I think my job today is to say a few words about Phil from my perspective. And hopefully…. I can get through it.
In 1976 I started law school at UNM. At some point I pulled my head out of the books and started getting to know other 1ls and watching the 2ls and 3ls. I noticed Phil and thought what a cocky guy he is. In the intervening forty six years I never changed my first impression. Phil remained cocky but I learned that he truly was much more than that image he portrayed. We moved from law school mates… to professional colleagues… to friends.
What a journey….Let me tell you what I learned about Phil during that journey.
Phil and I clerked for judge Mechem together for a year. What a marvelous time. During that year I discovered how smart Phil was and how he loved to discuss and debate the law. We spent our time being in the courtroom or at our desks drafting opinions or jury instructions with the two of us constantly talking law with each other and the law clerks in other chambers.
Those intense law discussions continued through the years as we co-counseled cases or evaluated cases for the ACLU as members of the legal panel.
During that year I provided chauffeur services to Phil… to and from work every day –at the end of the year he presented me with a NY style cabbie hat. So I learned he was thoughtful about his gift giving… with a sense of humor thrown in. That lesson was reinforced one Christmas when he gave me a plastic windup angel after He, Lee and I had an hysterical (and at times serious) conversation about angels when the ACLU dinner was inexpicably held at a hotel bedecked with religious christmas decorations.
My law partner, Duff, and I officed next to Phil for about eight years (thank you Joe Fine) and the legal discussions and brainstorming happened every day… centered on federal court because at least back then, that is where we were all the time...strategy, federal court procedure. Federal court judges. Equal pro. Due process. Governmental employees First Amendment rights. Seriously discussed and debated every day. Though I must say we laughed every year at the irony of the three of us pulling into the parking lot on Martin Luther King Day to work on our civil rights cases knowing opposing counsel and the judges were taking the day off.
Phil was a fighter. I did a LEXIS search on Phil as an attorney in federal court… 31 cases in the tenth circuit and 230 opinions in New Mexico District Court.
Some of the cases involved petitions for attorney fees he pursued for the rest of us. He knew how to do that with attention to detail unsurpassed by any one and with an ability to make the petition solid. Most of those petitions resulted in a settlement of the fee request because the petition was bulletproof.
A quick scan of the other cases show that Phil fought for protestors, inmates, teachers, kids, individuals with developmental disabilities, public employees, and many others …protecting their First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. From all over the state…Albuquerque, Santa Fe, T or C, Valencia County, Vaughn, Hobbs and Silver City….He used to joke that the reoccurring Constitutional violations at the jail in Silver City paid for his kids’ college tuition.
His practice meant a lot of road trips….And many of us here have great stories about road trips with Phil. Mine include a scary death defying snow experience, with Phil at the wheel, trying to get back from santa fe and having to turn around and sleep on Linda Vanzi’s Santa Fe apartment floor. And a trip with Phil and Mike Hart coming back from Cruces where we laughed so hard for three hours we ached the next day. You have to laugh when you practice civil rights law to keep your sanity.
Phil was in the civil rights fight for the long haul. I guess he learned about longlasting cases working on the Aamodt Water case while clerking because later he was involved in three of the longest cases ever….Mcclendon, Duran and Jackson. He never gave up and his work and the work of his many co-counsel in those cases over the years changed New Mexico for the better …the last brief we worked on together was in Jackson fighting for the health and safety of class members transferred from the warehouses to community programs by order of judge parker in 1990. That case was dismissed yesterday…so I won’t comment other than to say I am sad and fear for our clients’ safety. And I know Phil would feel the same.
I learned that Phil was resilient. He taught us all about getting up the next morning after a loss and continuing the fight. He only spoke of losing his faith in the legal system twice….Once when the city of Albuquerque burned the APD surveillance files of local lawyers and activists in the few short minutes between a district court order and a notice of appeal to the Tenth.
And secondly when the Tenth Circuit clawed back the over $300,000 in attorney fees awarded by the district court judge after a verdict in a trial the tenth decided was “invalid”. Every other time he immediately said let’s go get them another way.
Nancy Koenigsberg reminded me recently of a quote from the Talmud, Lee and Phil inserted in an ACLU banquet program. It reads, “by three things does the world endure: justice, truth and peace. The three are one because if justice is done, truth has been effected and peace is brought about.”
Phil’s quest for justice was a constant.
Phil was a great demanding teacher. The legal panel work often included training of young civil rights attorneys as the ACLU staff grew. When I first joined Phil and Reber on the panel, there were no staff attorneys so we had monthly meetings with the E.D. (Jennie Lusk) about what cases to pursue and then recruited cooperating attorneys to handle the cases. Those monthly meetings continue to this day.
Yet the legal department has grown to nine staff attorneys and some awesome legal assistants, led by Leon Howard. All of them and their predecessors (George, Laura, Alex, Ed, Erin, Brendan, and maybe a few I missed) and the many young cooperating attorneys benefitted from Phil’s training and he loved doing it.
I see at least twenty of you here today and know that you are all are continuing to work hard for the people in your communities. Once in a while Phil would call me like a proud papa to say did you see what so and so did? She did good!!
Over the years I learned that Phil deeply cared about the clients who had been wronged, as well as the constitutional principles involved. He wanted to make sure legal representation on his watch was top notch; so he picked his co-counsel carefully. But with an eye to bringing along new attorneys he could teach.
He expected excellence and hard work from himself and his co-counsel and he was right there working as hard as you.
Some of you would come to me and say….I think Phil doesn’t like me….I always responded… not true he wouldn’t co-counsel with you if he didn’t like you…, didn’t respect your abilities and didn’t have confidence in you. And you would say but he is so stern and gruff… tough love was his M.O. ….You only had to worry about your abilities if he said nevermind I will do it myself.
Lawyering was serious business to him because you hold in your hands the rights and dignity of other human beings who had the right to be treated fairly by government. He saw it as an awesome and sacred responsibility. Not something to be taken lightly.
I learned Phil liked good food and good whiskey. My food and drink journey with Phil began with lunches with the judge often at Duran’s and occassionally at Monte Carlo (bucket of blood) where we talked and learned about New Mexico and its own special politics, the latest from the Rio Grande Sun, with big ed teaching Phil to pick ties that hide red and green chile drips, and predicting that Phil would likely become a Republican when he turned 30 …didn’t happen.
I must say after our clerking years ended, our lunches with judge Mechem did not. We continued the Duran tradition with Linda Vanzi joining once she became a Mechem clerk. My last in person time with Phil was takeout Duran’s with Linda and him. … so much I wish I had said….
Shortly before the judge died the three of us and Jeff Buckels went over to the judge’s house to drink good whiskey selected by Phil with the judge. Later during a trial in Santa Fe, I taught Phil the fine art of drinking a few fingers of red breast irish whiskey after a hard day of trial and trial prep. I know both of us passed that fine tradition on to our later cocounsel.
Phil and I sometimes went to the national staff conference to represent NM. Once we were flying to tampa and he said he would bring snacks for the long flight. I said great. Once we got airborne he asked if I was ready for snacks. I said sure. He pulls out grilled salmon he had cooked the night before. The flight attendant was amazed and almost broke all rules by taking Phil up on his offer …made with a big smile…to share with us…she said it was the classiest snack she had ever seen on a flight. By the way…it was really good and Phil was proud..
Last year I had some health issues and Phil decided he would cook a meal for me. He and his granddaughter Eleanor made a casserole for me and he brought it to the house and we spent an hour chatting on my porch. It was a good reminder of his cooking abilities. Thank you Eleanor….It was another great gift.
Over the last year Phil and I talked a lot about the future of civil rights litigation in New Mexico. In 2021 the legislature passed the New Mexico Civil Rights Act. Phil and many others here were in the background providing expertise to the sponsors and the expert witnesses. He knew that the statute could provide a more level playing field in state court without courthouse doors being shut because of federal MSJ standards and qualified immunity. When the media and others were characterizing the loss of qualified immunity as a catastrophic thing for New Mexico, Phil led the way on an op ed piece signed by 52 lawyers from around the state clearly setting out how qualified immunity failed to protect New Mexicans.
Phil was really excited about helping folks bring cases under the Civil Rights Act . He understood that the broader free speech and 4th Amendment rights under the New Mexico constitution could provide a more just result for our clients. He knew the era as interpreted in the ACLU medicaid abortion case in the 90s could exponentially offer women more protections under the law. I am very sad he doesn’t get to do that but many of you are the beneficiaries of Phil’s passion for civil rights and can continue the march for civil rights in NM.
Make Mr. Civil Rights of New Mexico proud of you. …you owe it to Phil.
So the journey taught me a lot about Phil the man and Phil the lawyer. He was thoughtful but not lost in thought. He was not a comedian but he had a sense of humor. He was smart but he was always willing to listen. He was a fighter but confined his battles to the courtroom. He never gave up even if he complained a lot about the unfairness a lot. He was resilient because if you do this kind of work, you just have to be. As a teacher, he was demanding, stern and gruff. Phil Davis was a serious, a passionate and a caring person who liked good food and good whiskey, and ….Yes he was cocky.
As I told the Journal… to me Phil was the guy who would always be there because he had been for 46 years. I never thought about what my life would be without him. I just didn’t expect to have to deal with that but here we are. Phil you were a good friend. Thank you for a great journey.
