For a couple of years our office had the Latin phrase "Pugnantes pro Veritate Iustitia Americana Vita," on our letterheads, as our outfit's motto.

Then one day, we got a new asst. DA, & he talked the bossman into removing the motto from our letterheads. I never really understood why. This fellow has since left our office, & I'm thinking of bringing up with management the return of our motto, which I think adds a bit of class--makes us sound really high-brow. But before I do, I'd like to know if other outfits have an office motto, and if so, what it is. If you do not have a motto, what motto do you think your office should have?

For those who don't understand Latin, our motto in English means "Fighting for Truth, Justice, & the American Way."

We don't have an office motto in Williamson County, but where my husband works (computer techie), they were assigned to come up with a "group motto." (It's one of those New Age management techniques.) They get free food where he works (to encourage sitting at your desk for 10-12 hours straight), and they especially like the free albacore tuna, and like to creatively add tuna to everything they eat. So his group submitted the motto: "Multi Products Group -- We Do Weird Things with Tuna." It didn't go over well with management.

Jane has already posted that we don't have a Williamson County motto, but I recently got a fax from a defense attorney with a biblical quotation (haven't checked it for accuracy).

"WISE AS A SERPENT INNOCENT AS A DOVE"
Matthew 10:16

In terms of "mottos" I'm kind of partial to the statutory obligation found at Art. 2.01, Code of Criminal Procedure which should, in light of recent legislative sensitivity on the issue, probably be amended to state something along the lines of "It shall be the primary duty of all prosecuting attorneys...not to convict, but to see that justice is done, UNLESS, of course, the defendant is charged with possession of less than one gram of crack cocaine in which case we FORGIVE AND FORGET!"

Just got an e-mail from a defense attorney where, instead of the usual privacy disclaimer, it says,

"I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it left."

Now I'm seeing mottos everywhere!

My office motto -- not the office I work for, but the room I sit in, lurking on the website, my "office," the place where I recline and ponder -- (of course if the State's budget don't balance our official office motto will be "CLOSED")-- back to the subject: my office motto, taken from an old Gunsmoke episode:

"En boca cerrado, no entran moscas." (Apologies for my south Georgia interpretation of the language.)

"Know that your most worthy efforts will be scorned by your peers, for it is they who suffer most when you excel. If your actions and ambitions do not threaten them, you are simply striving toward the insignificant."

Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
by Wes Roberts

Kind'a long for a motto but useful none the less

My Attila the Hun post was supposed to be a reply to the "Does Your Office Have a Motto?"

Since I am a one-attorney office, how about....

"Just me and my shadow........."

"Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely........"

"Hey there Lonely boy, Lonely boy...."

My favorite:

"De gustabus no est disputandum."

Loosely translated, it means, "There's no accounting for taste."

(Appologies to the latin scholars out there for any misspelling.)

My wife often suggests that my family motto is "Leave the Wounded." Those of you in Georgetown can appreciate that. I have often thought of adopting it professionally.

My best friend gave me a beautiful plaque for my office when I passed the bar with the following:

"Meglio il topo in bocca al gatto, che il cliente in mano all' avvocato."

Which I thought was really nice until someone told me that roughly translated it means, like a mouse in the mouth of a cat is a client in the hands of his lawyer !

Stacy,

Do you still have it on the wall?

Dan -- I'm from Georgetown, and I don't understand "Leave the Wounded."

Gordon,

I confess, yes.

I'm thinking that "Leave the Wounded" must be the converse of "Kill'em all and let God sort 'em out" which, of course, is the motto that the many in the media would incorrectly ascribe to Texas prosecutors.

For all you latin fanatics, how about "Ne conjuge nobiscum"? If I spelled it correctly, I believe it is loosely translated, don't screw with us.

How about "CRIME NEVER SLEEPS"?

Stacy, did you bring forth the truth yet on Bauer?

We miss you down here in the swamp! Now Jimmy, Anu and Holton are following in your footsteps. Holton is heading west to Bastrop...

"If being an eagle is so great, how come there's so few of them?"

-today's Dilbert

Greg,

I'm waiting to pounce on Bauer 5/19.
Thinkin of having one of those pictures blown up life size !
Let me know if you need your stuff back before then and I will fed ex it to you !!

Miss you guys in Ft. Bend too.