The 2023 Assist of the Year goes to the Iron Eagle Moving Company
/We mentioned earlier in this space the law firm moved two blocks south to 501 Crittenden Street after 20-years of being located on the second floor of the U.S. Bank building in downtown Arkadelphia. If that sounds like an undertaking, it was; and it would have been worse if the force wasn’t with us:
You’ve seen Master Yoda force transfer an X-Wing out of a swamp. You’ve seen him win lightsaber duels with Sith lords 10 times his size. Even Master Yoda was not powerful enough to force transfer 20-years worth of law firm 2-blocks south; but Leon Johnson and Iron Eagle Moving Company were, as you’ll see below.
Moving is my least favorite thing to do. Its much more difficult when you don’t have a place to put stuff. When Don and Terri moved to Arkadelphia in 1979, they obtained storage space, which turned into the law firm’s location for closed client files. The Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct has certain requirements for the retention of documents, as follows:
“A lawyer shall take reasonable steps to maintain the client’s file in paper or electronic format for five (5) years after the conclusion of the representation in a matter.”
In keeping with this rule, Don never threw any closed client files away. So the storage space was full of closed client files, some going back to the ‘80s. Several hundred banker boxes full of these old closed client files had to be removed to make space for newer closed client files. So in essence, what was one move actually turned into two moves.
One of the few things I enjoyed about the move was coming across a few diamonds in the rough (the Price family hoarding gene is strong):
And then there was what seemed liked a never ending supply of boxes. If there was one, there was a thousand (or more):
The move provided us with a much needed opportunity to purge, but not everything we had to get rid of was easy to do. For example:
This old color laserjet printer tried more cases than I have. It was a warrior in the courtroom, and will be missed. But they just don’t make updated printer drivers, even for printers that should be in the hall of fame. Maybe they should make those drivers. Maybe they should have a printer hall of fame.
Slowly but surely, the move out of the old office and into the new office began to take shape:
[Drumroll] … For those who haven’t been by yet, here is the finished product:
In addition to Leon and others with the Iron Eagle Moving Company, our staff were absolute champions during this process. Thank you Jess and Mal! Many others also pitched in and helped at a moments notice. We’re extremely grateful for all of the help everyone provided.
The pictures above of the finished product do not do it justice. Come by and see it for yourself!
