Tom Kirvan
Legal News, Editor-in-Chief
He’s a man who loves the Constitution – that document of 1789 that has been amended 27 times and has been brandished by left and right to justify their hold on the shifting political sands of the day.
Joel Collins, now in the 54th year of a distinguished legal career, no longer does the heavy lifting at the South Carolina law firm that he co-founded, Collins & Lacy. The days of “seven-hour depositions” are nowhere to be found on his legal calendar, a fact that he is particularly grateful for after spending the bulk of his career in the high-stakes world of professional liability law, white-collar criminal defense work, and complex civil litigation.
Now, he relishes another important duty – teaching undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina’s top-ranked Honors College all about the makings and the scope of the U.S. Constitution. His teachings include some of his home-spun humor.
“I often say, ‘The main difference between a jury trial and a school play is cross examination,’” said Collins with a smile. “I also say, ‘Originality is remembering everything you have heard and forgetting where you heard it.’”
Many of the students who enroll in his class enter at a serious disadvantage when it comes to basic legal knowledge, he said.
“They all know who the three judges are on ‘American Idol’ or other shows of that type, but hardly any of them can name even one of the justices on the nine-member Supreme Court,” Collins lamented. “That in itself is a real indictment of our educational system and the need for us to make an understanding of basic civics a priority.”
According to Collins, there is a federal statute that requires schools to “teach the U.S. Constitution” to promote a greater understanding and appreciation for the document that is at the heart of the American system of government.
“Plenty of schools don’t comply with the law for reasons spoken and unspoken, but that doesn’t excuse them from failing to educate students about a document that is critical to our way of life,” Collins indicated. “We need to re-double our efforts to teach the Constitution.”
The Constitution and our Capitol, of course, have been in the news a bit over the past few years, thanks in large part to a disgraced former president who did his best to bend that document to serve his own purposes – at the expense of the country that he swore to defend and uphold.
It was just one of his many shameful acts that marked a presidency that came to a merciful end in 2021. And yet, he has designs on a return engagement, where he is threatening to bring even more chaos and corruption to how we are governed.
Of course, we can avoid such a tragedy by drawing inspiration from the man who first guided our nation.
That president, of course, was George Washington, the so-called “Father of Our Country,” whom Collins ranks as the finest president this country has had to offer.
“He set a great precedent of being a president of class, restraint, excellent judgment, and tolerance for the opinion of others . . .” said Collins of Washington, who served two terms in office and “in affairs of government . . . tried to be above reproach.”
Such qualities, regrettably, were sorely missing during the Trump years, by any standard of political measure.
The opportunity for a corresponding sea change is rooted in the Constitution, said Collins, who still marvels at the elasticity and durability of the age-old document.
Collins, who is a past president of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), knows good writing. Several years ago, he took his turn at it by writing an autobiography, a book that sports a tongue-in-cheek title of “The First 50 Years Are the Toughest.”
“As the title suggests, I’ve got some miles on me,” Collins said in poking fun at himself.
It's a book that offers a retrospective on his 50-plus-year career, highlighting wins and losses, while also featuring friends made and timeless lessons learned.
It comes with a caveat, however, he said with a wink.
“As I said in my intro, it’s one of those books that once you put it down, you probably can’t pick it back up.”
Unlike his beloved Constitution.
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