Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bridging Journalism and Law: Bart Slawson’s Commitment to Justice
Discover the fascinating journey of Bart Slawson, a dynamic attorney whose path from radio to law is as compelling as his cases. On the Good Neighbor Podcast, Bart reveals how his early career in journalism ignited a desire to make a tangible difference through the legal system. Tune in to hear how his knack for arguing, reading, and writing led him to tackle major legal challenges against polluters and government corruption, always striving to be part of groundbreaking work. Bart shares his evolution into business and probate law, highlighting how he provides compassionate, affordable legal services to small business owners, ensuring that every client receives the attention they deserve, including the often-overlooked courtesy of returned phone calls.
Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Bart as he discusses the crucial role of planning for life's uncertainties through wills and powers of attorney, helping families avoid common pitfalls during challenging times. His personal insights into the legal world, from the courtroom battles to the importance of preparing for the inevitable, offer valuable lessons for both aspiring lawyers and anyone interested in protecting their loved ones' futures. With decades of experience and a deep commitment to justice, Bart's story is a testament to the power of passion in making a difference in people's lives. Don't miss this engaging episode with a lawyer who has truly dedicated his career to championing justice and supporting his community.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Patricia Blondheim, and today we're speaking to Bart Slauson, attorney at law here in Birmingham. Bart, how are you today?
Speaker 3:I'm good, patricia, thank you, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing fine, thank you. What inspired you to pursue a career in law? Can you share a little bit about your journey in the legal profession and how it shaped your practice today?
Speaker 3:Yes, I started out in the 70s in Indiana, worked for a little radio station, and I found that to be fascinating playing records and reading the news for the small town I grew up in, La Porte, Indiana, 25,000 people and the DJ thing didn't make much sense, but the news thing really caught on with me. So I went to college to study journalism, which I just loved, and I did that for about 10 years all over the state of Florida and a little bit in Alabama, a little bit in Indiana, but the pay was terrible. I had to go to law school, which would have a more direct impact on people. People became clients and so that was like more a hands-on, you know battling thing. I always like to help people who are in trouble, especially if they deserve it. Sometimes you have to help people who don't deserve it, but anyway, everybody's entitled to representation. I was always very good at reading, writing and arguing, so that's how I got involved in it reading, writing and arguing.
Speaker 2:So that's how I got involved in it. Well, tell me a little bit about what's unique about your legal practice. I mean, you have a rich history here in Alabama, yes, and how is your practice in law unique?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm not from Alabama a white guy lawyer, then I am definitely outside the box. I represented all kinds of you know, people who are popular, unpopular. I had a job in government. I've sued government, so I'm always trying to be on the cutting edge, trying to do things unusual and trying to do the kind of work that other standard lawyers don't do, because I'd rather be scared to death than bored to death. So I have sued governments. You know, offligate polluters, dump sewers, dump sewer into rivers. I've sued the Forestry Commission for corruption in their handing out of grants. I've sued factories that pollute rivers. I've sued some companies that pollute the air and I've sued some landfill companies that you know are very sloppy and end up poisoning ground. So that's pretty rewarding in itself.
Speaker 3:I did that for the first 20 years I was a lawyer and but after about 20 years a new law firm moved into town. It was a nonprofit law firm. It started. I was had to find different ways of making a living and learn about business law. Of course, every small business person that gets involved in business has a dream. I have a my uh, something they want to do, but then the government and other requirements and complexities come in and so they need some help from somebody they can afford and somebody that will actually return their phone calls. I'm a person who returns phone calls, which apparently is very unusual in the legal business. It actually is.
Speaker 3:And of course, probate law is a problem, and that's the place where you probate wills and handle people who pass away, leave estates, and you've got to make sure that the money is distributed properly according to their wishes. And if they have not articulated their wishes, you have to go figure out in front of a judge what's the legal way of distributing the money. I like to do it where I help people get ready for the ultimate demise we're all going to be seeing someday. So I try to get people to do wills, powers of attorney and living wills. They just can't face it or they don't want to face it, and so they act like, if I don't face it, when I die, everything will be fine.
Speaker 3:Well, unfortunately, what frequently occurs is you have a standard family and they're moving along through life. Dad makes money, mom stays home and takes care of the kids Maybe she's got a job. Dad accumulates a bunch of assets and dies, leave mom, mom, okay. Well, I got these assets and I'm happy, I'm secure and when I die, I'll share and share alike all the assets to all of them jointly. The problem is, that's a dream, that's a movie, it's a Hallmark movie In reality, siblings frequently just hate each other's guts and so when mom and dad leave everybody.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they leave money. And so you know, normally what you do is sell the property and write three checks, let's say for three siblings. No, somebody you know thinks they should get more. Somebody thinks somebody else should not get anything. Somebody thinks somebody should go to hell. You know, I mean it's and it's a. There's a problem I could resolve for eight hundred dollars in two weeks. Instead, we go down to courthouse for two or three years and it costs fifteen thousand dollars to resolve. I hate to see that. That's ridiculous to resolve. I hate to see that that's ridiculous, but it happens pretty fast. Somebody decides they're going to start dumping stuff in their river creek or all over their backfield. I go in and those people under the various statutes or negligence, nuisance, things like that, and so I try to help them defend their rights in those circumstances.
Speaker 2:Well reflecting on your career. Are there any cases or clients that stand out as particularly meaningful or transformative in your opinion?
Speaker 3:Well, early on in my career I was approached by an Eagle Scout from Moundville, alabama. When they got in the river now, this was like 40 miles from anywhere, it's out in the middle of absolutely nowhere in the river they would stick their paddles down into the gravel bars and it would come up and it smelled like sewage, it smells like an unkept port-a-lat, and he could not understand, since there was no source for that stinky mess, how that was out there. Well, I was curious. I did some research and found out the Jefferson County government, who had 12 major wastewater treatment plants, was dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the creeks and waterways around here for years and years and years every time it rained, because they refused to maintain the pipes, they refused to maintain the plants or expand them, they were just pocketing the money or whatever, I don't know. So I sued them because they were violating their pollution permit. In the United States it is legal to pollute waterways up to a certain level, but not above it. It's like a speeding, it's like a speed. And they were very arrogant, corrupt and stupid. And so I sued him and I won and I got. You know so, my friend, that I sued the county for is probably a great, was a great client. I don't want to name him because I don't have his permission, but he was just an Eagle Scout leader and it turned out to be a $325 million case.
Speaker 3:That department, the epa, and then, after the county got ordered to clean up and, you know, do a bond issue to all the services huge, multi-billion dollar project. The people at the county working in the department decided that they were going to remodel their houses and they're going to put in pools and put the kids through time, buy houses at the beach and big cars. And you know, right there in front, you know I guess they didn't think anybody know about it. Well, the FBI figured out about it and that's fraud. You know you can't take money that's been set aside to fix through treatment plants and divert it through fraud off into your fixing up your yard or your house or buying a new house or put your kids through college or anything like that. So 21 get to prison and some of them went to jail for like 15 years. So I'd say that was a pretty significant case. That kind of put me on the map.
Speaker 3:I was just sort of a weirdo with long hair back in the 80s when I passed the bar in Alabama. That's another thing that kind of makes me unusual. I don't I'm not somebody's some judge's son or senator's son. I'm just a guy went to law school, passed the bar and went out on his own right away and just jumped in the pool, whether there was any water in it or not, you know. So I just did the best I could do and learned while I was, you know, dodging bullets and brick bats and everything else, to become an overnight success after 40 years.
Speaker 3:I make spaghetti. I make a lot of Dominican meals because they really can make rice and beans taste really good. They got all kinds of fancy ways of doing that. Of course I like a good steak. I like to cook chicken and dumplings, let's see.
Speaker 3:I like to make quiche. I found out that I really got a knack for making quiche. I didn't know a lot about it and then I learned that I could make it, and so my procedure for making quiche is your standard mushrooms, cheese, maybe some bacon in there, and then I put a top crust on it which is and now it's not a quiche, it's a pot pie. But I say it's a quiche and I'll fight anybody that says it's not a quiche and it's. You know, they keep a long time, they taste good and they're very unique. It makes you look like you know what you're doing.
Speaker 3:What else I like to travel.
Speaker 3:I like to travel. I like to watch birds. I like to go to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge and the beach and various other places Guntersville, because Alabama is full of all kinds of birds, everything owls and kites and kestrels and plover. Wheeler Wildlife Refuge is a great place to go. It's right place to go. They have a little viewing area there that is soundproof and the birds can't see you in there, and there's a microphone and you get to hear them all talking to each other. It's really fun because they don't have any clue that we're there and there's millions of them.
Speaker 3:I mean it's impressive, it's very impressive and it's millions of them. I mean it's impressive, it's very impressive and it's a beautiful place. So I also like to ride the train down to New Orleans and go visit all the restaurants down there, because they got a restaurant. In every phone booth, every laundromat, every dive bar, every place they change tires, there's a guy in the back making gumbo or somebody's playing a guitar, singing or dancing or something. So New Orleans is just an interesting place. It's just. It's just. It's like going to Europe, except you're still in the United States.
Speaker 2:What would you like our listeners to take away about? About your law practice?
Speaker 3:takeaway about your law practice? I think the takeaway that if they need a lawyer, to pick up the phone and call a lawyer and just ask a question on the phone, I will take your call, I'll return your call and I will answer your question the best I can. I can't, you know, get involved in a 25-hour project, but if you just have a question you just got a letter from the government about something if you just had a dispute with your neighbor or business partner if you pick up the phone and tell me your troubles, nine times out of ten I can either help you handle the problem yourself help you see that it's not that big of a problem or send you somewhere to get help. Now I do a lot of litigation. I've been in court, have done well. I can handle that, but I try I would. I've developed a good reputation because I don't burn up people's money. I try to save them as much money as possible in the legal process and my clients really appreciate that.
Speaker 2:How can our listeners learn more about you, Bart Slauson Law? How can they connect with you?
Speaker 3:Well, I have a website. If you just look up Bart Slauson on Google or anywhere. I've been around for years. I've been to work for the attorney general's office. I've worked for big companies. I work for cities, counties, little people, big people. So it's if you want to find me. I am really really easy to find.
Speaker 2:And really, really interesting to sit down and talk to. Thank you, bart, for coming by and sharing with us and telling our listeners a little bit more about.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.