Register columnist Frank Mickadeit passes the Bar, gives notice

Nice column by Frank Mickadeit tracing his path from roommate to Chapman University law student to newest member of the firm of Greenberg Gross LLP, which resides on the 17th floor of the Center Tower at South Coast Plaza. "I will write a couple of year-end update pieces, cover the Kelly Thomas trial to verdict and then sign off next month with a column I hope will capture what it has meant to me to be your columnist for 10 years." He has been with the Register since 1987.

I wanted to think about it. I still loved journalism and my role in it. Also, the Register was experiencing a renaissance. We agreed to talk again after I graduated....

I met the other lawyers. The vibe in the office felt great. Late one night, Wayne and Alan and I walked over to Maestro's and had steaks and cigars on the patio. I apparently met Alan's approval when I was able to name seven of the eight starting position players on the 1969 Mets.

Alan and I had something else in common. He was standing outside the Santa Ana Courthouse recently and happened to look up at the 50 U.S. state flags the City of Santa Ana flies in the plaza. To his surprise, he saw an image of the Confederate Battle Flag; it is part of the Mississippi flag.

He told Wayne, and Wayne got the Bar Association to pass a resolution urging the city to remove the flag, as it “is inextricably linked to a legacy of racism, exclusion, oppression and violence.”

I had noticed the same thing one day in 2007 and wrote a column about it. But nothing happened. Now, the Bar Association is in discussions with the city about removing the flag. It reinforced my feeling that I was on the same page with these guys.

Mickadeit wrote in November about the agonizing experience of waiting for — then learning — the results of your California Bar exam: "I stopped reading. I buried my head in my hands. I thought about my parents. I said a small thank-you to St. Joseph."

Note: He's a second-generation lawyer, counting backwards: "I first texted my daughter, in whose footsteps I follow."

Tag line: His first nugget of legal advice is "Never talk to a reporter without your lawyer present."

File photo of Mickadeit studying: OC Register