HoudiniWild

Lawyer and magic collector Ken Trombly gave a talk last year about "Houdini and the Spiritualists." It's available now on YouTube. Watch it here! Hat/tip to John Cox of Wild About Harry.

Magicians Changing the World

From the Guardian, an entertaining (!) article about magicians who really try to transform the world. Included is the story of Cat Lee, a magician with a law degree. The article, by Claire Armitstead, also mentions David Owen, Q,C., lawyer, arbitrator, mediator, and founding member of Breathe Arts Health Research. 

Jeffrey Cowan, Magician/Lawyer @ABAJournal

The June 2019 issue of the ABA Journal features Jeffrey Cowan of The Cowan Law Firm, a magician/lawyer based in Santa Monica, CA. Mr. Cowan discusses his love for magic, his early career in the field, including the first book he published, the problems that patent law poses for magicians who want to protect their secrets (we've discussed patents, trademarks, and copyrights elsewhere on this blog--check under Intellectual Property in the index), and the intersection between practicing magic and practicing law (also a topic we've discussed at the Law and Magic Blog--check under Law and Magic). A great read.

Congratulations to The Amazing Jeff on his appearance in the ABA Journal!

 

Some Magicians' Secrets From Mental Floss @mental_floss

This Mental Floss article on magicians' secrets quotes a number of famous prestidigitators, including Richard Bloch, who's also a lawyer and arbitrator. 

Some of the secrets are common sense. If you ask a magician to work for you, pay her. If you ask a magician to reveal the secret of a trick, pay for the secret. Save the corny jokes--she's heard them before. And she didn't go to "magic school"--she worked hard on her own, or with professional magicians, to learn what she knows and to do it skillfully and entertainingly. Again, pay her for that knowledge, skill, and artistry.

Another Lawyer/Magician: Jack Browne

A new addition to our list of lawyer-magicians: San Francisco-based attorney John Rutherford Browne, III , an Indiana Law School grad, is Past International President and present Legal Advisor of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. As "Fumblefingers the Astonishing," he is known (according to his bio) as one of California's least annoying magicians. More about him in this 2000 article from The Recorder and this article from The Quacker.

 

Jared Kopf, a Texas Lawyer/Mentalist

Jared Kopf believes in the randomness of the universe. He might say that it was entirely random that I happened to be watching Penn and Teller: Fool Us rather than working on a piece that I need to send to my editor, that I'm interested in law and magic, that I maintain this blog, that he was on P&T: Fool Us tonight, and that all of these events came together.

Nevertheless, Mr. Kopf is the latest addition to the list of: LAWYER MAGICIANS. Mr. Kopf attended SMU's School of Law, graduating in 2011. He is a member of the Texas Bar.

Visit his website here.

And by the way, I thought his performance on P&T: Fool Us was amazing.