It is said that you can take the measure of a man by the friends he chooses ... and keeps ... and by the words which his closest friends say about him.

Throughout his life, Josef Diamond made close friends of many if not most of the people with whom he came in contact ... including many hundreds of employees and clients ... and even including his competitors in business, his opponents across the negotiating table, and his adversaries in the courtroom. Many times, people who lost their case to Josef in court, recognized something very special in this man and subsequently chose him to be their own attorney. He always made it a point to make most of his clients his friends, as well.

Among Josef's friends were three loyal secretaries who served him long and faithfully during his 60-plus years of law practice and who, in the process, joined the ranks of his devoted friends. In 1990, the third of this elite group, Judy Ann Moulton, decided to invite Josef's friends to help her compile a "Book of Memories" as a special present for his 83rd birthday. That collection of gems comprises a major part of this book about his life.

You will not have to read very far before the recollections and observations of Josef's closest friends will have you laughing with tears of joy in admiration of this man who has lived a full life as an honorable counselor, a gentle man, and a true friend to legions of friends.

Those who have not known Josef Diamond personally, but only know him from what they may have heard or read about him in newspapers might perceive him as a very successful lawyer who owns of a lot of real estate and several large businesses and is an influential and powerful man. But those who have been privileged to know him "up close and personal" know him as a kind and considerate man who is, above all else, a thoughtful and caring friend.

Just listen to a few personal testimonies and you will soon find yourself thoroughly endeared to this man:

His long-time close friend and partner in the Coeur d'Alene Plaza Building in Spokane, Harry Kessler says: "Josef can't seem to walk 10-feet without running into a friend or acquaintance." Harry calls his pal: "A teddy bear" and says: "He knows more people and has more friends than anybody else in this world."

Josef's record as a lawyer suggests that he is more of a tiger than a teddy bear. But Josef says: "Everybody thinks I am just in it for the money, but I am not. I do have a tough skin ... but I also have to live with myself."

Speaking of bears, retired Spokane attorney John Crowley who handled legal work for Diamond in Spokane for many years describes Josef as: "Smarter than the average bear ..." and then he pauses a moment and says: "Actually, Josef is smarter than all the other bears."

In 1980, during one of the periodic flare-ups of hostilities in the Mid-East, newspaper commentator Dave Lempesis offered this suggestion: "Joe Diamond could solve the Iranian crisis in a week. Turn over the embassy to Joe and he'd have the place cleared, paved, and marked [for parking] before we lost a single helicopter."

One Diamond executive, Marilyn Harlan, says this: "Josef convinced the previously all-male Harbor Club to "go co-ed" because he enjoyed having business-lunch meetings there and, as he told the Club, he had a woman executive in one of his organizations ... and he felt sure that other companies would soon begin to make the same request. I guess I was never fully appreciative of the significance of this ... (and I still do not have any objection to the boys having their own retreats). But this was a milestone.

"What I remember most, though, is Josef's ability to inspire people to perform at their best and to realize their own potential. I learned so much from him that I referred to him as "Josef Diamond University," a title someone else had previously bestowed upon him and which I quickly adopted.

"If anybody is listening, there is much to be learned from this distinguished elder statesman ..."

In later chapters, you can listen to the endearing testimonies of his wife, his son, his grandchildren, his brothers and sisters and other close family members.

And listen to the testimonies of his business partners and employees and clients and competitors and fellow attorneys and former comrades in arms during his illustrious career as Colonel Josef Diamond, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

And listen to the appreciative and admiring words of a waitress and various craftsmen and suppliers whose services he employed ... so many of whom he helped in many different ways.

But to set the stage for what is in store, listen now to this excellent overview from the former president of Northwest Bank which opened in Seattle in 1961 and for which Josef was a founder and director, Somers White:

"Josef Diamond is an uncompromisingly honest businessman, capable bank director, and effective lawyer. But more than that, he is warm, gentle, and gracious."

Somers remembers that before he met Josef, he had heard that Josef was "tough" and Somers did, indeed, find him to be tough ... but also gentle. When he met Josef for the first time and mentioned that he needed some office space to begin work, Josef said: "We have an empty office in our law firm and you can use that office ... at no charge." For the next six months, Somers says that he spent a great deal of time with Josef and he shares some interesting insights:

On giving people opportunities: Because of the DeFunis "reverse-discrimination" case which earned national acclaim for Josef, some wrongly concluded that he was prejudiced against minorities. But the true facts prove quite the opposite. Somers explains: "I know for a fact that Josef owned a piece of property in an excellent location in downtown Seattle which he leased to two young black men who wanted to start a business ... and he leased it to them for one-fourth the amount of another offer he had." When he was asked about this, Josef said, simply: "I want them to have a chance to succeed."

On doing what is right: Josef Diamond has always been a man of integrity. He has one simple rule by which to determine the right course of action: "I do not want to do anything that I could not tell the whole world about."

On generosity: Somers recalls talking to an attorney who represented another bank who told him: "When I went around to take a collection for the barber in our building who had a stroke, Josef was the biggest single contributor."

On loyalty: Once, the bank (which Josef helped to start) had a disagreement with a small business owner. Josef told the Board of Directors of his bank: "I am sorry, but you will have to get another attorney to defend your position in this case, because this woman is my client and my relationship with her goes back farther than my relationship with this bank. She needs me more than you do." Somers adds: "I know of numerous instances in which Josef put other people's interests above his own."

On maintaining friendship through disagreements: Somers declares: "Among all the Directors of the Bank, I had more disagreements with Josef than with any of the other Directors ... but I never left a meeting with him without feeling that he and I were on the same team, and without having increased admiration for him."

On maintaining an even-keel: Somers says: "I never heard Josef raise his voice, get angry, say a bad thing about anyone, or use one word of profanity."

To summarize, Somers White says: "Of all the business people I have ever met, Josef is the most intelligent, the most capable, the most generous, the most modest, and has the most integrity. Josef earned his money, not by taking from others, but by giving to them."

Chapter 2 -- From a Russian heritage to the American Dream

Josef Diamond's life is a marvelous portrayal of the American dream fulfilled. He visualized giant possibilities in opportunities that came his way ... opportunities which a man of lesser foresight or courage might have passed by.

In 1903, Josef's father, Hikel Dimeretz (in America he was to become Michael Diamond), fled the tyranny of Russia and came to America seeking a better life for his family. In order to make his escape, however, he was forced to strike out alone and had to leave his wife Rifke and their three small children behind, hiding in the basement of a friend's house in a small village near the Russian city of Kiev.

The oppression against Jewish people in Russia was so terrifying in those days that it was not safe to go out into the streets at night. There were many indiscriminate killings and beatings, and even the most heinous offenses against Jews were not considered criminal in Russia in those days. Consequently, with little if any prospect for a better future, and facing almost certain conscription into the Russian army, in which case his family would surely suffer even greater adversity, it seemed that his only hope was to flee from Russia.

Michael's plan was to earn enough money in the United States so he could purchase passage for his wife and children to join him in the land of the free. Michael was a tall, dark, handsome man, but he had no formal education and he could not speak English. He was a tailor by trade, and upon his arrival in America, he went to Boston where he was able to get a job with a clothing manufacturer. He sent letters to his wife and children regularly, but he was not able to earn enough money to purchase passage to America for his family.

Finally, after three years of waiting for a rescue that never came, a courageous and determined Rifke struck out on her own with her three children. They boarded a tramp ship heading for New York. That trip across the ocean was a nightmare with three small children and no food.

When Rifke arrived at Ellis Island in New York, she also spoke no English, and she had no money and no way to find or contact her husband. Hikel (as she always called him) had written to say that he had gone to Los Angeles, but that letter had not reached her before she left Russia. Since she had no one in the U.S. to meet her and take responsibility for them, the Ellis Island officials told Rifke that she would have to return to Russia. However, Josef explains that his mother was a very strong willed woman and, he says, "You didn't send my mother anywhere!"

In those days, there was great confusion over the many "foreign" sounding and difficult to spell names of so many immigrants from so many different countries. Therefore, upon arriving, it was a common practice for the authorities to arbitrarily give newcomers new names which they could more easily spell and pronounce. Consequently, Hikel Dimeretz became Michael Diamond and Rifke Shiffrin Dimeretz acquired the name Ruby Diamond.

After more than a month of searching for Michael, he was finally located in Los Angeles, and so they put Rifke (now Ruby) and her three small children on a train headed west so the family could be reunited. Other passengers on the train gave them oranges and bananas which the children tried to eat without peeling because they had never before seen such fruit.

Josef always delights in recalling that his mother must not have been very angry with his father, because he was born the very next year, March 6, 1907, in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of six children of Russian-born parents, and the first of his family to be born in America.

In 1909, when Josef was two years old, his father heard about the Alaska-Yukon Fair in Seattle, where it was said all the money was because of the Alaska Gold Rush. So Michael decided that the family should move north where he thought he might have a better opportunity to do something with his life. By that time, Josef's brother Leon had also been born, so there were now five children: Louis, Jennie, Sadie, Joe, and Leon. And so, their family of seven made the trip to Seattle with nothing but determination to make a better life for themselves. A sixth child, Rose, was born in Seattle.

Over the ensuing 45-years, Michael Diamond became a prominent figure in the Pacific Northwest garment industry. This was a remarkable achievement; especially considering the fact that he never went to school a day in his life and never learned to read or write very much English. Even so, Michael did build a substantial business which he operated as the clothing designer, cutter, and manager. The business grew to employ 40 people, manufacturing clothing for retail stores throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the major department stores.

Michael and Ruby Diamond worked very hard to raise their six children in their new country. Michael made beds for the children by taking doors off their hinges and setting the doors up on sawhorses so they could sleep off the floor on blankets.

Josef grew up in the Madrona district, skipped the eighth grade, and entered a new school named East High School. After the first year, a new high school building was about to be constructed and during the summer he got a job tearing down the temporary buildings which had been East High to make room for the new school building. The students voted to name the new school Garfield High and they selected purple and white as the new school colors. Garfield became a prominent school in Seattle and Josef was one of its distinguished graduates, as a member of the first graduating class in 1924. Years later, he was nominated to the Garfield "Hall of Fame" as a "Garfield Golden Grad."

After graduation from high school, at the inviolable insistence of his mother (another delightful story all its own, presented in chapter 11 of this book), Josef enrolled at the University of Washington, the first member of his family to enter college.

After spending only his first two quarters at the University, Josef's father moved his business to Vancouver, Canada, where he formed a new business partnership. His father and mother and the younger members of the family all moved to Vancouver, and Josef was left behind in Seattle to close out the business which his father had established in the Bay Building on First Avenue and Seneca Street.

The family business had grown to employ some fifteen people at this point, and now here was Josef at the ripe old age of 18, given the assignment of closing out the Seattle factory and selling off all of the woolens, machinery, and other equipment.

After finishing his assignment, he then moved to Vancouver to rejoin his familiy, and he spent the rest of that year working in his father's new factory in Canada. Josef was put in charge of the fur section where he cut, sewed, and made fur collars and cuffs for cloth coats and suits which were now being manufactured by the new company his father had formed in Vancouver.

But his mother was relentless in her determination that her Josef would return to the University. So, after being out of school for a year, she insisted that he return to the University. His course was now set. And he fondly remembers the most indelible lesson which his parents taught him:

Chapter 3 -- Diamonds are this man's best friends.

["FAMILY TREE" CHART]

Josef's older brother Louis and his sisters Jennie and Sadie were born in Russia: Louis in 1900, Jean in 1902, and Sonya in 1904. Josef was the first one born in America, March 6, 1907 in Los Angeles. His younger brother Leon was also born in Los Angeles a year after Josef, April 9, 1908; and Rose was born in Seattle in 1910, the year after the family moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Louis started the Auto Maintenance Company (which eventually became Diamond Parking) in Seattle in 1922 and Josef started working for Louis pumping gas and parking cars in that year, while he was a sophomore in high school. Louis also built several medical centers in Seattle, but at the close of World War II, Louis and his wife Dorothy retired, turned over the Diamond Parking business to Josef, and moved to Southern California.

Jennie changed her name to Jean and always was, in Josef's opinion: "the nicest, kindest person I ever met in my entire life" She was the family bookkeeper, first for her father Michael's tailor shop, and then for Diamond Parking. Jean married Robert Howes and they had one daughter, Barbara. Josef fondly remembers that Jean never had a bad word to say about anybody, and her death in December of 1996 was a great loss to him.

To be sure, Josef and Jean were mutual admirers, as may be seen in this note which Jean once wrote to him: "You know I have never had a way with words, but I want you to know how much I appreciate all the things you have done for me all my life ... and to tell you how much I love you. Your loving sister. Jean"

Sadie also changed her name at an early age to Sonya. She was married and worked for I. Magnin in Los Angeles for many years. She had no children. Throughout her life, Jean was always very attentive to Sonya until she herself died. Then Josef began visiting her regularly at the retirement home where she lived because, as Josef's wife Muriel related, Josef said: "We can't leave her alone." Muriel explains, if anyone close to Josef is in need of anything in any way, physically or emotionally, he always makes a point of attending to them.

Rose, Josef's youngest sister, and her husband were killed in airplane accident when they were riding in a new airplane that was being demonstrated to them by the owner of the plane. Their mother was still living at that time, and since she was bedridden, Jean moved from Seattle to Issaquah where Ruby lived so she could visit her every day. Jean wrote letters to Ruby as though they were from Rose and read them to her so she would not have the trauma of hearing that Rose had died. No one ever told Ruby that Rose had died. Commenting on this, Josef said: "I don't believe in telling lies, but in this case, this was a good lie."

Josef recalls that his father had brought his sisters Dwasha and Lifsha and their husbands to America from Russia, as well as his brother Izzy Diamond. He also brought one of Josef's mother's cousins and her husband, Jennie and Harry Aronson, and Josef remembers that his mother always complained to his father that he brought all of his relatives over here but only one of hers.

Recalling an interesting story about his uncle Izzy Diamond, Josef says that, when World War I broke out, Izzy had been very opposed to war and, not wanting to be drafted, he left Seattle and no one saw or heard from him until the war was over. But when the war was over, to everyone's surprise, Izzy returned to Seattle as a Captain in the US Army. He also came back with a wife whom he had met and married in Russia. It seems that when Izzy disappeared, he had gone to Siberia, and since he could speak Russian, he got involved with the American Red Cross and received a commission as a Captain in the U.S. Army in connection with his duties. Izzy had one son, Edward who became a veterinarian and served on the Everett City Council for several years.

Younger brother Leon acquired four gas stations in Seattle by the close of World War II. When Josef returned home after the War, he and Leon formed a partnership merging Leon's service stations with Diamond Parking and Leon managed the day-to-day operations of Diamond Parking during the years that followed. Tragically, Leon and his wife Yetta and their only daughter Gay all died within a short time of each other. Gay had become a legal secretary and eventually a lawyer and worked for Josef for a while. Later, she had her own law practice, but died while her father was still living. Shortly after Leon retired and moved to La Jolla, California, not far from Louis, Yetta died, and Leon lived only a few years longer.

Leon once wrote this delightful note about Josef:

"One of the funniest sights I have ever seen happened years ago at Josef's house on Lake Washington when he was trying to water ski. He was in the water on two skis with a big cigar in his mouth and was all set to take off. But then, as the boat started to pull away, Joe began to sink deeper and deeper in the water until all you could see was his head sticking up with the cigar still in his mouth. I get a good laugh every time I think about that. And I sincerely thank him for the loans he is always offering me."

Josef's son Joel was born September 27, 1937. He went to Lakeside High School, attended the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington, and married Julie Arugeti on February 10, 1963. After having begun working for his father in the family business while still in high school, Joel eventually became president of the company in 1986.

Joel's respect, appreciation, and love for his father is expressed in this note which he wrote about Josef in the Book of Memories:

"The 'One and Only' Joe Diamond is my father and he is very special to me and my family. Not only because he built an empire that will continue to provide for us all for many years to come, but because he is a very warm and loving person.

"He has been a role model for me and for just about every other person that he has come in contact with.

"I have learned a great deal from my father throughout my life and I continue to learn from him each and every day. His wisdom, intelligence, love, and kindness are his most outstanding attributes. His dogged determination to get a problem resolved is unceasing. He sees all projects through to the finish no matter how many obstacles are in his way.

"I love my father very much and I am proud to be his son."

In response, Josef says, "Joel is a good son and a very capable manager."

Josef's daughter Diane was born March 30, 1939, attended Helen Bush School, then attended Mills College for two years, and later transfered to the University of Washington from which she graduated. She married Richard Foreman on June 11, 1961 and Diane and Richard have given Josef two fine grandchildren, Michelle was born January 15, 1964 and Steven was born July 1, 1966. Josef says Diane is a very beautiful girl, like her mother, and was a very loving child. After finishing college, she worked for Rainier Properties as a property manager and was very competent and capable.

Although Josef's first wife Violett was not Jewish (and with no prodding from Josef, but entirely on her own initiative), she always insisted that their children go to the temple, and both of them completed their temple education and graduated. Eventually, Diane also taught at the temple.

Son-in-law Richard Foreman graduated from the University of Washington Law School and went to work in the prosecuting attorney's office. Later, he joined Josef's law firm, became the managing partner for the firm, was elected to the Bellevue City Council, and became Mayor of Bellevue.

But Richard recalls that Josef was a typically protective father of the bride-to-be who seemed to be not very enthusiastic about Richard's courtship of his daughter. When he first started dating Diane in 1959, he remembers:

"Josef was always working long hours, including evenings and weekends, in his den near the entrance of his home. This strategic location made it impossible to meet Diane without passing by him. It seemed that he was not encouraging our relationship. The evening Diane and I met Joe and Vi to announce that we were getting engaged was indeed memorable. After a long silence, Vi finally said that she understood we were getting engaged. After some conversation, Joe finally turned to me and asked how old I was. I said, 27. He said, 'Well, you're old enough to get married'."

Josef recalls the day of the big wedding ceremony at Temple de Hirsch. As he was driving Diane to the ceremony, and there were just the two of them alone in the car, Diane became very upset and had Josef stop the car. Diane said, "I don't know how I feel ..." Josef said, "Do you want me to take you home." Diane said, "No, no, ..." She was just very apprehensive, but Josef is quick to add: "But they have a good marriage."

Granddaughter Michelle, who goes by Shelley, attended the University of Nevada majoring in hotel management and has become the marketing manager for group of hotels headquartered in the Seattle area.

Grandson Steve attended the University of Pennsylvania where he was on the rowing crew for 4-years. When he graduated, he returned to Seattle and was accepted into the University of Washington Law School, but decided to pursue a Master's degree in business and engineering, instead. He was recruited by a computer corporation called Solectron and has an outstanding position which involves travel all over the country and around the world.

Joel and Julie also gave Josef two grandchildren: Jonathon and Cynthia.

Grandson Jonathon was born in November 7, 1963, graduated from University of Washington, and then went to Duke University where he got a Master's degree in Business ... as well as a bride. Jonathon married Pam on March 31, 1990, and is now President of Diamond Parking. Jon and Pam have given Josef three great-grandchildren: A girl named Ashley, born in 1992; a boy named Michael after Josef's father, born in 1994; and a girl named Megan, born in 1997.

Granddaughter Cynthia was born March 2, 1966, graduated from the University of Washington and married Mark Scott November 21, 1992. Cindy and Mark have given Josef two great-grandchildren: a girl named Samantha Ruby, born in 1995, whose middle name is in honor of Josef's mother; and a girl named MacKenzie, born in 1996.

Jonathon and Cindy also wrote this memorable tribute about their grandfather:

"Growing up, we remember best our Sunday visits to "Gumpa" and swimming in the pool with our cousins Michelle and Steven. Among our fondest memories were the holidays such as Christmas when the home was rearranged so the grandchildren got the full run of the downstairs. These are just a few of the special moments we remember and hold very dear to our hearts. Our grandfather has always been an extraordinary part of our lives and has always been there for us in every possible way, supporting us in all our decisions, even though we did not fulfill his dream that we go to law school."

Chapter 4 -- The Irish Mrs. Diamond

When Josef was a senior at Garfield High School in 1924, a classmate introduced him to a friend from West Seattle High who was visiting her, and a special friendship blossomed with Violett McGuern.

Since this beautiful young lady was not Jewish, but Irish (her father Joseph McGuern was an Irishman and her mother Clara was the first white woman born in Bremerton, Washington), Josef was reluctant to pursue this friendship too seriously. He was very concerned that his mother would be unhappy if he should ever develop a serious relationship with a "Gentile." Nevertheless, he did keep in touch with the lovely young Irish lass for the next six years while he was busy attending the University, working nights and weekends, and attending Naval cadet night school, and pursuing his law degree.

Meanwhile, Violett entered the Miss Seattle beauty pagent where she was the runner up (undoubtedly through the judges' error). She was also becoming quite successful in her own working career.

After Josef graduated from law school in 1931, he began dating his Irish lass more regularly ... although still a bit apprehensive about what his mother might think.

But then one day, Josef was flabbergasted to hear his mother ask him: "Yoselle (the name by which she always called him), why don't you marry 'Wiolett'?" Josef nearly fainted.

Upon receiving this important reassurance, Josef and Violett began to make plans to get married. Unable to find a Rabbi who would perform the ceremony in the Jewish Temple, they were married by a Justice of the Peace in Tacoma, with their parents present. And so it was that in the fall of 1932, Josef Diamond and his Irish bride Violett McGuern became husband and wife.

Josef's parents were pleased with the marriage, but Violett's parents were not especially happy about her marrying a Jew.

Violett had been patient and understanding as Josef worked many long hours to get established in his law practice. When they got married, Josef was earning only $100 per month and Violett was earning $200 per month. Although she had not gone to college, she had worked her way up to the number two position with the Seattle Credit Bureau, reporting directly to the president of the firm.

From the very beginning of their marriage, things went wonderfully well for Josef and Violett. They moved into a home on Queen Anne Hill, and Josef loved his family and thoroughly enjoyed his law practice.

After they had been married about 25-years, something came up which required Josef to make a business trip to the Island of Truk to settle a legal matter for one of his clients and he was unable to take Violett with him on this trip. When he returned, she said to him: "Do you know what I did while you were gone? ... I converted to Judaism."

Then she explained that she had asked Rabbi Raphael Levine to do this, and he said that he could not do it. So, she asked Rabbi Singer and he advised her: "You will have to study up on it" and he gave her four books to read. Violett looked at the books and told the Rabbi that she had already read three of the books. So, Rabbi Singer said: "You are better Jew than Joe ever was ..." and so when Josef got back, Violett was converted to Judaism.

Violett passed away on September 4, 1979. Reflecting on their marriage, Josef declares:

"I could never have found a more wonderful wife than Violett was to me. We lived together for forty seven years without a problem between us. We raised two fine children, each of whom had two children of their own. All of them are great ... they are all college graduates and very successful."

As a loving tribute to her memory, Josef constructed a building on the ship-canal near Seattle Pacific University bearing the name, The Violett Building. The architect for the project shared a special insight into Josef's heart, observing that most clients think first and foremost about their dollars ... how much everything is going to cost. However, when Josef was interviewing potential architects for this project, he made a wonderful request. "His objective was that the building in its quality of materials and its quality of design be worthy of having his wife's name on it."

Reflecting his special kind of quiet humor, with typically mild understatement Josef mentioned to the architect: "We do have some ability to help you with the layout of the parking."

Chapter 5 [Not finished] The family friend Mrs. Diamond

Two years after Violett's passing, Josef married a long time friend of the family, Ann Dulien, whose husband had also died previously.

When, where, and how they met.

Chapter 6 -- Reflections of the actress Mrs. Diamond

In 1985, while on a business trip to Chicago, Josef met a beautiful actress, Muriel Bach, and a romance blossomed. They were married on May 18, 1986. Muriel gave up her life-long family roots in Chicago and moved to Seattle to start a wonderful new life with Josef. She still performs one-woman shows all across the country and Josef is her biggest fan. He says: "She will have her audience laughing and crying within the same hour, and me right along with them."

And Muriel is Josef's biggest admirer and fan. Reflecting on their romance, she says:

"What was it that drew me to this remarkable man and led me to abandon family, home, friends, leave Chicago, and move to Seattle? He was 79 when we began to talk of marriage and I told him: 'If we marry, you have to promise me 21 years because when I get married, it is always for 21 years.' Joe paused, looked deep into my eyes, and said: 'You're selling me short!' The next year, on his eightieth birthday, he sighed and said, "Well, I'm halfway there!"

"I think that is what is so exhilarating about being married to a man who is so upbeat. He makes me feel young ... and womanly. The first time I had to leave him for an out of town engagement, I phoned him from the airport for one last good-bye. He answered the phone in his office and from the noisy airport phone, I whispered: 'I'm just calling to tell you that I love you very much.' He paused and said, 'Who is this'?"

"Perhaps the most challenging part of our marriage is, I never know when he is serious. But I do know that I am blessed ... blessed to have found such a caring, loving, handsome, easy-to-live-with man for the rest of my life."

"From the very beginning, when I first met Joe, I was impressed with how easy he is to be around. There is no tension, you don't feel any tension in him. I knew he would be easy to live with ... and he is. Very undemanding."

"Another thing that staggered me was how creative he is in business. I had never been involved with the business world before, and it was a very different world to me. Before my world had been the arts, and politics ... so I was amazed that someone in the world of business would be so creative."

"But most of all, what impressed me about Josef is that he really cares about people ... and helping people. No one could be any more caring. I couldn't tell you how many people I've met whom he has helped, and in so many different ways. Josef's way of helping people is to help the people, not just throw money at a problem. And he helps people on a personal basis, not through organizations. His acts of charity are on a personal level, and they are unending. Anybody in need, he will either help personally or lead them to where they can get help."

Muriel's daughter, Susan Wolfson shares Muriel's admiration of Josef and fondly remembers her own first occasion of meeting Josef:

"When I first met Joe Diamond, he put his best foot forward and so did I. He told his best stories and did his very best to impress me with what a nice guy he was. I expected that. He was in love with my mother and my mother was in love with him and Joe wanted my approval.

"What has impressed me more, however, was the string of people I have met since that time who share the same view of what a fine fellow this Josef Diamond really is. Man after man has told his story of how Joe Diamond set him up in business, saved his business, loaned him the money to start his business, gave him invaluable advice that guaranteed the success of his business, invested in his business, or simply befriended him and changed his life.

"Joe has been the key factor in changing the destiny of so many whose lives touched his. He has the unceasing love and respect of so many people whose lives have crossed his path.

"My mom loves Joe. She is bound to think that he is terrific. However, the most impressive thing is the long list of friends and business associates who regularly validate what a great guy this Joe Diamond really is."

Robert Hibbs, a member of Josef's law firm, remembers the time he was on a business trip to Phoenix and received a call from Joe who said: "There is someone I want you to meet while you are in Phoenix. I have been seeing this woman and she is not just another date." Bob then explains that the woman turned out to be lovely Muriel. He says: "I met her for a most engaging lunch after one of her performances and she told me: 'You know, Joe and I are engaged to be married.' I had to admit that Joe had not yet told me about the marriage plans. Muriel replied: 'I would not doubt that a bit. I have told all my friends in Chicago, but I don't think Joe is telling people in Seattle.' Sure enough, Joe had kept Seattle in the dark about his plans, but then he said: 'I know I have to spread the word. I can't have my friends in Seattle hear about this from people in Chicago'."

At one of Muriel's one-woman shows, Lola Hallowell, Muriel's Talent Agent asked Josef if he was proud of Muriel. He said, "Yes. But if I had known what a great actress she was, I would have been afraid to marry her. When she told me she was an actress, I thought maybe she participated in community theatre. But then on our honeymoon, she informed me that she had an engagement in another city to do one of her shows. So, I went with her and got a terrific shock when I saw what a real pro I had on my hands. If I had seen that before we were married, then I would have been afraid to marry her."

Chapter 7 -- Knock, knock ... "I would like to buy your home."

One day, when they had gone for a walk together in the neighborhood around their Lake Washington home, Josef said to Muriel: "See that house over there? I almost bought that house." Muriel said, "How did that happen?" Then Josef related this story:

"After the war, when Violett and the two children and I were living in West Seattle, I decided that was too far to drive every day and I wanted to move into town. So, we drove around Seattle and picked out six houses which we thought we might like to live in. None of these houses were for sale, but they looked good to us, so I just walked up to the front door and knocked, and told whoever answered that I would like to buy their house. That home I pointed out to you over there was one of those homes.

"Out of the six houses, three of the owners said they would sell. I made an offer to buy one of the houses on the lake in the Montlake area. But the medical fraternity at the University of Washington bid more than my offer and I lost out to them.

"Another owner I met that day told me that his house was not for sale, but then a few days later he called me back and said he had changed his mind and that he would sell his home to me. It seems his wife had gone on a trip to Oregon, and he had just received word that she was not coming back. So, I bought that house on Lake Washington. About 25 years later, it was sold to Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

Josef recalls: "Bill Gates, Sr., who was a friend of mine, paid off the balance due on the house. Later he came back and told me that he had overpaid what was owed by $200. So, I gave him back the $200."

"When I owned that house, we just called it our home. But after Bill Gates moved in, it came to be known as the Bill Gates Mansion."

Chapter 8 -- The Lake Washington Homestead

Josef Diamond's homes have been much more than mere houses. Often, they have been like extension campuses of Josef Diamond University where the professor, in his inimitable quiet, unassuming manner, has not only been a gracious host to an endless array of guests, but he has also befriended and become a mentor to many who have had the opportunity to visit his home ... craftsmen and tradesmen, as well as guests.

When Michael Doyle of Hortiscape Northwest worked for Josef on the landscaping of his new home, early in his career, he confesses that it was a project that was a bit over his head at that time. But he says: "Josef showed great trust and faith in me by giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity and sticking with me during the most difficult phases of the project. His confidence was contagious, bringing out the best in me and everyone else involved. He has always made time for me, and each time we talked, I learned something. His kindness has given me the best example of how to help someone. It is a legacy which I look forward to continuing. He helped to make me what I am today."

Vincent Froula came to Josef's home to discuss the installation of a security system and was thoroughly impressed by Josef's extensive knowledge of these systems. Vincent exclaims:

"I was enlightened by Josef's well thought out ideas and concepts. Being relatively new in the alarm industry at that time, I was inspired by his presentation of his own security needs and ideas, and I quickly adapted his concepts and applied them to many systems I proposed for many of Seattle's finest homes.

"Josef gave me the confidence and appreciation that I needed to pursue my goals. I wrote up a proposal that day and he signed the contract at that time. I later received many calls from his friends and associates who wanted protection systems for their homes. He inspired me to strive for excellence."

Erando Cacallori of Cacallori Marble describes his observations of Josef this way: "Our business association was always very positive and enjoyable. I met Joe in 1970 when he managed the parking area belonging to Richard Hadley for whom I was working at the time. Joe impressed me as an astute business man who knew where he was going. I also came to know him as a very kind and considerate man and one of my favorite clients. He is known as a dynamic business leader, but early in our acquaintance, I came to know him also as a loving, caring family man. Joe has left his mark on this city as a man of vision and foresight who contributed much to the growth of the City of Seattle.

While attending a dinner at the Diamond's home Edward Springman and his wife were very impressed, especially with the marble entry way. So much so that Edward recalls: "My wife complimented Josef on his home with no small amount of envy in her voice. Joe immediately informed my wife that he knew my finances were such that I should be able to provide her with a nice home ... and then he proceeded to give me a 'dutch uncle' talk.

"He advised me that I should not look at a home as I did all my other real estate investments and that I should not be so tight fisted with respect to building our house. My wife got what she wanted and I still waiver back and forth trying to decide whether I should thank him or sue him for misrepresentation.

"Seriously, he has helped me immeasurably in my real estate career and I have always considered him my mentor and close friend.

Chapter 9 -- The family watch dogs

For many years, Wayne and Christy Timberlake lived next door to Josef and observed how Josef loved his home in Laurelhurst with Lake Washington in his front yard. They also knew Josef first hand as a wonderful neighbor, a wonderful husband, and a true gentleman at all times. Wayne and Christy recall that Josef had a dear little poodle named Penny that was his companion on walks. They also remember one night when the Diamond's house was robbed while they were asleep ... Josef's little poodle was not a very good watch dog.

Josef had Penny for about 20-years and she once had three puppies which Josef gave away to friends. When Josef's first wife died, his sister Jean just came over and moved into his house (without saying a word) to take care of everything for Josef ... including Penny. Later, when Josef remarried, he left Penny with Jean, and when Penny died, he buried her in his yard next to the greenhouse.

When Josef married Ann Dulien in 1981, they started a new life together and Ann gave Josef an elegant brass sculpture of a whippet which became the new family dog, a silent sentinel just inside their front door, guarding the Diamond's entry way. After Ann died and Muriel became Josef's bride, she informed Josef that dogs should not be kept in the house, so the sculpture was reassigned to sentinel duty in the courtyard just outside the front door.

PART TWO - HONORABLE COUNSELOR

Chapter 11 -- "So, you'll be a lawyer"

When Josef was about to graduate from high school, his mother said to him: "Yoselle, no one in our family has ever gone to the university, but you are going and you will be a doctor or a lawyer."

Josef replied: "Mom, that's not much of a choice for me. The sight of blood makes me faint."

His mother replied: "So, you'll be a lawyer."

Consequently, Josef began the long journey which would eventually make him a highly respected lawyer.

First, he enrolled at the University of Washington in the school of business administration in the fall of 1924. He worked nights and weekends pumping gas and parking cars for his brother Louis's Auto Maintenance Company to pay most of his college expenses. In the spring of 1929, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He then applied for and was accepted into the University of Washington Law School from which he graduated in 1931.

Like most college graduates in those days, at the height of the Great Depression, Josef was faced with bleak prospects for finding a job as a lawyer. Despondent people in New York were jumping out of windows, and the future did not look very promising. So, during his last year of law school, he signed up for the U.S. Navy Night School with the intention of becoming a Navy pilot. This program involved pre-flight ground school lecture classes three nights each week, in addition to his regular course work in Law School and working to pay his way through school.

In order to join the Navy program, however, he had to write to Los Angeles where he had been born to obtain a copy of his birth certificate.

Up to this point in his life, Josef had always thought that his name was just "Joe," not "Josef," and that is the name which appeared on his Bachelor of Business Administration diploma. Also, for the first 23 years of his life, he had always thought that his birthday was on April 15.

Upon receiving the copy of his birth certificate, he discovered that his name was Josef, not Joe, and that his birth date was March 6, not April 15. At the time he was born, Josef's mother spoke only Russian and not English and because she was used to the Hebrew calendar rather than the Western calendar, even she had not previously been aware of his correct birth date.

Josef enrolled in the Naval Flight Cadet program because Navy flight pay was $400 per month for pilots, which was more than 10-times what most law school graduates could earn any other way (if they could even find a job after graduation from college), but it was commensurate with the hazardous nature of this duty. Therefore, after graduation from law school, he had planned to report to Pensacola, Florida as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy with a four-year service obligation flying airplanes off the flight deck of Navy aircraft carriers.

Hugh Caldwell, whose law firm Josef eventually joined, had a son who later became a Navy pilot under the same program and was tragically killed in the line of duty. Josef always felt that if he had become a pilot, a similar fate almost surely would have befallen him. He said: "I think I would have been a good pilot in the mechanical sense, but my sense of direction is so poor that on some occasion I might not have found my way back to the carrier."

But flying airplanes, even for $400 per month, was not to be because when Josef's mother learned about his plan to enter the Navy, she was extremely upset and said: "I did not raise my son to be a soldier." After all, that was one of the reasons they had left Russia.

Josef's mother insisted that he become a lawyer, and he had to promise her that if he could get get a job practicing law, he would quit the Navy. But getting a job in a law firm was not going to be easy ... and he had already had orders to report for active duty in the Navy on August 1.

How all this might work out was going to be very interesting ...

Josef was one of 100 graduates from the Law School in 1931. In spite of all of his other activities, pumping gas and parking cars to work his way through school and taking the Naval Cadet Night Course, Josef still managed to graduate number 11 in his class. But now, he faced an even greater challenge: Trying to find a job with a law firm.

It is an interesting side note that the diploma which Josef received from law school was a Bachelor of Laws degree. About two years later, he received a letter from the University advising him that they were now issuing law degrees as Juris Doctorate degrees, and they informed him that if he would return his original diploma with a fee of $5.00, they would reissue his diploma as a Juris Doctorate degree. Josef sent in the $5.00, but he kept his original diploma, so he ended up with both a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Juris Doctorate degree. He has always enjoyed telling people that his doctorate degree cost $5.00.

Upon graduation in 1931, and while waiting to take the bar exam, Josef began applying for a job with an established law firm. A few of his classmates (mostly those who had fathers or family friends who were lawyers) had been able to find jobs, but very few. Of those who did get jobs, none received more than $25.00 per month as a starting salary. A few decided to open their own law offices, but Josef did not feel that was a good way to try to get started in the practice of law, with no practical experience.

Although he had never before been in a law firm, Josef employed his usual straightforward and methodical approach to the challenge at hand by taking a telephone book and listing every law firm in Seattle. There were about 800 at that time. He then went from building to building, taking the elevator to the top floor and walking down, stopping at every law firm to apply. Every firm turned him down.

Undaunted, Josef thought to himself: "What am I going to do? At which of the law offices I visited would I most liked to have gotten a job?"

Caldwell and Lycette impressed him the most. It was on the top floor of the brand new Exchange Building. Hugh Caldwell had been corporation counsel and the mayor of Seattle and supporters were trying to get him to run for senator. And he was well known as an outstanding trial lawyer.

Furthermore, Josef also learned that Judge Findley had just appointed Caldwell and Lycette as attorneys for the bankrupt Puget Sound Savings and Loan Association, $14 million in default, the largest receivership ever in the State of Washington.

This clinched Josef's decision.

He wanted to work at Caldwell and Lycette.

Chapter 12 -- "O.K. if you want to go hang your hat in the library for 30 days, go help yourself."

After having heard the too-familiar response, "No openings!" on his first visit to every law firm in Seattle, Josef conceived a new strategy and he went back to the senior partner in the firm of his choice.

"Mr. Caldwell, you told me that you do not have any openings for another lawyer in your firm. However, although I just finished my law education, I realize that I do not know anything about the practice of law. I am not looking for any salary. I would just like to gain some practical experience ... and I would like to start in your firm."

Caldwell replied, "I am sorry, but we simply have no extra office, and I really don't want to start something like that."

Without hesitating, Josef said: "All I want to do is hang my hat in your library and learn something. I will not get in your way, but I will run errands and help out in any way I can."

Mr. Caldwell thought this over for a minute and then said, "For how long are you proposing to do this?"

Josef said, "I would like your permission to do this for thirty days, and at the end of thirty days I'll leave. By that time, I hope that I will have learned something about the practice of law in a real law office."

Josef remembers Mr. Caldwell turning to him and saying: "Well, young man, this can only be temporary, but if you want to hang your hat in the library for thirty days, help yourself."

That is what Josef did.

He thanked Mr. Caldwell,
glad for the opportunity to work in a law firm,
even without any salary.

The next day, he arrived at work promptly at 8 o'clock in the morning and he worked until 10 o'clock that night ... and every night. He was not married and he had the time and the determination to give himself fully to this job. He quit his job parking cars for the time being. And since he had finished the Naval Cadet night course, he was willing, able, and eager to work long hours, from early morning until late every night.

On the job, Josef proceeded to make himself the most useful young man he could possibly be around that law office. He ran a lot of errands and did a lot of briefing. And when he ran out of work to do, he searched for something constructive to do.

He noticed in the firm's accounting ledger that they had not been collecting a lot of bills, apparently because they were reluctant to write collections letters to clients who were their friends. As a complete stranger, Josef felt he could write polite letters to these clients simply reminding them about their outstanding balances. So, he wrote letters on the firm's letterhead to all of the old delinquent accounts, politely asking people to pay their bills.

To the amazement of everyone in the office, Josef was able to collect a lot of old bills ...

Thirty days went by very rapidly.

Caldwell & Lycette were located on the twentieth floor of the Exchange Building, a new building at Second and Marion in Seattle. Besides Hugh Caldwell and Phil Lycette, there were two other lawyers in the office, Dean Eastman and Larry Carlson.

As previously mentioned, the firm had just been appointed by Superior Court Judge Howard Findley as the attorneys for the receiver, H. J. Hoffman, a former supervisor of State banking. The Puget Sound Savings & Loan Association had just gone into receivership with debts of more than $14,000,000 ... the largest receivership that had ever occurred in the State of Washington up to that time. They had been victims of the Great Depression which started in 1928 and continued until the start of World War II in 1941.

This was the place Josef wanted to work.

But when his 30 days with Caldwell and Lycette were up, at the end of July in 1931, Josef went into Mr. Caldwell's office to thank him for his kindness in allowing him to just be there and get acquainted with the practice of law, to tell him that he had learned a lot and had enjoyed his time with the firm ... and to say good-bye.

Mr. Caldwell said: "Where are you going?"

Josef reminded him: "Well, our arrangement was that I was to be here for only 30 days and my time is up."

Mr. Caldwell acted like he did not remember.

Josef said: "I'll find something."

Mr. Caldwell looked at Josef for a moment, and then asked: "How much are we paying you?"

Josef replied: "Oh, I haven't been getting any money."

Mr. Caldwell said: "That's ridiculous! You go back to work. You're getting $100 a month from now on."

That was a great deal of money in those days! After having started out with no salary at all, suddenly Josef was going to receive more than any of his classmates were being paid. Furthermore, just a few months later, he was thrilled to be able to send out an announcement saying that he was now an associate in the firm of Caldwell and Lycette ... on the twentieth floor of the Exchange Building.

An important milestone in Josef's life, and a very happy day.

Josef's initial 30 days of volunteer service stretched into more than 65 years of law practice.

Years later, Ann Landers told this story in her column, and the story went all around the world.

Chapter 13 -- "I am writing about your past due indebtedness of $2.00."

This photographic reproduction of an actual letter written by Josef in 1933 is like the proverbial picture worth a thousand words.

[REPRODUCE 1933 COLLECTIONS LETTER]

In today's economy, we chuckle over the idea of legal action being taken to collect a mere $2.00. It is interesting to contemplate how radically the world has changed, not only in economics and values, but also in the purpose and functions which counselors in legal matters serve. One wonders what ever happened to the idea of counselors applying their talents and skills to the objective of trying to _help people_ resolve matters as quickly and efficiently as possible, as Josef has always done ... rather than to the apparent objective of seeing how long issues can be kept unresolved and in a contested state. In other words: "Just keeping the meter running."

When Josef joined Caldwell and Lycette, getting the job done with efficiency was a much higher objective than it is today. One of Josef's first assignments was preparing the legal documents for 150 contract forfeiture cases and 300 mortgage forfeiture cases. In the interest of efficiency, he began by duplicating the basic documents on a mimeograph machine and then changing the names and dollar amounts, as needed. Through that experience, Josef learned a great deal, not only about handling matters in the most efficient manner posible, but also about real estate and foreclosures.

Chapter 14 -- Josef's first court case ... he won, of course.

The first law case Josef ever took to court was in 1931. It involved a man who had been in an automobile accident while driving down an old country road just south of Renton, Washington.

Josef's client had been driving on a narrow, unpaved road as a truck approached from the other direction. The client felt that he could not stop, so he turned to the right to avoid a head-on collision and ended up going down a steep bank and through some wild blackberries. The driver wasn't injured, but the car was seriously damaged.

When Josef went to trial in the local district court, a small claims court, he was surprised to find that the district judge was, in fact, the local barber. He thought that was rather humorous, that his first court case was going to be presented to and decided by a small town barber.

As you would expect, however, Josef did emerge with a verdict in his client's favor in this, the first case he ever tried in court. And he won a judgment in the amount of $300.00 (in 1931 money). Case number one closed ... successfully.

Chapter 15 -- "The first case I lost" (but later won, after all)

Many of Josef's stories are told best in his own words. One of these is the story of the first case he lost. As you can well imagine, however, Josef was not at all satisfied with that result and he was not about to let that verdict stand when he knew in his heart that it was not a correct verdict. Here is the whole story, in his own words:

"A friend of mine, Sol Rubin, was a fur broker and one time he was charged with buying beavers out of season and was brought to trial in King County District Court on criminal charges.

"During the trial, the trapper who had sold the furs testified that he had caught these beavers near the farm where he lived just outside of Olympia, Washington. He said that he had brought them into town and sold them to my friend Sol whom I was now representing in court. Now, the trapper admitted that it was off-season and that he should not have sold the beavers out-of-season. And he testified that my friend Sol was the one who had bought the furs.

"The most unfortunate part of all this was that, while this really should not have been such a serious matter, to my client, it was a very serious matter.

"You see, my friend and client had lived in Seattle for 20-years, and he had two young daughters who were born in Seattle, but he himself was not a US citizen. He was a Canadian citizen. Therefore, a conviction in this case would mean that my friend Sol would be sent back to Canada ... after having lived in Seattle for all these years and having raised his children here. If he was convicted, he would have to close his business in Seattle and go back to Canada where he had no contacts and no way to earn a living.

"So, you can see why this was such a serious matter for my friend, Sol.

"Now, Sol convinced me that he did not buy these furs ... that the accusation brought against him was simply not true.

"But to make matters even worse, this trapper was a personal friend of Sol's, and Sol could not understand why the trapper was doing this to him. For instance, Sol told me that when each of the trapper's children had been born, Sol had purchased gifts for them, and while the kids were growing up he had purchased bicycles for them, etc.

"Sol admitted that on many occasions in the past he had bought furs from the trapper, but he insisted that he had not bought any of these beaver furs in question during the off-season.

"In court, the trapper described the particulars of the sale in detail, even describing the inside of Sol's office and other things which convinced the jury that he was telling the truth.

"Well, I believed my client, and I decided that there had to be another explanation to all this, and therefore I just couldn't allow this conviction to stand. So, I talked to the prosecuting attorney, whom I knew, and I said: 'Pete, I'm going to prove to you that the trapper was lying, and when I do, will you dismiss this case?' Pete laughed and said: 'Of course, the trapper's testimony is the only evidence we have, and if you can prove that it is untrue, I will dismiss it'.

"So, I drove down to Olympia one evening and drove all around trying to find the trapper. He was hard to find because he lived on a farm out in the woods and it took until about 10 o'clock at night to locate him. When I finally did find him, he invited me in to his home and I sat down and talked with him. I told him that I knew he was a good friend of Sol's and I was very surprised at his testimony. I also reminded him how Sol had bought gifts for his children ... and finally I said: 'Sol of course knows that you did not sell these furs to him off-season, and he has convinced me that you did not sell them to him. So I just wondered, why you would testify against Sol that way'."

"The trapper said, 'Well, I'll tell you. I did sell those furs out-of-season, but not to Sol. I sold them to a fur broker across the street. I just thought that Sol was so important around Seattle that he would get out of this one way or another without any trouble, and that the other people wouldn't. I thought Sol could take care of himself, so I decided to just lay this on him.'

"When I told the prosecuting attorney about all this, he verified the story and even though there had been a conviction, he moved to drop the charges and got the case dismissed. So, the first case I lost, I ended up winning."

Chapter 16 [Not finished] From volunteer to partner in three years

[PHOTO]

After only three years, Josef achieved one of the most satisfying milestones in his life when he was privileged to send out an announcement which read:

"Caldwell, Lycette and Diamond."

Josef Diamond, the son of an Russian immigrant tailor had been made a full partner in the firm. Needless to say, Josef's parents were very pleased that he had achieved a partnership in an outstanding law firm after such a short period of time.

Josef continued to work long hours and thoroughly enjoy it. He had learned early-on that no one can be truly successful in their work unless they genuinely enjoy what they are doing.

Eventually Josef became the senior partner and Of Counsel for this same firm which came to be known as Diamond and Sylvester. Under Josef's leadership, the firm grew from four lawyers to 34 and became one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in Seattle.

Chapter 17 -- Just the facts, thank you ... and let's get to the point

"He cut right through all the obfuscatory material"

Someone once commented to Architect Norman Aehle about the expeditious way in which Josef had handled a legal matter for him. Up to that time, Norman, like so many others, had never heard anyone speak favorably about any attorney. Since Norman's acquaintance was a person of limited means, he was surprised that his friend could have afforded an attorney of Josef Diamond's reputation and stature. Norman always remembered that comment about Josef.

Some time later, when Norman himself needed legal advice, he called on Josef ... and another Diamond friendship was formed. As Norman puts it: "I have loved and respected Josef ever since."

Sadly, the time came when Norman was confronted with a difficult divorce action in which he had dire need of Joe's expertise. The story, as Norman tells it, goes like this:

"The opposing counsel came into the courtroom with a huge file and worked assiduously from a large 3-inch thick notebook from which he produced myriads of documents to introduce into evidence. He also called upon five experts in real estate, accounting, appraising, etc. to testify in behalf of his case.

"I thought I was in real trouble because it seemed that Josef had not prepared anything. And he didn't have any notes. I whispered numerous protests into Joe's ear refuting the allegations presented by the opposition. But Joe took down not a single note and never once referred to any of the material in the opposition's file. I began to conclude that our case was hopeless and that I was going to end up destitute. I must admit that I was even quite provoked at Joe for being so indifferent, perfunctory, and I assumed unprepared to deal with the opposition's case.

"The attorney for the opposition was continually turning pages and looking through his huge pile of notes and references, but in three days, Josef never looked at or referred to any notes at all.

"But then, after the judge heard a long and involved final argument from our opponent, and Joe's minimal summation, he ruled in our favor in what I regarded as a resounding victory for us.

"I then realized that Joe knew exactly what he was doing and it was because he understood the law (far better than opposing counsel which tried to make a case where there was none) that from the beginning he saw no need for any costly and unnecessary preparations.

"The opposition then embarked upon an appeal and lost again. I subsequently learned that the attorney fees for the opposition were over $30,000. Whereas Joe's fee was only $4,500. Which says to me, that you get much more than you pay for when you hire an attorney who knows exactly what he is doing. And you get taken to the cleaners if you don't.

"All in all, I am in awe of Joe's understanding of the law and his uncanny ability to cut through the obfuscatory issues directly to the finest points of the law, separate the wheat from the chaff, and focus on the relevant points."

Chapter 18 -- "My clients are my friends"

Josef has always been very selective about the clients he chose to represent, declining to take on ... "just any case that comes my way."

He feels that he cannot do a good job for a client unless he really believes in the merit of their cause ... AND ... genuinely likes them. He says:

"I want my clients to be my friends. And they are. If I don't like somebody, then somebody else had better represent them. I cannot appear in front of a judge or a jury and say nice things about people I don't like. My clients are always my friends. They are people I like. People I want to be with. People I want to know."

Consequently, Josef has very rarely taken on criminal cases. After all, he says:

"Most of the time criminals are guilty.
And criminals are not people with whom I want to be associated."

"I like to have my clients come to my home to have dinner with me and meet my family. I don't care what their social status is or whether they have any money or not, but only if they are nice people. Then, when I present a case to a judge and a jury, I can let the judge and the jury know what I honestly feel about my client. And the best way to do that is to be honest about it. If I like a person and I feel that he or she is right and their position is right, then that comes out honestly, not only by what you say, but by your attitude."

Here is a fundamental principle worth remembering: "Do not be unequally yoked ..."

The same principle which Josef followed in choosing to serve clients whom he was confident he could look upon as friends, also has application for anyone in choosing those with whom to associate in business partnerships. Josef recalls a strange case in which he had to help two of his contractor friends get themselves disengaged from an incompatible partner with whom they had become associated. He relates that story this way:

"Two contractor friends of mine, Dick Egge and P.D. Koon once took on a third party in a partnership to do some very large contruction projects in Alaska.

"Now, Dick and P.D. had been partners together for many, many years, but after they took in this new partner, they came to the conclusion that their new partner was not doing his share and, in fact, he was not accomplishing anything for them, but they were all drawing equal salaries. So, Dick and P.D. fired the new partner, took him off the job, and quit paying him any salary. But he remained a partner ...

"Well, of course the fired partner didn't like this very well, so he started a lawsuit against Dick and P.D. When we went to trial in Seattle, in King County court, my job was to prove that the fired partner wasn't earning the compensation that he had been receiving and that Dick and P.D. were justified in having terminated him, even though he still retained his partnership interest in their company.

"Of course, I had learned a lot about this man beforehand so that I would be able to conduct the trial. When I put him on the stand to cross examine him, I asked him about the time he was up in Alaska visiting one of their construction sites. I said, 'While you were up there in a hotel room in Alaska, do you remember a time, about 4:00 in the morning, when someone knocked on the door of your hotel room, and you came to open the door and saw your wife waiting outside your door?'

"At first, the man seemed to have a little difficulty remembering all this ... but then he realized that I knew quite a bit about what had happened, so he finally said, 'Yes.'

Then Josef continued: "And when you went to the door and opened the door, you had a girlfriend in the bed behind you, didn't you?"

After a long pause, the witness finally said, "Yes."

And Josef said: "What did your wife do?"

The witness said he didn't remember ...

Josef said: "Oh, I think you do. Your wife pulled out a little 22-caliber revolver, didn't she? And she pointed it right at you, didn't she?"

After another long pause, the witness finally said: "... Well ... yes ..."

So Josef said: "Now when she pulled out that gun and pointed it at your face, that gun was not more than six or eight inches from your face, was it ..."

"... and then she pulled the trigger ..."

At that moment, the lawyer on the other side jumped up and said: "Objection! Judge, what has this got to do the lawsuit? ... It's immaterial, your honor."

Now, Judge McDonald was on the bench, and he said: "Sustained."

So, Josef couldn't carry that line of questioning any further ...

Nevertheless, he ultimately won the case. Then, some days later when the bailiff took the judgment into the judge's chambers to be signed, Judge McDonald sent the bailiff back to Josef to ask him to come in and see him for a moment before he signed the judgment. When Josef went into the judges chambers, the judge said:

"Joe, sit down a minute, I want to talk to you."

Josef sat down and the judge said: "During the trial, when you were cross examining the plaintiff, you said that his wife pulled the trigger ..."

It is interesting, is it not, that the judge remembered this story so vividly, even though he did not allow the point Josef was making about the man's character to become a part of the official court record. Obviously, Josef effectively made his point, even so.

The judge said, "I'm sorry that I had to sustain that objection during the trial, but the story was not material to the issues ... but now I have to know what happened. Tell me what happened."

Josef said: "Well, judge, upon seeing his wife with the gun, the man was so startled that his mouth dropped open and his wife pulled the trigger at that very moment and the bullet went right through his open mouth and out the back of his neck and did not touch any vital organs. Of course, they took him to the hospital, but three or four days later, he was out and running around again. That's what happened."

The judge asked: "Were any charges filed against her?"

Josef replied: "No, her husband never filed any charges. He was already in enough trouble."

Chapter 19 -- "If you're out to hurt someone, find another lawyer."

Long time friend and King County Prosecutor Charles Carroll once said: "Joe wouldn't hurt a fly. He is the kindliest person I know. I have actually seen him brush a mosquito off his arm rather than swat it to kill it."

One of his clients, explained that Josef had helped him with many legal matters, but he remembers the first one best of all; an episode that the client recounted this way: (client's name removed in February 2009 at the client's son's request)

"I recognized Josef Diamond as a warm, perceptive man from the moment I first met him. I came to him at a time when my father-in-law was in the process of losing his business. He had been a mechanical genius, trusting to the bone, and a very gentle man ... but he was no business man. His son had run his company into the ground through usurious loans and high living, and then deserted his father. When all the facts came out, it put my father-in-law in the hospital and left me with the job of trying to salvage whatever could be salvaged.

"Enter Joe Diamond.

"The lenders had unscrupulously taken over operation of the company and they were demanding that all the stock be turned over to them. I wanted to sue them and put them in jail and do anything I could do that would cause them as much grief as they had caused my father-in-law. And that is what I told Joe.

"Joe said: 'You can sue ... and maybe get away with it. But if you are just out to hurt someone, you will have to find another lawyer.'

I chose to accept Josef's counsel and allow Josef to pursue the matter accordingly. The results reflected the wisdom of that course of action. He describes the bottom line this way:

"Joe got 20-times the book value of the company for my father-in-law.

"And that was not the only time that I witnessed Joe's dedication to fairness.

"I would never want to get into any legal battle with anyone but Joe in my corner. On the other hand, if we wound up on opposite sides, neither would I be afraid."

Chapter 20 -- The lawsuit tried without a Judge

A number of years ago, when there was very little mediation and not very much out-of-court settlement of cases, Josef had a man come to him who had been represented by another lawyer, but the other lawyer had moved to Portland before the case which he was handling could be brought to trial.

The reason this happened was that this case had been pending for about three and a half or four years because the courts were so terribly jammed-up then and they could not get it to trial.

So, the client had come to Josef and wanted him to take it over. Josef had to start all over from scratch because he had not seen or known anything about this case previously.

The client, who was a contractor, had a 3-million dollar contract with the City of Puyallup to build some sewer lines. During construction, he had incurred some extra expenses because the city had changed some specifications while work was in progress. So, the contractor was suing to collect for the extras. That was the basis of the lawsuit.

The City was unwilling to pay for any extras and was insisting on paying only the amount specified by the contract. But if the contractor was unable to collect for the extra expenses he had incurred, this job would have represented a very substantial loss to him.

Josef learned that the lawyer for the City of Puyallup was Archie Blair, someone Josef knew quite well and knew to be an honorable attorney.

Now, the statute of limitations did not apply because the case was pending. At that point, however, it looked as though it might still be another two or three years before the case would come to trial.

Therefore, Josef called Archie and told him that he thought they ought to try to settle the case. Archie agreed and said that he would like to do that and that he had been trying to do so for a long time, but he didn't know how it could be done.

So, Josef said: "I'll tell you what I would like to do. Your client has not accepted as true what my client has been saying all along and they have not believed in the merit of his position. Therefore, I would like to give you a real opportunity.

"Since you represent the City of Puyallup, I'm sure you can get permission to use the City Hall chambers as a courtroom. If you do that, I will come down to your City Hall with all of my witnesses and lay out my entire case before you and give you all the facts that I have. I will put all of my witnesses on the stand and you can cross examine them or not as you like. You don't have to put on any testimony. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to.

"When we get through, you will have heard our entire case, under oath, from our witnesses, and you will know exactly what our case is all about.

"The only thing I want from you is a promise that you won't try to bargain with me when we get finished.

"When we get through, if you think my case is worth $250,000, then I want a check for that amount. If you don't think it is worth that amount, then just forget the whole thing and we will wait to go to trial whenever we can get a trial date ... which is probably at least two years down the road.

"Now, you see, if we do this, you will know everything about my case and you will be way ahead in preparing to litigate this case in court to protect your client."

Archie said: "Let me see if I understand you right. Are you saying that you will tell me everything your case is about, all your facts and testimony, and I don't have to prepare anything or disclose anything to you? And when you are finished, if I still believe my client is in the right, then we will just wait until the matter can go to trial?"

Josef said, "That's right."

Archie said: "Well, it seems to me that I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If I don't agree with your position, then I'll know what your case is all about and I'll know exactly how to defend my client."

Josef said, "That's right."

Archie said: "That sounds great to me. Let's do it."

Archie arranged to get the council chambers and Josef took all of his witnesses down for two days and presented all of the testimony supporting his client's case. Archie cross-examined the witnesses but did not put on any witnesses of his own.

When Josef finished presenting his case, Archie said: "Joe, you will get a check for $250,000."

Now Josef concedes that something like this could not be done with every lawyer, and particularly not in today's legal environment. In fact, regrettably, there are probably very few lawyers with whom something like this could ever be done.

However, Josef knew that he could do this with Archie because he knew that Archie was an honorable man who would do the right thing. Josef was certain that after listening to his case, Archie would know that his case was worth the settlement figure which Josef had stipulated.

So, Josef and Archie settled this case, saving everyone time, expense, and frustration.

One can only wonder if there has ever been any other case, especially one of this magnitude, tried by two opposing lawyers _without_ a judge. But at least it was done on this one occasion, and it was done successfully to everyone's satisfaction.

How much better the world would be if people would conduct themselves in an honorable manner as was demonstrated by these two gentlemen.

Chapter 21 -- "They threatened to sue you? This could be a bonanza for you!"

During the marketing of lots in Lake Limerick Country Club Estates, real estate developer Ken Engel recalls having implemented an advertising campaign using the theme: "Put your money in the banks of Lake Limerick."

The campaign included billboards, radio spots, and direct mail. After the billboards had been on display at a number of strategic places in western Washington for two or three weeks, Ken received a foreboding letter from the Washington State Banking Commissioner in Olympia demanding that they discontinue the ad campaign and immediately dismantle the billboards. The Commission explained that their office had received numerous complaints from members of the banking fraternity protesting that the advertising theme was misleading and represented that the realtor was in the banking business.

Upon receiving this threatening communique, Ken felt that his firm was probably in deep trouble, so he went to see Joe Diamond.

Within moments after arriving in Joe's office, Ken's initial fears vanished. Joe just laughed and said:

"If we can get them to sue you, it would be an advertising bonanza for you. Bankers are not especially popular with the great majority of people. If they would sue you, the publicity would give your Lake Limerick a tremendous amount of exposure and free advertising."

Josef then addressed a letter to the Banking commissioner which simply stated:

"Oceans have banks, rivers have banks, and lakes have banks. Lake Limerick's advertising does not in any way imply that they are infringing on the banking industry."

After that, neither Ken nor Josef ever heard from the Banking Commissioner again. But Joe Diamond's positive reaction to the problem demonstrates the merit in that old adage, "In every difficulty, there is an opportunity."

Perhaps it could, indeed, have been a bonanza if counsel and client had opted to try to get the banking community to take the bait and file a lawsuit. But instead, Josef deftly dismissed the Banking Commission's threat with a single to-the-point letter.

Chapter 22 [Not finished] 'twas the night before Christmas

How much is a lawyer (or any professional person) really worth? Should the value be determined by the number of hours or days worked multiplied by some hourly or daily rate ... by the "going rate" for services? Or is the true value more likely to be found in the results achieved?

Josef Diamond always set an admirable example by never inquiring about a client's ability to pay for his services. Rather, Josef's criteria for taking on any legal matter always looked first at the merits of the case. Is the client telling the truth? Does the client have a just objective or claim?

And then, once he would take on a case, Josef would always approach the challenge with an eye to how the matter might be settled most efficiently and effectively ... by the most direct route and in the shortest possible time.

Any consideration of the fee is an entirely secondary matter.

A classic example was a case in which one of his clients had been contracted by the Portland General Electric Company to remove trees and stumps from an area which was going to be flooded by a dam which was going to be built to generate electric power.

Paul Helmik was a contractor, a grubbing contractor, removing trees and stumps, etc. Portland General Electric Company had a job to build a dam which would create a lake behind the dam for power. When the government gave PGEC the right to flood this area behind the dam, PGEC agreed to remove all the trees and stumps to leave a clean bottom for this lake that would emerge. The trees would belong to PGEC to sell, but they would have to remove the stumps, which was going to be a costly matter. Paul Helmik bid the job and did the work and when you bid that kind of a job, there is a cruise? (accruals?) which shows the actual counts of the number of trees and the size of trees, etc. and the government had used that in negotiating with PGEC and PGEC had used that in arriving at a lump-sum bid 2.5 million to clear out the stumps and pile the logs along the highway and then they became PGEC property. When Paul finished that job, it was 3-days before Christmas, he called me and said, Joe, you have got to come down here, I've got real problems. I've lost a lot of money on this job down here and PGEC and PGEC won't give me any extras. I think I have a good claim, but I need to get it done and I'd like to get it done before the year end because of income tax problems. So, I said, "Fine, I'll come down." So, I went down just a couple of days before Christmas and I went in to see the house "??turtinent??" counsel for PGEC and told them what I wanted and that I felt that these were valid extras and we wanted $250,000. He said, no, this was a lump sum contract and we are not going to pay any more than what the contract calls for. I said, "Well, you leave me no alternative. I guess we are going to have to start a lawsuit." So, I left and borrowed a law office from a lawyer I knew down there and I prepared a complaint in Federal Complaint against PGEC and I filed suit for about a million dollars and I put everything I could think of in the complaint, including the fact that the accrues was wrong and there were a lot more trees and PGEC benefited by the additional trees they got to sell the lumber and we had a lot more work to do and we were entitled to this claim for extra and the government wasn't being treated fairly because they were giving away more timber than they thought they were giving away." I put all that in the complaint. Normally we don't, we save a certain amount for testimony, but I put this all in. I worked all night putting this together, and I went in the next morning to see the house attorney for PGEC again and I said, I just came back to let you know that I am starting this lawsuit and I don't know whether you want to accept service or not. If you do, it will save me having a process server serve PGEC. Also, I'd like to have you read it. Maybe you will think once again about settling the matter. So, we sat down and he looked at the complaint which was about 5-6 pages and he read it through. When he got through, he gave me a check for $250,000 which I turned over to Paul Helmik.

Then, in January, I decided that I should send Paul a bill and I couldn't solve how to arrive at the bill. I had not talked to him about fees and time or anything. After thinking about it for a while, I thought that 10% of the recovery or $25,000 would be a fair fee for what I had done. So I sent him a bill for $25,000. I don't think he had it for but a couple of minutes when he called me and said, "Joe, I'm not going to pay you $25,000. You only spent a day and a half down there and it's just not worth it ... you didn't put that much into it." I said, "Well, I had no way of arriving at a fee. I thought it was fair. You don't think it is fair. Tell me what you will pay. I said, cut it in half and we'll settle it on that basis." He said, "No, I'm not going to pay you 12 thousand dollars, I'm not going to pay you 10 thousand dollars." I said, "Paul, what will you pay me." He said, "I won't pay you a nickel over $1,100. That's all the time you put in." I said, "Well, I can't settle it for that. It would bother me to try to settle it for that." After we discussed it further, I decided that I was going to have to sue him for fee and told him that I would have to sue him. So, I did start start a lawsuit, but I couldn't represent myself in that matter, so I got a friend of mine to represent me. Paul got a lawyer in Portland to come up. He had a little trouble getting a lawyer in Seattle cause I knew most of them. But he did get a Portland lawyer to come up and he got a local lawyer to sit in on the proceedings. I got a little worried when we got into the lawsuit because the first thing they did was to demand a jury trial. I thought, "Oh, I'm in trouble now, because as a lawyer, I can't and won't account for more than a day and a half or two days at the most. Claiming $25,000 in front of a jury is an awful lot of money. I don't think I have a chance in front of a jury to get $25,000, but I was hoping surely I might get more than $1,100."

So, we went to trial and I was the only witness for me and I testified what I just described above and just ended up by saying that I thought that the $25,000 which I was suing for was a fair fee for a good result and an unusual result in a very short time, of course; but I also had to leave on a moment's notice to attend to this matter for the client. They put on some testimony as to the length of time, which was very little, and that the fee should have only been $1,100 at the most."

So, the trial ended and we left the court room and about an hour later, we got a call to come back, that the jury was coming in. They hadn't been out for very long. So, we came down to the court room and the jury came and told the judge that they wanted to ask a question. The foreman of the jury wanted to know if they were limited to allowing $25,000 because that was all I had asked for in the complaint. The judge said, yes, you can't give them more than they asked for. So the jury went back out while we stayed in the chambers, and they came back immediately and awarded me the $25,000.

Paul took an appeal from it, but on the appeal the verdict was sustained and I did collect the $25,000. I think Paul learned something from that, because he had a teenage son and subsequently his son went to law school and became a lawyer.

That is the one time I sued to collect a fee.

Chapter 23 - Creative problem solving to minimize taxation

Years ago, two friends of Josef's who were widows lived together and shared expenses. Neither of them had any relatives, but they had become like family after having lived together in the same house for seven or eight years. They asked Josef to draw up wills for each of them as they wanted to leave their respective estates to each other ... because they had no close relatives.

A lot has changed since those days, but at that time, if you left any of your estate to a non-relative, it was subject to high inheritance taxes. However, if a person left property to a parent or a child, no inheritance taxes were due. So, when the two widows came to Josef to have their wills made out, Josef said:

"Well, fine. But before we do that, there is one other legal matter that we need to do first. One of you should adopt the other."

The widows thought this was very funny, but Josef was serious. Since they couldn't decide who should adopt whom ... who should be the adoptive mother and who should be the adoptive daughter, Josef had them flip a coin. The toss of the coin decided that the younger of the two was to become the mother, and the older one became the daughter.

Josef completed the adoption and then drew up the wills so that each of them left their entire estate to their adoptive mother and adoptive daughter respectively. As a result of taking this course of action, no inheritance taxes would be due at whatever time in the future that either of them might die.

In another case in which Josef was asked to set up an estate to minimize the tax burden, there was an even more unusual twist.

This client owned and operated a very successful construction company. After his wife died, Olav came to Josef one day saying that he wanted to make a will, and there was one particular requirement which seemed to be the most important thing to him. He did not want any of his money to be paid to the government in inheritance taxes. Olav always hated paying high taxes.

Josef suggested various things Olav could do to minimize inheritance taxes. He explained how his client could designate gifts to charitable causes and various other options. Eventually, they got to a point when Josef asked Olav to whom he was going to leave all of his property.

Olav was of Norwegian descent, but he said: "This country has been very good to me and I want to leave whatever I have to the United States government."

Josef recalls that he had difficulty convincing Olav that the result was going to be just the same, whether he left his property to the U.S. government in his will or paid the government inheritance taxes.

Chapter 24 [Unfinished] The case of the unscrupulous banker and judge

One of the most unusual cases Josef ever had to try to untangle came when he was called upon to resolve a will for an elderly and infirmed woman whose competency to make a will was in question and the matter of who her rightful heir or heirs might be was also in question. This matter was referred to Josef when a woman in California called Caldwell and Lycette claiming that she was the only living relative of a Seattle resident, a Mrs. Clark, who was receiving round-the-clock nursing care in a private home on Queen Anne Hill. The California woman had been prompted to call Josef's firm when she was had been contacted by one of the nurses caring for Mrs. Clark who had The California woman said that she was Mrs. Clark's only living relative ... but then Josef discovered that Mrs. Clark's lawyer and banker had recently had the woman sign a new will. a home receiving round-the-clock service, taking care of her. While she was there, her lawyer and her banker came in and had her sign a new will, and the nurse had called this only relative ... and she was suspicious and wanted Mr. Caldwell to look into it. He asked me to go out and I went out to the foot of Queen Anne Hill where she was living in this mansion. This was during the depression days and she was paying $1,000 per month to live in this mansion with round-the-clock service with nurses and food, etc. This was not her home, but she had been taken in there. She was the only patient there. She was bed ridden. When I went in to see her, she looked seriously ill and looked as though she didn't weigh more than 90 pounds and I tried to talk to her and she was holding a pillow and squeezing it. I would ask her questions and the only answer I could get was, "This is my baby and she would squeeze the pillow to her chest." So, I talked to the nurses and they had a copy of the will that had been left there and that was the reason I had been called. So, I looked at a copy of the will that had been drawn up and the nurses had witnesses the will, as was necessary. The will left her entire estate, half to the lawyer and half to the banker. Well, I took the will back to the office to contemplate what I ought to do about it and if I waited until she died, I could start a law suit and contest the will as to whether she was competent or not, and maybe get it thrown out. But I didn't know how long she might live and felt that I might have difficulty proving that she was incompetent at some later date. The testimony against me would be the lawyer who was a very prominent lawyer in Seattle, in fact at one time had been a judge in Seattle. And the banker was a vice president of one of the largest banks in Seattle and I would have to prove that they were liars and cheaters and trying to beat them. The prospects didn't seem very good to me, so the longer I thought about it, the more I became convinced that I had to find some other answer. So, the other obvious solution was to have a new will. Now, I don't know whether she was competent, but she was as competent today as she was yesterday or three weeks ago or whenever it was that she signed the other will for the banker and the lawyer. So, I thought, what kind of will should I draw? Who might she leave it to? Leave it all to this one woman that called me. Do I really know that she is the only heir or not the only heir. So, I concluded to draw two wills. Very short wills. In one will, I left everything to this woman in California who was her niece or something. And the other will, I just cancelled all wills and died intestate, which meant it would go to whomever her heirs were, and I didn't name anybody. So, I drew up these two wills and called up the nurses out there and they were quite friendly with me. I said I am sending out these two wills. Have her sign one of them and we'll see. They didn't hear me very well, because a week later they called me up and said that she had signed her new will. I said, "That's fine, which one did she sign?" They said, well, she signed them both. To make matters worse. They were bad enough to begin with. I said, well which one did she sign last? They couldn't tell me. They had given her both at the same time and she had signed them both. So, I thought there is nothing more I could do, and this woman lasted another year before she passed away. She was in her 90's and she never did get out of bed. I would call up once in a while to see how she was getting along. Finally, I got a call that she had died and so, I dug out the wills which they had brought down and they were both signed.

Chapter 24 [Unfinished] Three sides to every matter

* "Most people are prejudice in their own favor"
* My side, the other side, and the truth.
* How to tell if someone is being honest with you

I don't think you can tell by just looking at someone. You have to talk to them and consider the way they express themselves and the way they act. When I was first practicing law, a man came to me one day and wanted to know if I had time to listen to his problem. I said, of course I have time to listen to you. He said, Well, it will take me a little while to explain this because there are three sides to this matter. First I want to tell you my side. Then I want to tell you the other side. And then I'm going to tell you the truth. When you listen to anyone explain something, you have to realize that what they are saying is their side of the story. You have to also think about what is the other side of the story. Usually you don't hear the other side of the story right away. Most people who come to me don't tell me the other side of the story. They only tell me their side. Then I have to determine why somebody else is thinking otherwise. Do they have any reasonable basis for their position. If what I am being told doesn't make any sense ... or if it makes too much sense, it's too cut and dried, then I get very suspicious. Most of my clients are trying to tell me the truth. They may be prejudiced in their own favor, however, and they generally don't recognize the position of the other person and their rights. You can have complete honesty on both sides and still have two sides which are diametrically opposed. That is very common. A lot of times this happens because a client simply doesn't have all the facts or they don't understand the opposing position or they simply misconstrue certain facts. I don't think that very many people lie intentionally. I think they just fool themselves. Sometimes they honestly think they are telling the truth ... when what they are saying really is not the truth. It is a lie. But they think they are telling the truth and over a period of time people tend to convince themselves that they are right even when they are not. We all have to be careful to not do that. Sometimes I convince myself that I am right, but when I see the other side and see that I am wrong, then I have to be able to admit it. And that is not easy to do. Sometimes it is only much later that I find out that I have fooled myself. * Sometimes people he defeated in court became his clients I think I have a good attitude toward people I sue. I get a little upset if I think somebody is lying about something, but I don't get upset when somebody has a different viewpoint or a different opinion than I have about something. As long as they are honest and sincere about it, I can understand that. I don't think I make enemies with the people I sue. It reminds me that a client came into my office one day and said, "Joe, do you have time to listen to my problem." I said sure. "It has three sides to it. First I want to tell you my side. They I want to tell you the other side. Then I want to tell you the truth." That is a pretty good example of what goes on in disputes. Most of the time, both parties think they are right, they think they are honest, they think they are truthful. And somewhere in between lies the truth. I had a client who was buying defunct businesses all the time and liquidating them. He was very successful at this. He bought some good businesses and occasionally I would try to talk him into staying with it and keeping the business and operating it. But no, he liked to buy them, liquidate them, and go on to something else. Al Shulman. he bought Northwest Jewelry, a wholesale jewelry house. They had lot of inventory, a lot of wholesale jewelry items and he proceeded in the normal way of contacting jewelers in town and selling as much as he could to each of them, expecting when he got all down, he would run a big ad in the paper and have a sale to the public and let them come in and buy the rest in a retail situation. Well, he sold about $10,000 worth to Hersh Druxman, a jeweler. After Hersh bought this, a small part. He ran a big ad in both newspapers, full page in Times and PI. Northwest Jewelers liquidating, going out of business, come to Druxman's and here's all the jewelry from Northwest Jewelers. That upset Al no end, because he was waiting to do that after he had sold everybody he could sell. He had not sold Druxman the right to advertise that he had bought it all, and he had not bought it all. So, I brought a law suit and sued Druxman and the Times and the PI. It came to trial, and the presiding judge had been waiting to go out. Paul Ashley was representing the PI, and he was a long time friend of mine, in fact, he had been a professor of mine in law school. he said to me, "Joe, why are you bothering us with this law suit. You know you can't win it." I said, "Well, I'm sure going to try hard." He said, "I'll bet you a briefcase that you can't win this lawsuit." I'll looked at the briefcase he was carrying and I said, "Paul, you need a new briefcase. But if I lose this lawsuit, I won't be able to afford one for you. I'll tell you what I am going to do for you. After I win this law suit, I'm going to win this law suit, I'm going to buy you a briefcase." We both laughed about that. We set out to a trial judge who was a good friend of mine, Judge Stafford, and when we got there, I thought about it a minute and Judge Stafford was real good capable judge and lawyer and I decided that that's not the kind of court room I belonged in with this kind of a case. So I filed an affidavit of prejudice. In our courts, you can file one affidavit of prejudice without any reason, you just don't want to try it in this court room, you don't have to tell the judge why. So, I filed it so I wouldn't have to try this before Judge Stafford. When the bailiff took in the order for the judge to sign transferring it out of his courtroom, he refused to sign it and the bailiff came out and said the judge won't sign the order until you go in to see him. Of course, that is unusual because he has not right to refuse. So, I went in to see him. He said, "Joe, of course, I have to sign your order, but I just don't understand it. You and I are good friends. Why are you filing an affidavit against me. Judges hated this, somebody to file an affidavit against them. I said, "Well, it's really quite simple, Judge. I don't think I could win my case in your courtroom." He knew what I meant. I didn't have that good a case. So we laughed about it. And so he signed it and we went on and tried the lawsuit in another courtroom. During the trial, Henry Clay Agnew was the lawyer for Hersman. And during the trial, the governor appointed Henry Clay Agnew as a new judge, so when this case was over, he was going to be the judge. We went on to trial and I emerged successful and got a judgment against the Times, and one against the PI, and one against Hersh, all of them. Afterward, I said, Paul, are you going to take an appeal? He said, I am not going to pay that and hope it gets buried. I don't want all the other lawyers in town to start similar lawsuits against the Times and PI every time they run an ad. After that, I bought Paul a briefcase and gave it to him. It was one of the best things I ever did, because he went all over town, he was a well respected lawyer, and told everybody that this new brief case Joe Diamond had given to him ... and then he had to tell them why, because I had won a law suit. So it was real excellent advertising for me. After that case was over, and Judge Agnew was appointed to the bench, he sent a client of his in to see me, an attractive young girl. She said, Judge Agnew sent me in to see you and wants you to finish up my divorce case. So, she brought some papers in I looked at it and took over, the divorce was half way through and got her her divorce, and afterward, I presented her with a little bill. And she said, Oh, no. I have taken care of this with Henry Clay Agnew. By that time, Henry had called me and told me that he was not only sending Marilyn to me, but he was sending all of his law business to me to handle and he wanted me to take care of it because he couldn't do so anymore. So I was grateful to Henry and so I said, well fine, Marilyn, you can forget about this bill. Next time I was in the courthouse, I went in to see Judge Agnew to say hello and also I mentioned that Marilyn had been in and told me that she had paid her bill with him. I said, that's fine, I'm not ... He said, "Oh, Joe, you don't collect from Marilyn that money ??? Hersh Druxman, from that time on (which now has to be about 20-years), became my client. I've represented him ever since. He has now passed away, but his son Pat Druxman is a client of mine. He still has the jewelry business, I do his work. I handle his estate of him. I handle of his son's stuff. Even though I sue someone and may have to give them a difficult time on cross-examination, and get a judgment against him, he didn't get mad. In fact, as it turned out, he liked me and became my client and we became good friends until the day he died; and his son is a good friend of mine. You don't have to make enemies in a lawsuit. It is just a difference of opinion and sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong. There is no reason to get upset or mad about it. That doesn't accomplish anything.

Chapter 25 [Unfinished] "Do you know anything about the parking business?"

Bob Fendler: As a young lawyer just two years out of Law School, and having acquired the concession rights for parking for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Century 21 and some other influential people were trying to take the contract away from me. I sued. Being from California, however, I needed to associate with a Seattle lawyer. No one would do it but Joe ... and we won. I still remember my first meeting with him in 1961. Knowing nothing of his background other than that he was a very good trial lawyer, and since my case against Century 21 related to my rights to all the parking for the Seattle World's Fair, I asked Joe if he knew anything about parking in the City of Seattle. In his usual modest style, he said: "A little bit" ... whereupon I launched into a lecture relating the little bit I knew about parking lots, in order to 'bring him up to speed.' It was only later, when we first appeared before the superior court in King County that the Judge told me that Joe Diamond's parking business was the largest parking business in Seattle.

Chapter 26 -- Taking his alma mater to court ... the Supreme Court of the United States

In 1971, Josef became nationally known through a case which ultimately came before the United States Supreme Court, and which the Washington Post called: "the year's most explosive civil-rights case."

In the spring of 1971, Craig Sternberg, a young lawyer in Josef's firm approached his boss to ask, "Would you have any objection to suing the University of Washington Law School?"

Josef replied, "Well, I wouldn't have any hesitation to sue them if the University was wrong and it was necessary, but I doubt that it would be necessary because I am sure that we could correct any problem with them."

So, Craig brought a friend of his named Marco DeFunis in to see Josef.

Marco was a young married man and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Washington. He had been born and raised in Seattle just a block from the University. Despite an almost perfect scholastic record, Marco had been rejected by the University of Washington Law School and was told to try again next year. He had also applied to the University of Oregon Law School and had been accepted there. However, Marco's wife was employed as a Dental assistant in Seattle and they did not feel that they could afford to move to Oregon if she quit her job.

Therefore, Marco spent the next year attending graduate school at the University of Washington, again earning a perfect record, all A's. Then he applied a second time to the University of Washington School of Law, and again he was denied admission. It was about a month after that second rejection that Craig brought Marco in to see Josef.

Josef could not understand why Marco had been rejected by the University of Washington School of Law, and he was sure that he could correct the matter, so he agreed to represent Marco. Marco was a very personable young man. His family had lived in Seattle all of his life. The University of Washington was Marco's home-state university and he and his family had been paying state taxes for a very long time. Therefore, it was hard for Josef to understand why the University would deny admission to Marco while admitting many non-residents who had not been paying state taxes, had not graduated from the University of Washington as Marco had, and were not as well qualified. It just didn't make sense.

Josef first called Harold Shefelman, Chairman of the University's Board of Regents, a fellow-lawyer and good friend, to inquire about the rejection. Harold advised Josef to discuss the matter with the Dean of the Law School. When he approached the Dean, the Dean matter-of-factly informed him that they had selected those students whom they felt should be admitted to the Law School and there was no room to admit Marco.

Since he knew most of the professors in the University Law School, Josef decided to go out to the University and make some inquiries. He learned that the University had accepted fifteen minority students who were much less qualified than Marco, and many of them were from outside the State of Washington. He also learned that the University had separated law school applicants into two separate groups. One large group was comprised of Caucasians with high grades. The other group was comprised entirely of minority students with much lower grades. The minority students were not compared with the applicants in the other group who had much higher qualifications.

Upon discovering these facts, in the fall of 1971, Josef informed the Board of Regents: "You leave me no choice but to sue the University because I believe that you are wrong. A young man with the qualifications and background of Marco DeFunis, born and raised in Seattle, and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Washington, is entitled to be accepted into the University Law School."

After filing the lawsuit, Josef immediately obtained a restraining order from King County Superior Court Judge Thompson to prevent the University from officially accepting and admitting any of the law school applicants whom the University had planned to accept into the freshman class ... until Marco's case was decided. The University had a fit.

The State Assistant Attorney General who represented the University, Jim Wilson, called Josef and said: "Joe you are holding up the whole law school with this injunction." The University was upset because this restraining order delayed them from admitting any students into the law school class and they were concerned that this action might cause them to lose some of the best applicants they had wanted to admit to other universities.

Josef replied: "That's easy to fix. Just save a place in the freshman class so that Marco can go to school while we argue this case." They finally consented to Josef's proposal, admitted just 149 students, and agreed to allow Marco DeFunis to begin attending class, although not officially admitting him into the law school while the litigation was pending.

Josef got an early trial in the King County Superior Court, with Judge Shorett presiding. He subpoenaed the University records for the 150 students (including the 15 minority students) whom the University had planned to admit into the law school. He was only able to review those records while the trial was in progress: during recesses, before court in the morning, and after court adjourned in the evening.

The records revealed that the fifteen minority students whom the University had planned to accept had much lower grade averages in their pre-law education, and much lower law school application test scores than Marco. Marco had a very high grade point average of 3.9, which was higher than any of the minority applicants. One of the minority applicants had a grade point average of only 2.5 ... a woman 32 years of age, unmarried, with two children and no means of support. There was a notation on her application which read: "Doubt that she will make it, but admit."

After four days of evidence and argument, Judge Shorett ruled that Marco DeFunis should be admitted as a student in the law school freshman class.

DeFunis vs Odegard - an unprecedented civil rights action against reverse discrimination

Judge Shorett's decision should have concluded the matter. However, the University of Washington appealed the King County Superior Court ruling to the Washington State Supreme Court.

When the appeal was finally heard by the State Supreme Court, in a divided opinion, the majority of the Justices reversed Judge Shorett's decision and held that the University had the right to deny admission to Marco DeFunis and to make their own rules as to who would be admitted.

At that point, Marco had completed about a year and a half of law school. He had been doing very well, even though he was not officially admitted as a member of the class. When the State Supreme Court ruled against Josef, the University now had the right to deny Marco the privilege of continuing to attend class, if they should choose to do so.

Consequently, in 1972, Josef appealed the decision of the State Supreme Court to the Supreme Court of the United States.

In order to keep Marco in school while the appeal was pending, it was necessary to obtain a restraining order from the U.S. Supreme Court which would prevent the University of Washington from terminating Marco's opportunity of attending classes in the Law School.

Therefore, Josef contacted Supreme Court Justice Douglas and obtained a restraining order which ensured that Marco could continue in school until the U.S. Supreme Court could schedule a hearing of the case.

Before setting the case for hearing, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote to Josef and to the attorney for the University to see whether the case was moot, because Marco was actually attending law school. Both attorneys wrote back to the Supreme Court and told them that the case was not moot because Marco had never been officially admitted to the University of Washington School of Law. Josef argued that if the case was not heard, the University could banish Marco and he would never graduate.

The Supreme Court then set the case for a hearing. However, it did not come up for the hearing by the Supreme Court until almost three years after Marco had begun attending law school. Ironically, the time for the hearing came just two weeks before Marco's law school class was to graduate.

In 1974, the time came for the argument before the U.S. Supreme Court. Slade Gorton, the Attorney General for the State of Washington, replaced Jim Wilson, the Assistant Attorney General who had been serving as counsel for the Law School. When Mr. Gorton and Mr. Diamond argued the case before the Supreme Court, they were granted extra time to have the matter heard. 31 amicus briefs were filed, mostly on behalf of various law schools around the country who took the position that law schools should have the right to determine who should be admitted to their schools on whatever basis each law school felt was right.

During the arguments, one of the Supreme Court justices asked Slade Gorton what the University's position was now with regard to Marco DeFunis. Gorton responded that it was now so near graduation, that even if the Court were to decide in favor of the University, the University would permit Marco to graduate.

Therefore, the primary objective of Josef's case was now won. Marco would indeed graduate and receive his law degree, regardless of whatever decision the Supreme Court made.

The United States Supreme Court reversed the Washington State Supreme Court's decision which had been in favor of the University of Washington. The justices sent the case back to the State Supreme Court for further hearing and consideration. This U.S. Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the Washington State Supreme Court ruling was, in fact, overturned and reversed.

Josef had won a landmark victory in a very significant and much celebrated case. Marco DeFunis graduated from the University of Washington School of Law and received his Doctorate of Law degree and did become a successful lawyer in Seattle. Josef's challenge to the University of Washington's minority admission quotas was vindicated and his initiative set the stage for other challenges to minority admissions quotas which were to come.

The case was then taken back to the Washington State Supreme Court for further hearing. Josef had now accomplished all that he had originally set out to do. However, he asked the State Supreme Court to reconsider the case now as a class action so that a decision might be reached which would clarify what the proper legal precedent should be for students who might face a similar problem in the future.

As Josef argued his case before the State Supreme Court, Chief Justice Findley said: "What authority is there for making this a class action suit at this late date?"

Normally, a class action starts out in the trial courts as a class action lawsuit. Josef said that he could not find any precedent either way; however he argued that since this was the Supreme Court of the State, they could do anything that they were not specifically prohibited from doing, and on that basis the case should be heard as a class action lawsuit.

Josef said: "If you will do that, and want to be consistent, you will rule against me again. Or, if you want to correct your error, you will rule for me this time. But make it a class action and then your decision, whichever way you rule, can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States by whoever loses, and then we will have a law in this matter which will be finally settled and decided for everyone."

The Court agreed to hear the case on this basis, the Assistant Attorney General, Jim Wilson, argued the case for the opposing viewpoint once again. He argued that the Court should sustain their previous decision, overruling the trial court. Judge Findley said: "You want us to sustain our prior decision even though the Supreme Court of the United States just reversed it? How can we do that when the U.S. Supreme Court, as a higher authority, has just reversed it?"

The State Supreme Court decided to not take any further action on this matter, but to simply rule that this was a class action denied, and the motion to reinstate trial or appellate court judgments was never determined.

The Supreme Court eventually did establish a new law based on Josef Diamond's initiative.

One day, Josef received an inquiry from an attorney in California who was about to undertake a case similar to the DeFunis case on behalf of Allen Bakke, a white man who had been denied enrollment to the University of California Medical School.

Even though Josef had won his case and accomplished his primary objective in the DeFunis case, the Supreme Court had not actually established a new law to govern such cases, but rather they had just overturned the State Supreme Court ruling and referred the matter back to the State level.

Therefore, the attorney for the Bakke case requested copies of Josef's briefs on the DeFunis case and used them as the basis for a new supreme court challenge on the same issue. Eventually, the Bakke case did received a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the position which had first been brought to trial by Josef Diamond.

So, ultimately, justice did prevail in this matter. Some say that the most important step along the way, the action which demonstrated Josef's ingenuity was when he obtained the injunction which forced the University to reserve a place for Marco, even though not officially admitting him. That became the basis for the case to be made in the first place.

Chapter 27 [Not finished] "You leave me no alternative ... I guess we will have to have a little lawsuit."

Chapter 28 [Not finished] "The jury finds in your favor for 330-dollars ... No, No ... three million ..."

When Josef interviewed Robert Ratcliffe for a position with his firm, Robert discovered just how tough a negotiator Josef was. Josef convinced him that he would be very lucky to have the opportunity to work with his firm. Robert soon discovered how true that was, expressing this sentiment: "Not only is Josef a first class lawyer, but he also became my friend and mentor. We spent hours and hours together ... days, nights, and weekends in major litigation." In recalling one case in particular, The Roanoke Reef Case, Robert says: "Among others, we handled the Roanoke Reef case together ... in which we won a very substantial decision against the City of Seattle. This was followed by an appeal to the Supreme Court, which case I argued for our side. After the hearing, Josef wrote to our clients, telling them that my argument was the best he had ever heard before the Supreme Court. That is one of the major highlights of my 37 years of practicing law." Chapter 29 [Not finished] Going the extra miles ... and then some

Macri John Ehrlichman, former advisor to President Nixon: About 35-years ago, in El Salvador, Joe had a client who was being kept in a foul prison in the center of San Salvador and Joe was trying to get him out. The client was the contractor on a stretch of the Pan American Highway and had run out of money and tried, unsuccessfully, to drive across the Guatamalan border. At that time, I represented the sureties on the bond and had all the money. So, I was wined and dined by the local bankers, the Minister of Public Works, etc. Joe, on the other hand, was sure they were going to throw him into prison, along with his client. He urged me to pay the government the bond proceeds so he and the client could go home. I wanted indemnity for my poor insurers, of course. So Joe and I got pretty well acquainted over a couple of weeks. The client was willing to sign anything to get out of that awful jail. Eventually my Canadian sureties paid 100-percent and we all went home.

Chapter 30 [Not finished] "I think you need to let me take care of this for you"

Chapter 31 [Not finished] "The law is nothing more than common sense recorded in dusty books"

David Lycette, in whose father's firm it was that Josef started his law career, feels as though there has never been a time in his life when he did not know Josef Diamond. David explains that Josef and his father worked together in a relationship of mutual trust and confidence without ever needing a written agreement between them. His recollections of Josef are of a man who was not merely a lawyer, but who was an advocate for his clients and a very generous man. David remembers that Josef told him that "The law is nothing more than common sense recorded in dusty books." And he goes on to paint this fascinating portrayal: "I never saw Josef in the law library. I never saw him read a reported decision. But he could always talk with authority and reason with conviction. And, when the law was researched, it always turned out to be just what he said it would be. Josef would take a global view of a problem and then solve it. Very few attorneys can do that today. "Joe once had an elderly client who had invested in some high income certificates issued by a local mortgage company. The client was suing the mortgage company to rescind the transaction and suing its officers for fraud. "Before the client's deposition was to be taken by opposing counsel, I sat with Joe as he prepared the client for that deposition. I felt sorry for the poor client as Joe chewed on him about his investment in such a high-risk certificate. Joe cross-examined him unmercifully. "But then, when we left Joe's office and went to the conference room where the opposing attorney and court reporter were waiting, an amazing transformation took place. Suddenly, this man Joe had been vigorously working over for the past hour was the picture of innocence. "Now, Joe took on the opposing counsel about the indiscretions of the mortgage company. As it turned out, the deposition of our client was not even taken _because Joe turned the session into a settlement conference and the matter was settled within an hour._ "What Joe had done in the privacy of his own offices was to brace his client for the rigors of a tough deposition. But once out in the open with his client, Joe became the quintessential advocate, never showing any weakness in his client's position. "When I started my own law practice in Joe's firm, I was paid $450 per month. That was about the going price for new attorneys at that time. After three-months, I was scheduled to go into the Army for a two-year tour of duty. A few days before I was to leave, Joe came into my office and told me that he thought it would look better on my record in the service if I was earning more, so he said that he was going to give me a retroactive raise to $600 per month. What impressed me was not so much the money, but the thoughtfulness of the gesture. "Generosity is usually thought of in monetary terms, but with Joe, generosity took many forms."

Chapter 32 [Not finished] "In almost any case, you can find a judgment going both ways."

The challenge is to discover the truth and do what is right.

Chapter 33 [Not finished] "Get rid of the legal expense"

Chapter 34 [Not finished] "Not just shoveling smoke"

I had about 20 lawyers in the firm at that time, working for me. Jack Sylverster had a partnership interest with me and the young lawyers in the office with me, particularly Foreman wanted me to turn the firm over to them and they wanted to operate it as their business. I wasn't ready to stop practicing law, but it was too fine an offer to turn away from, so my daughter Diane came to me and insisted that I should walk away and turn the business over to the young lawyers in my office, I finally agreed to sell the firm to 9 of the lawyers to become a partnership, and they would continue to operate as Diamond and Sylvester, and I would become Of Counsel. and if there was a disagreement, that one of the 9 partners would decide what my salary would be for the year. While we had over 2-millino of acocunts receivable, I agreed to turn over for them paying me only $450,000 for the low value of the furniture and equipment, books and desks, but while I remained there, I would continue to draw income from the proceeds of clients of mine already earned and in the future. That continued, that was agreed upon and that made my daugheer and husband very happy, continued six months and then foreman decided he couldn't get along with the partners, so going to split up the office and divide the office into two parts, foreman to head one part and another the other.

Some would stay with Dick Foreman, and the others would go to the other. Continue in the same office, but keep separate books, transfered form Hogue to Columbia Center at greatly increased costs, And Ihad moved into the new building with them. Dick Foreman had asked me to go with his side, and let them use my name, so the law firm I would be with was changed to Diamond and Foreman and the other firm became ____ and Sylvester. This situation continued for another six months, and (also had a branch office in Bellevue) with a couple of lawyers working over there. Dick Foreman had been mayor of Bellevue and one of the lawyers that stayed with Dick Foreman was ____ who had bene superior king court judge who had left eh bench, retired from the bench to come to work for me as a junior partner. Dick Foreman told me that he and ____ were going to move over to Bellevue and operate from Bellevue and the other partners were going to stay in the Columbia Center. I asked him what he wante dme to do. He didn't expect me to move to Bellevue, friends and clients were there. I said I didn't stay and he didn't want me to go with the other people. So called up Paul Cressman Sr. whom I had known for many years and told him I would be on my own as Of Counsel to the firm. He gave me a nice office in First Interstate Center where I moved over and where I am. On my own.

I introduced Paul Cressman to the lady who had been the judge and they ended up getting married. (interesting side note)

After a long and distinguished career of more than half-a-century of law practice with his own firm, on May 2, 1989, Josef (did what? _____ what became of Diamond & Sylvester) and became counsel to the Seattle firm of Short, Cressman, & Burgess. He continues to work from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm every business day, serving as a sage to lawyers in myriad fields while attending to his own regular law practice which still focuses on business and real estate law: business acquisitions, real estate development, and management supervision. Josef continues to represent clients in many different fields, providing his own inimitable brand of expertise in construction, taxation, business partnerships, corporations, claims, liens, probate, negotiations, litigation, and settlements. Furthermore, he also continues to go to work every Saturday morning at the offices of Diamond Parking.

Chapter 35 [Not finished] "I think I settled more than 90 percent of my cases out of court."

* turning confrontations into settlements
* Less than 3 percent of all lawsuits go to trial

Chapter 36 [Not finished] "They ought to teach more about negotiating settlements."

Throughout his career, Josef was always highly competitive, aggressive, intelligent, and tenacious in representing his clients. At the same time, he also earned a well-deserved reputation as a thoughtful and considerate gentleman and a mentor to many of his colleagues. One once said of him: "You can pick up more ideas just by listening to him talk than you can get in five years of practicing law."

Among his vast array of clients, for over 35 years, Josef represented the Associated General Contractors (AGC), Seattle Construction Council, and the Master Builders (home builders).

Now, Josef laments the fading honor of the legal profession deferentially. He says: "I never worried about a client's ability to pay." Although he regrets the transformation of the practice of law into a business, he also recognizes that the ever-increasing demands of a high-technology society and intense competition have brought this about. To be sure, the legal profession has changed radically since Josef wrote letters to collect $2.00 debts back in 1932.

Talking with Josef Diamond, one senses the perseverance, horse sense, and intuitive brilliance which enabled him to become one of the finest and most respected lawyers in the country. There have been many highlights in his distinguished career which are well worth telling ... and contemplating ... not only for their technical merit but even more especially for the way Josef served and befriended his clients and even many of his opponents.

PART THREE - A DISTINGUISHED MILITARY CAREER

Chapter 37 -- From U.S. Navy pre-flight cadet to U.S. Army Colonel Diamond

We left some unfinished business in Chapter 11. Josef completed the U.S. Navy pre-flight cadet program, and upon graduation from Law School in June 1931, he was expected to report to the Sand Point Naval Air Station to begin his tour of duty with the U.S. Navy on August 1, 1931.

However, a formidable force intervened to intercept the U.S. Navy's plans and expectations ... Josef's mother, Ruby Diamond.

In July, after he had gone to work at the law firm, Josef knew that the time had come that he had to go to Sand Point Naval Air Station and let them know that he was not going to report for duty.

When Josef walked into the Commander's office and informed him that he would not be reporting, the Commander was rather bewildered. He glared at Josef and bellowed:

"Young man, you are in the Navy! You don't just up and quit!

You _will_ report for duty on August first! Now go to Navy Ship Yard in Bremerton and get your uniform!"

Josef said that he would not be able to do that. (He did not mention that his mother had forbidden him to do so.)

The Commander was livid.

He loudly repeated that Josef was in the Navy now and he did not have any options in this matter, that he was under orders to report for duty.

Josef explained that he had promised his mother that if he got a job practicing law, he would quit the Navy. Consequently, now that he had a job with a law firm, he could not break his promise to his mother.

Josef has always vividly remembered the earth-shaking explosion which followed. By now, the Commander was extremely red in the face and he exploded with a loud voice: "Get off this post and don't ever come back!"

Sometimes, Josef wondered if perhaps he should have claimed his nine months of service with the Navy, which would have added to his military service record, but he decided that whatever the Navy Commander may have written into his Navy record would not likely be a helpful addition to his career in the U.S. Army. So, his military record makes no reference to the fact that he once spent nine months as a United States Navy Cadet.

Once he had his job with Caldwell and Lycette, Josef did not expect to ever be involved in the military again.

Those plans changed as the situation in the world changed. It is an intriguing story how Navy Flight Cadet Josef Diamond became U.S. Army Colonel Josef Diamond, serving in the Judge Advocate General Corps in Washington, DC during World War II, in charge of all legal matters for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Chapter 38 -- U.S. Army Captain Diamond

During his early years with Caldwell and Lycette, Larry Carlson, another young lawyer in the office, came to Josef one day and said: "Joe, why don't you get a commission in the United States Army with the Judge Advocate General Department?"

Josef replied: "What would I want with a commission in the Army? I just got out of the Navy."

Larry persisted. He had received a commission as a Captain in the Army Reserve. He said: "No, really, you should get a commission. There's nothing to it. You don't have to do anything but take some extension courses at night and at the end of six or eight months, you will end up with a commission as a Captain in the Army."

This piqued Josef's interest and he asked: "You mean I wouldn't be obligated to any active duty?"

Larry said: "No, no, you don't have to do anything like that. You don't even need a uniform."

That started to sound appealing. Josef thought that since his wife was pregnant with their first child, and he was now spending more time at home in the evenings, perhaps it would be a good time to work on some extension courses. So, he signed up, completed the extension courses, and received a certificate in the mail informing him that he was now a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Josef was now Captain Diamond, United States Army, a member of the Judge Advocate General's Department.

Chapter 39 -- "This is your last invitation to accept an active duty appointment ... before I order you to report"

In 1940, President Roosevelt began calling up some of the Army reserves for a one year tour of active duty in preparation for possible conflict with Adolph Hitler's Germany. Josef did not think that concerned him because the President was only calling up enlisted personnel. However ...

One day, Josef received a phone call from a gentleman who identified himself as a Captain in the local U.S. Army Reserve headquarters. He told Josef that he needed a Judge Advocate to go on active duty and wanted to know if Josef might like to accept duty as a Judge Advocate at the Port of Embarkation.

Josef said: "It sounds like you are asking me."

The Captain replied: "Yes, I am."

Josef declined: "No thank you. I am very busy practicing law and I am not interested in going on active duty."

The Captain replied: "Well, I was just asking, and if you don't want to go that's all right. I'll get someone else."

About a month later, Josef received another call from the same Army Reserve officer, and this time he said: "I know you don't want to go on active duty, but I am calling you again because this time I can give you a position close to home, as the Judge Advocate at Fort Lewis. I thought you might like to take advantage of that. Also, I want to let you know that one of these days, I am going to be calling to order you to active duty, and I won't be asking."

That gave Josef a bit of concern, but he told the Army Reserve Captain that he was just too busy practicing law to consider active duty.

A short time later, in March 1941, Josef received another call from the same Army Captain and this time he said: "Do you know that you are the only Judge Advocate in the State of Washington who has not yet gone on active duty? I am calling to inform you that I now have a request from the Adjutant General of the State of Washington, General Thompson. He needs a lawyer to go on active duty to assist him in connection with his duties as head of Selective Service. The General already has a doctor and three or four other people on his staff, and he needs a Judge Advocate. There are legal questions concerning conscientious objectors and other matters which need attention, and the General wants a young lawyer for this position."

The Captain also informed Josef that this assignment would be at Camp Murray, close to Fort Lewis and not far from Seattle. He said this would be an ideal assignment for someone who did not want to end up being ordered to some distant post, perhaps overseas, at a later date. The Captain went on to say:

"Now, you don't have to accept this assignment either, because there are a lot of older, retired lawyers who are looking for this kind of a job. But you had better think carefully about this one because the next time I call, I will probably not be asking, but very likely I will be ordering you to active duty someplace ... and you might end up in Europe or Africa or anywhere. I know you would much prefer to stay around here, if possible, so give this some thought."

Josef said that he would think it over and talk with General Thompson about it. He discussed it with his wife, but they couldn't make a decision. After another week went by, however, he decided that he had to at least go down to Camp Murray to meet General Thompson and discuss the matter with him.

Chapter 40 -- Negotiating terms of employment with the General

Now that his law practice was beginning to flourish, Josef really did not want to go on active duty. However, in view of the world situation and the fact that he had been advised that it was now quite possible that he might be ordered to active duty ... and that he might be ordered to take an assignment which could be anyplace in the world, he became a little concerned.

Once he started to drive to Camp Murray to meet with the General, however, the more he thought about it, the more certain he was that he did not want to go on active duty.

Josef had never met General Thompson, but found him to be a fine, pleasant elderly gentleman. The General explained that he needed an officer to handle legal matters for the Department of Selective Service and that he would prefer a young officer. As Adjutant General for the State of Washington, he had been appointed by the Governor to handle the Selective Service System for the Federal Government, supervising the selection of soldiers being inducted into the service. He already had a doctor and several other officers on his staff, but he needed a lawyer to review and pass judgment on questions of waiver and conscientious objector qualifications and other matters.

Josef told the General that he was busy practicing law and that he really did not want to go on active duty. But he wanted to know a little more about what would be involved if he were to do so. In particular, he wanted to know if he might be able to continue to live in Seattle and commute back and forth to the Army post.

He asked what the hours would be. The General told him that the regular hours were 8:00 am until 4:30 pm, and that he could live at home in Seattle. He said that all legal matters pertaining to Selective Service would be referred to him and he would be responsible to take care of them.

Josef explained that if he were to accept this assignment for a one year tour of active duty, he would need to continue to keep in touch with his law office and do whatever he could to continue to attend to legal matters in his office.

He also mentioned that he lived on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle and it would be difficult for him to get to Camp Murray by 8 o'clock every morning.

The General said there would be no problem if Josef got to the post by 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning.

Then Josef commented that if he were to leave the post at 4:30 pm, that he would get home very late every evening.

The General said that he saw no reason why Josef couldn't leave around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. All General Thompson really wanted was to be sure that all legal matters that came up were properly taken care of.

As they talked further, the General said that Josef would be pleased to know that in peacetime, Wednesday afternoons were not required duty time. Josef observed that since he would not be getting to work until after 10 am on Wednesdays and leaving at noon, perhaps he could just not come in on Wednesdays. He could use that time to look after his law practice. The General agreed that would be acceptable.

Then Josef explained that he would be working weekends, early mornings, and evenings in his law office in Seattle and there might be times when he would get tied up in a conference or lawsuit and not be able to make it to Camp Murray.

The General assured Josef that if he called in to explain that he was unable to come in for such reasons or needed to be absent for a few days because he was in litigation, that such would be satisfactory.

Finally, Josef, told the General that he did not have a uniform and would not be able to wear a uniform to his law office. The General said that he didn't see any reason why he would have to wear a uniform for this assignment, and he could report to work in civilian clothes.

Josef was impressed with General Thompson and thought they would get along just fine. He liked the idea that General Thompson indicated that he wanted a young officer, and although he had some "retreads" available (older lawyers from World War I) who wanted to go back on duty again and who were qualified and capable, the General preferred having a young lawyer. Josef agreed to think about it and let the General know his decision in a few days.

After discussing all this with his wife, Josef could not make up his mind. He and Violett decided to go to Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia with some friends for a three-day weekend and come to a decision. They had a great time at Harrison, but when they returned home they were no nearer a decision than before. Josef just didn't know what to do.

He had to go back and tell General Thompson his decision, either that he was or was not going to accept this active duty assignment. Yet even as he drove to Camp Murray he didn't know what he was going to do. He really didn't feel that he should go on active and leave his law practice.

On the other hand, he was concerned that if he did not accept this assignment, he would be ordered to active duty and sent to some distant post where he would not be able to take his wife and child with him.

When he met with General Thompson, he told him that he thought they should review the situation to see if they were in agreement on the various points they had discussed. Josef stated that his understanding was that he would be able to report for duty without being in uniform, that he could live in Seattle and arrive by 10:00 or 11:00 am and leave the office by 2:30 or 3:30 in the afternoon, that he would not have to report on Wednesdays, and if he got involved in litigation or something prevented him from reporting to work for a few days, if he called in and let the General know, that would be all right.

General Thompson agreed and said that he would like to have Josef come on board under those terms and conditions.

Josef still wasn't sure ... and he said: "General, I really have had a difficult time trying to decide if I should accept this assignment. I have just one more question. I understand that on Saturdays everyone also works only half a day and are off at 12:00 pm ..."

The General interrupted: "This is the last concession I am going to make. I agree that you will not have to report on Saturdays. But either take the job on that basis right now or forget it."

Josef then agreed to go on active duty for one year, beginning April 1, 1941. Thus began his career in the U.S. Army.

Chapter 41 -- A change of guard and change of marching orders

With the arrangement worked out with General Thompson, Josef was able to continue his law practice and everything was working out quite well. In fact, few of Josef's clients knew that he was in the service. He was never in uniform and managed to schedule satisfactory times and places to meet so that he could continue to take care of clients.

About three months later, one morning as he was driving to Camp Murray, listening to the news on the car radio, Josef heard the announcer report that Washington's new governor, Arthur Langlie, had just appointed Colonel DeLong as the new Adjutant General for the State of Washington. Effective immediately, he would replace General Thompson.

Josef realized that this change might present some problems. Now, he had a new "boss" who knew nothing about the arrangements Josef had made with General Thompson. He decided to just continue doing his job, as usual ... until one day his new "boss" who had just been promoted to General sent word that he wanted to see Josef.

When they met, General DeLong inquired: "Captain Diamond, I am concerned about what you are doing here. I don't ever see you in uniform and you seem to be coming and going as you please. I don't understand.

Josef decided there was no point in getting General Thompson involved. He told General DeLong that he had understood that all he had to do was take care of the legal matters and that is what he was doing.

General DeLong said: "Well, that is not correct. You are in the Army and you will report for duty like everyone else at 8:00 am and you will be on duty each day until 4:30 pm ... in uniform."

Suddenly, Josef's whole world radically changed.

Josef ordered a uniform and reported to work at 8:00 am. Now, it became necessary to find a place to live near Camp Murray, so Josef went to Fort Lewis and found his friend Captain Charles Carroll, who had been appointed Judge Advocate General there ... the job which Josef had turned down.

Josef had known Chuck Carroll since grade school and all through high school and college. Chuck had been an All-American football player at the University of Washington.

Chuck found a place for Josef to stay on the post at Fort Lewis next to his own room in the bachelors officers quarters. Josef stayed at Fort Lewis during the week, most of the time, and drove home to Seattle on weekends.

But he knew that this was not a good situation, and he was sure that General DeLong would not object if he found a new assignment.

The Constructing Quartermaster division of the Army seemed to Josef to be a good place for him. He had been representing most of the general contractors in the State of Washington for several years and knew most of them quite well. Furthermore, with his knowledge of legal matters in the construction field, Josef felt that he could serve the Constructing Quartermaster very well.

Colonel Antonovich was the head of the Constructing Quartermaster at Fort Lewis. When Josef approached him about possibly being assigned to his staff, the Colonel told Josef that he had been getting along in the Army very well without a lawyer for more than 30 years and he saw no reason for having a Judge Advocate on his staff now.

As Josef left the office, he went by a conference room where there were about 15 contractors, most of whom Josef knew, and he stopped to talk to them. They were surprised to see Josef in uniform as they did not know that he was on active duty. The contractors told Josef that they were there to bid on a construction job for a USO project (a recreation facility for active duty enlisted personnel) which the Constructing Quartermaster was going to build in Olympia. Apparently, this was to be one of several that were going to be built in the State of Washington. Josef seized the occasion to suggest to his contractor friends that they needed him as a member of Colonel Antonovich's staff to pass on construction matters and construction contracts, and that they might suggest to Colonel Antonovich that he needed a good lawyer who could be of considerable help to him.

A week or so later, Josef got a call from Colonel Antonovich who said that he had had trouble locating him, but thought that perhaps he did have a place for a Judge Advocate. Josef went back to see the Colonel, the Colonel told him that he had decided that he would like to have Josef on his staff, but he didn't know how to go about that. He suggested that Josef take care of the matter. General DeLong was not unhappy to see Josef go and so he was able to get orders to be transferred to the Constructing Quartermaster at Fort Lewis.

One of Josef's first jobs with Colonel Antonovich was to go to Port Angeles to locate a site for the construction of a USO building. A site had been offered to the Army free by the city, but Colonel Antonovich said it was unsatisfactory. It was right next to a bawdy house and the Colonel said that he would not build a USO building in that proximity. Josef said he would get a different location. He met with the city of Port Angeles and persuaded them to trade that property for another site some blocks away. The Colonel was happy with the new site and built the USO there.

Chapter 42 -- That fateful day Pearl Harbor was bombed. December 7, 1941

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Josef was in his law office on the 20th floor of the Exchange Building, as usual, catching up on some of his work. He vividly recalls that fateful day. At 11 o'clock in the morning Seattle time, Josef was talking on the telephone with another lawyer. As he relates the story ...

"I was talking with a friend of mine, Simon Wampold. We were trying to settle a law suit in which I was representing an insurance company and Simon (I always called him Si) was representing a claimant who had been injured in an accident.

"Si was in his den at home ... and all of a sudden he interrupted our negotiations, to say: 'Hold on, hold on ... on the radio they just announced that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor'." I said, 'Cut it out, Si ... let's get this case settled ...'

"Si said, 'No, no, I'm serious ... I just heard it on the radio, the Japanese have just bombed our Naval base in Honolulu.' He kept insisting and finally convinced me that this was actually happening. We forgot all about the lawsuit we were trying to settle and I said, 'Si, I'm in the Army and I have to leave immediately and report to Fort Lewis'."

When Josef started to leave the Exchange Building, he was met by civilian Secret Service people wearing some kind of badges stationed at every door of the building and not allowing anyone to leave. The guards asked Josef who he was and wanted to see some identification as proof. Undoubtedly, these precautions had been made because several Japanese shipping companies, importers, and exporters had offices in the Exchange Building. Now that the Japanese had bombed the United States, somebody had apparently ordered a tight guard to be clamped down immediately.

Being in casual civilian clothes at the time, Josef had no identification with him, and it took quite a bit of explaining to convince the guards that he was, in fact, a U.S. Army officer on active duty. Finally, he did convince them and was allowed to leave the building.

Josef later said that he had often thought how amazing that was ... that the Secret Service arrived at that building so quickly, even before he could even get from his office on the 20th floor down the elevator to the doors leading out of the building.

As he drove home, he turned on the car radio and heard an announcement that all military personnel were to report to their posts immediately. Josef drove straight home, changed into his uniform, and returned to Fort Lewis.

At this point, Josef's military experience (and his entire life) changed completely. This was no longer a part-time sideline to his law practice. Now it began to be a real adventure.

Chapter 43 -- Defending the Pacific Coast from invasion ...

Upon arriving at Fort Lewis, Josef found the Army issuing guns to everyone who reported for duty. They handed Josef a six-shooter and an old World War I helmet. It seems they had run out of regulation Army pistols, so they gave him this thing that looked like a cowboy's gun and a handful of bullets. Josef had never owned a gun before and didn't have any idea how to use it. He put the gun in the gun-belt and the bullets in his pocket.

What happened next seemed like a surrealistic movie script. Josef remembers:

"I just stood around for a while watching all the activity at Fort Lewis, and waiting to see what was going to happen. More and more troops kept coming and reporting in for active duty, and as they arrived, they were all loaded onto troop carriers and headed out in caravans to defend the Pacific Coast.

"No one seemed to really know what was happening or where the Japanese were, but there seemed to be a general feeling that the Japanese were about to land on the Pacific Coast, so the first order of business was to defend the Coast from any invaders who might be coming.

"It is hard to believe, now, but the fact is that most of the soldiers being sent out to the coast at that time were actually carrying wooden guns and wooden canons which were painted black so they looked like the real thing from a distance. Of course, there were also some real weapons among them, too, but it didn't seem as though there were very many of them.

"Apparently, there wasn't enough equipment to go around at that time, so they were actually sending troops out to defend our Pacific Coast with wooden sticks painted to look like guns and canons which had been used during training exercises the previous summer.

"It is interesting to realize that, during the previous summer, in July, there had been training maneuvers put on by the Fourth Army which had been designed to train troops for the possibility of an enemy invasion of the Pacific Coast. As a part of that team, I had gone out to the Coast and made arrangements for the temporary use of land owned by farmers and others so that we could station troops and equipment there to intercept any landings and block enemy troop movements.

"Now, this was the real thing and it was amazing to me that all this activity was so similar to that which had been anticipated by the Fourth Army maneuvers earlier in the summer.

"When the Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Fourth Army Commanding General DeWitt at Fort Lewis decided that the possibility of Japanese troops invading the Pacific Coast was a very real threat. And, of course, it was possible that they might come ashore not in uniform, but dressed as civilians.

"Therefore, General DeWitt issued an order to have all persons of Japanese descent removed from the Pacific Coast to controlled areas. Of course, this was certainly a hardship and an embarrassment and a serious action against many good, loyal Japanese-Americans, and yet one can certainly see how such an extreme action was prudent and easily justified under the circumstances.

"In any event, as our troops were loaded up and sent out to protect the USA, there I stood with a cowboy's gun and bullets in my pocket, wondering what in the world an Army lawyer, untrained in military weapons and tactics, was supposed to do."

Chapter 44 -- Can you imagine Josef Diamond in a tin hat with a six-shooter in his hand?

After three or four hours of observing all the activity at Fort Lewis, things began to quiet down there as most of the troops had been dispatched out to defend the coast.

Since this was a Sunday, Josef decided that the best thing for him to do was to go home, await further developments, and report for duty Monday morning at the Construction Quartermaster's headquarters.

Upon arriving home, Josef's wife, like everyone else, was understandably quite distressed about what was going on. Josef showed Violett his helmet, gun, and bullets, and the only reaction he got from her were "orders" to return the gun, the bullets, and the "tin hat" as she called it. It was an old World War I vintage helmet which didn't quite fit. Violett insisted that Josef not load the gun, but return it and the bullets the next morning. That is exactly what he did. And that was the only time during five years of active duty with the U.S. Army that Josef ever had a gun in his hands.

Chapter 45a -- Setting up the real estate office

A short time later, the Army decided to disband the Construction Quartermaster division and turn over all construction to the Corp of Engineers. Captain Diamond wondered what was going to happen to him ...

But as he later would say: "... apparently 'Somebody' was looking after me, because ..."

One day, Josef received a call from a Captain Herf Fitch who had graduated from Law School a year ahead of him. When Captain Fitch joined the Judge Advocate General's staff, he was sent to Washington, DC, and he wanted to stay on duty there. However, he had been notified that the Army was going to order him to be transferred back to Seattle to set up a new office to direct real estate acquisitions for the military in the Pacific Northwest. When Josef learned about this, he called Herf and said: "This is great. You stay in Washington DC and I'll take your job out here. At first, Herf said, 'We can't do that ...' But we did it."

Josef got orders cut for Captain Fitch to remain on the Judge Advocate General's staff in Washington, DC, and for himself to stay in Seattle and set up the new real estate office for the Army Corp of Engineers.

Chapter 45b -- The war finally takes Josef away from home

One day, Josef received orders for a change of assignments, telling him that he was to report to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah for a new duty assignment with the Judge Advocate General's office there.

This came as a big surprise, and one about which Josef was not pleased at all, for he was very content in his current assignment heading up the real estate department in Seattle for the Army.

Josef called his immediate superior at the District Corp of Engineers office in Portland, Oregon to ask what this was all about. The Colonel in charge of that office said that he didn't know anything about it and told Josef to just ignore the order. The Colonel did not want Josef transferred out of his command.

However, Josef also noticed his friend Captain Charles "Chuck" Carroll's name on these new orders, so he called Chuck to see what he might learn about all this. When Captain Carroll answered, before Josef could say anything, Carroll said: "Joe, I did you a favor the other day.

"The head of the Judge Advocate General's office was in Fort Lewis the other day telling about all the Judge Advocates in the Northwest he had under his command. I told him that he had overlooked you. I told him all about you and what a good officer you were, and where you were stationed."

With resignation, Josef just said: "Thanks, Chuck."

The result of Captain Carroll's "big favor" was that when the Judge Advocate Command found out about Josef, they ordered him transferred back into their command, because they didn't want to lose a good Judge Advocate to the Corp of Engineers.

A few days later, Josef's commanding officer in Portland called him back a few days later and said: "Sorry, Joe. I did everything I could for you but I cannot get those orders cancelled. You have to report to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City.

Josef asked when he would have to report.

The Colonel's reply came back: "Yesterday."

So, all this meant that, for the first time, Josef had to leave his wife and his two children and his home.

The new assignment at Fort Douglas would be reviewing Court Martial cases. This would be the first time that Josef ever got involved in criminal cases.

Chapter 46 -- Mr. Efficiency Expert - doing things by the numbers

At Fort Douglas, there were about 30 judge advocates all doing the same thing. In the military, every Court Martial case is automatically appealed and it is the Judge Advocate Command's responsibility to review every one of these cases on appeal and write an opinion either confirming or reversing each Court Martial.

The head of the the Judge Advocate Command at Fort Douglas was Colonel White. Colonel White personally reviewed and signed all of the appeal decisions. If he ever found something he didn't quite agree with, he would just change it.

What concerned Colonel White was not the decisions that had been made, but the language used in writing the decision letters. The Colonel had a certain way that he wanted everything stated, and if one of his Judge Advocates used a sentence or wording which the Colonel didn't like, then he would just change the sentence to suit his own style. This almost never affected the meaning or the intent of the opinions, but only the choice of words. The letters had to read the way the Colonel wanted them to read.

In those days, there were no tape recorders or court reporters who could take dictation, so the Judge Advocates had to write out everything in longhand and give those handwritten documents to clerks to be typed.

After this went on for a few weeks, Josef decided that there had to be a better way to do this than to keep writing all those letters in longhand.

So, he collected together a number of the letters which Colonel White had approved and went through them sentence by sentence, writing each sentence in longhand, and giving each sentence a number. Then Josef had his clerk type all this up. There were about 300 sentences numbered from 1 to 300.

After that, when Josef wrote his opinions, he would simply write number 7, number 20, number 30, etc. and his clerk would copy the sentences corresponding to each of these numbers.

One day, after Josef had put this procedure into action, he got a call from Colonel White who told him that he wanted to see Josef because he objected to the language used in one of the letters.

Josef said: "Colonel, that is your language. Here, let me show you."

So, Josef showed the Colonel what he was doing and the Colonel said: "OK. Forget it."

After that, all the rest of the lawyers also started using Josef's procedure, and that became standard procedure for reviewing Court Martial cases ... by the numbers.

Chapter 47 [Not finished] "Sorry Judge, you will have to move ..."

Chapter 48 [Not finished] Talk about a booming land business

* The Manhattan Project -- Josef knew about it before the bomb was dropped. (after all, he was responsible for acquiring the land where the project was to be developed)

Chapter 49 [Not finished] Settling the Score

* The Bethlehem Steel Case from WW-I

* The $5,000,000 Ford Motor Company tank that never got built.

Chapter 50 [Not finished] "Here, sign this General ... make it the law of the land."

* cutting through the red tape

* When a law isn't right, change it

I stayed in the Corp of Engineers until World War II was almost over. One day, I spoke with General Reibald, a three-star general who was Commander and Chief of Engineers. I asked him what he was going to do when he got out of the service. He said that he had a job lined up with the State of Delaware to build a bridge across the Delaware River. The only problem was, he was not going to be allowed to go to work for them until after he used up six months of active duty pay which he had accumulated for unused leave time because the law prevented him from drawing federal pay and state pay at the same time. The General said that he did not want to delay the project, that he would rather get busy building that bridge, but he just couldn't do it because he was forced to take off six months and do nothing.

I said, "General, if I fix it so you can draw both pay-checks at the same time, will you let me out at the same time you get out." He said, "I can't let you out. There will be more work for lawyers after the war than there is now ... cleaning up contracts and contract terminations legally, etc." And, he went on to say, you could not fix this problem anyway. You know that the law prohibits anyone from drawing two different government salaries at the same time. I said, "Well, we have nothing to lose by trying."

Two friends of mine from New York, Lew Cannick and Jess Wolf, went with me to the Library in the Judge Advocate General's office to see if we could find an solution to this problem. We wrote an opinion stating that the General could hold both of these jobs and draw pay from both the State and the Federal government at the same time and I took it to the Judge Advocate General and asked him to read it and to sign it. He said, "I wish that was the law, Joe, but it is not. You know better than that." I said, "It should be the law, shouldn't it?" He said, "Yes, certainly it should. There is no reason why somebody should be forced to sit around for six months doing nothing when they could be doing something productive. Eventually, they are going to get the same pay anyway. But that is not the way the law is written." So I said, "Well, just sign it and make it the law. You are the top lawyer in the United States. What you sign into law is the law." He said, "Oh no, the Controller General looks over everything we do." The Controller General reports to Congress and they criticize anything they see which is wrong, in their opinion." He said, "If the Controller General's office saw this, they would just raise Cain. I can't do that."

* Never give up, never give up

I said, "Well, General, I'll tell you what: I know the Controller General. They have been looking over my shoulder for years while I have been with the Corp of Engineers. Just sign this letter and let me get their OK on it before I release it." He said, "OK, Joe, I'll sign it under one condition ... that it will not leave your hands unless and until you get the Controller General to agree to it."

With that, this three-star General, signed the letter stating that another three-star General could get out of the Army and draw both paychecks. I then took Gus Wolf with me and we went to call on the Controller General. We met one of the aide's third or fourth down the line and I showed it to him and told him that I wanted him to approve it. He said, "You know I can't approve that, it's not the law." I said, "It ought to be the law and we can make it the law. Just approve it."

He said, "Let me take the letter and I'll talk to them and get back to you." I said, "There are two things wrong with that. I can't give you the letter because I have promised to hold onto it until it is signed. And second, I can't wait that long. You know what it says. I'll be back tomorrow morning for an answer." I went back the next morning and they had approved the letter. When I took it to General Ribald and showed him it was approved by the Judge Advocate General and by the Controller General, he was amazed.

Then I said, "Don't forget. You said that you would let me out when you get out." He said, "fine."

As the time drew near, I went in to see the General's assistant, a Brigadier General, and said, "There is supposed to be a letter from the General saying that I can go home in a few days." The General said, "Yes, I got it. But I'm not going to give it to you." I asked, "Why not?" He said, "Because I need you here." I said, "That letter from the Chief Engineer says that he is letting me out." The Brigadier said, "But he is only going to be the Chief Engineer for a few more days." I said, "Either you and I go to see him today while he is still the Chief of Engineers, or I will go to see him alone." So he said, "OK, here is your letter."

Chapter 5# [Not finished] Friendly persuasion ... do it or else

Chapter 5# [Not finished] The Legion of Merit Award - serving with distinction

[PHOTO REPRODUCE AWARD HERE]

Chapter 5# [Not finished] Colonel Diamond

From his cousin Esther Koolish:

When I was a secretary to the chief engineer in charge of construction in Alaska and Joe Diamond walked into the office, all the stenographers gasped. Joe was the handsomest man most of them had ever seen. And when he came over to talk to me, I became the envy of them all. But I couldn't keep up the delusion and finally had to admit that Joe was my cousin, though I will admit to receiving lots of perks in the hopes that I would bring him closer. He made the US Army uniform a heavenly sight. Joe has always been a charmer.

While supervising a staff of 200 lawyers and handling many hundreds of cases, Josef also learned a great deal about real estate as he helped the U.S. Army acquire land for a number of airfields throughout the country, including air strips at Moses Lake, Bellingham, and Arlington, Washington. For his distinguished military service, he received the Legion of Merit award.

Military, Active duty with U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corp, 1941-1946, US Army Reserve (Retired), U.S. Army Legion of Merit.

Thomas B. Brand, U.S. Army Colonel: We first met when Joe was a colonel and I was a lieutenant in the Army Judge Advocate General Reserve Corps. Joe was always a superior officer. I have never known the privilege of being on the same side in a legal matter nor the horror of being on the opposite side. Joe was kind enough to refer some legal matters to me, and in each case the matter was interesting and demanding, and I was always paid. This is real friendship between attorney's.

PART FOUR - THE DIAMOND EMPIRE

Chapter 53 [Not finished] Covering buttons ... "my first job" (at age eight)

Chapter 54 -- Parking - 10-cents-a-day

Although first and foremost a lawyer, Josef Diamond also achieved success in a multitude of different businesses. Of course, he gained some experience from a very early age working in his father's clothing manufacturing business. And then in 1922, Josef's older brother Louis started a business called the Auto Maintenance Company, and Josef was involved in this business from the very beginning, when he was a sophomore at Garfield High School.

Louis originally conceived this business as a service to provide vehicle upkeep and repairs for busy professional people. There were not many automobiles back in those days, except those owned by doctors who used them to make house calls. He rented a 60-foot lot on Fourth Avenue near the Seattle Medical-Dental Building and built an elevated rack onto which automobiles could be driven so they could be serviced more efficiently. This ingenious rack may have been the first-of-a-kind, at least it certainly was in Seattle. Louis and Josef could walk under the vehicles to do oil changes and other types of maintenance.

When the doctors began to park routinely on Diamond's lot, things began to get crowded. It seemed that the doctors preferred to have their cars parked on the Diamond lot rather than on the street, even though there was plenty of room on the street and no prohibitions against parking there. Such things as parking meters and parking tickets had not even been thought of in those days.

Then one day, a customer gave Louis a dime "for parking" to ensure that there would be a space for his automobile on the Diamond's lot. Suddenly, Louis realized that people would actually pay for a place to park and so he started charging ten-cents-a-day and quickly discovered that parking cars was more profitable than maintaining them. Therefore, he rented more lots and parked more cars and Diamond Parking was born.

Josef parked cars and pumped gas for his brother's growing business in order to put himself through the University of Washington and through law school. Many of the lots had a gasoline tank on wheels that was pulled from car to car to fill them with gasoline. Even after graduating and entering law practice, he continued working in the parking business until he went into the Army during World War II. Diamond Parking grew to 17 parking lots in downtown Seattle. But then in 1945, Louis wrote to Josef, who was on active duty in Washington D.C., to tell him that he was working himself to a frazzle because he could not find enough employees to man all the lots. He said that he was getting fed up with the business and wanted to close it up and retire. But, he said: "I'll keep the Company open for you if you want it when you come home."

Josef called his brother immediately to tell him that he did want the business and when he returned home in 1946 to resume his legal career, Louis turned the business over to him and retired. By that time, the business had dwindled to only four lots, but Josef merged those four lots with three service stations owned by his younger brother Leon and together, they began to rebuild and grow the Diamond Parking business.

In 1950, Josef joined the National Parking Association, serving on its Board of Directors for 25 years, two years as president.

Diamond Parking has grown enormously from its inception in 1922 to become the oldest independently owned parking business in the world.

In 1979, Leon retired and Josef's son Joel took over management and later became president of Diamond Parking. Josef has continued to play an active role in the Company's parking empire. Like his father, Joel has worked in the family business since he was in school. And today, Joel's son Jonathon is President of the family business.

Although parking operations have sometimes been criticized by the media and by politicians who have wanted their city governments to go into the parking business, Diamond Parking has consistently demonstrated that their highly efficient management of parking operation renders a valuable public service. Municipal governments usually have very high praise for Diamond's efficiency and effectiveness in managing parking operations. Josef believes private operators can manage parking operations better and much more efficiently than government.

For many years, the impounding and towing of cars for non-payment was a hot issue, but Diamond Parking actually discontinued that practice long ago. That enforcement method was replaced by a Diamond innovation which involved placing a payment envelope on vehicles with a telephone number to be called if further information is needed. If that notice fails to elicit the necessary payment, Diamond Parking attendants record the license numbers of offending vehicles. Then, if a pattern of non-payment becomes apparent, such vehicles may be impounded in place by attaching a 50-gallon oil barrel to a the vehicle door handle or to the bumper with another notice posted on the vehicle giving a telephone number to call for prompt assistance. That procedure is rarely used and customers are always given the benefit of doubt.

Even parking competitors have been complimentary of Diamond Parking. John Phillips, once president of Diamond's competitor, U-Park, has been quoted as saying that Josef Diamond "has been a reasonable competitor whom I think of as a pretty decent fellow." He also observes: "Josef is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week competitor." In response, Josef says: "Well, maybe seven days a week, but only 10 or 12 hours-a-day."

In its first 75 years, Diamond Parking grew to more than 900 parking locations. On any given day, Diamond Parking can park over 82,000 cars.

Parking rates are determined by competition and according to demand. If garages or lots are not at least 80 to 90% full, then the parking rates are deemed too high and are reduced. Property owners receive a percent of the parking revenues Diamond collects.

For years, many large parking operators have tried to buy Diamond Parking. But Josef says: "It has never been for sale because I want the business to remain in the family." Josef hopes that Diamond Parking will continue in the parking business as long as cars are parked.

Chapter 55 [Not finished] Pumping gas to fuel his education

Yes, when my older brother, Louis finished high school, he went into business in what he called, "The Auto Maintenance Company." He liked automobiles and although there were very few of them around, he knew a great deal about them, he decided that the doctors and other professional people who were using their cars in their businesses, that he would take care of their cars for them. So, he set up this business. He leased a place in downtown Seattle on Fourth Avenue. It was just an empty lot then. He built a rack so the car could be driven up on this rack and you could walk under it to drain the oil and lubricate it, etc. I think it may have been about the first thing of its kind. He solicited the doctors in the Medical-Dental Building, just a block away, to look after their cars for them. Now, while there was plenty of room on the streets to park these cars, the doctors seemed to prefer to leave their cars on the lot at the Auto Maintenance Company. There got to be so many cars, that Louis couldn't move the cars around to work on them. So, he started charging them 10 cents a day to leave their cars there. Well, that emptied the lot out a little bit so he was able to move around. From that, he discovered that he could make more money with less effort parking the cars for 10 cents a day than he could doing the maintenance work on the cars. So, that is how Diamond Parking was born. in 1922. From every evidence I can find from having been the president of the National Parking Association, an international operation, I believe it is the oldest parking company in the world. I know it is in one family. In 1922, I was a sophomore in high school and I had to work. My first job was when I was eight years old. Later I got a job when I was 14 in the Puget Sound News Company (which is a building I now own across from the Terminal Sales Building). But in 1922, I went to work for Louis after school and during the summers, pumping gas and parking cars. In those days, every parking lot would have a gas station, because couldn't make it with just parking, and you had to have an attendant because they didn't know how to operate without an attendant ... I'm not sure we know how, now, but we are doing it. So, I pumped gas and parked cars to put myself through school, with dad and mother's help.

Chapter 56 [Not finished] Louis: "I want to retire, do you want the business?"

Louis built the business up and was doing very well with it. Just before the war, he had 17 locations in Seattle. During the war, he was having a terrible time because his employees were all of draft age and he was losing them as fast as he could find new ones to hire. He had an office in the Lloyd Building and every morning, he would find out that one of his locations wasn't open because the lot attendant had left for the army or just didn't show up. He had been very successful in the parking business, in part by investing in a lot of real estate. I helped him a little bit, but he is really the one who did it. He built the first medical buildings in Seattle which he leased out to doctors. These were large, one-story medical centers. After the end of the war, he called me while I was in Washington D.C. and he said, "Joe, I'm not going to take this any more. Dorothy and I have no children and we are going to close up the Diamond Parking Business and forget it. If you want it, I'll keep it until you get home, and you should be hope pretty soon because the war is over now. If you tell me to hold it, I'll keep it open for you. Otherwise, we are going to close it up and quit." I asked him to hold on to it, that I did want it, and when I came home in the beginning of 1946, he turned Diamond Parking over to me. At that time, he only had 4-locations left, but he still had some contact with the 17 which he had operated, but had to give up because he couldn't keep them open. We took over the four locations and I had a younger brother, Leon, who had three gasoline stations which he owned and operated. I formed a partnership with Leon, later it became a corporation, and put Leon in charge of running Diamond Parking. We combined his three gasoline stations with the four parking lots and we were in the parking business. Today, we operate in 11 states and have about 1,000 parking facilities. Many of them are garages.

Chapter 57 -- Early morning weed pulling detail

Shortly after Diamond Parking moved to its Elliott Avenue address, one Saturday about 7:30 in the morning, John Phillips of U-Park, Inc., a competitor of Diamond Parking, observed a man in a suit bent over pulling weeds out of the catch basin. John described his observation this way:

"This conscientious diligence impressed me and I slowed down and craned my neck to see who this was. To my amazement, but not to my surprise, the early morning gardener was none other than Josef Diamond. Now, this may not be headline news, but it is noteworthy. It is an event that underlines the work ethic and attitude of a successful and admirable man. It exemplifies the qualities I admire in Josef Diamond ... doing whatever it takes to be a success, shirking not at the smallest task."

Like father like son: Josef's father had been a tailor most of his life, but then one day, after he had retired, Josef got the idea of hiring his father as a "consultant" to keep an eye on the parking. With a typical "old country" work ethic, Josef's father, who got up very early every morning at 4:00 or 5:00 am, went all over town checking the condition of Diamond's parking operations, pulling weeds, writing down notes on things needing attention, making sure the lots were clean, and (without making himself known to anyone) making sure that the attendants came to work on time.

Hard work, long hours, and attention to detail (even weed pulling), seem to go hand in hand in the lives of the extraordinarily successful.

One Friday afternoon at the start of a three-day Memorial Day weekend when downtown Seattle started to shut down mid-afternoon, Jim Daly of Rainier Bank recalls that he urgently needed to meet with Joe before the weekend. So, Jim went down to Josef's mostly deserted law offices about 4:30 in the afternoon, saw a light still on, and sure enough, found Joe still hard at work. Jim wasn't surprised.

He also remembers the time when he and his wife joined Joe and his wife for a dinner engagement. They parked on a Diamond parking lot, and as we started to walk to the restaurant, deep in conversation, they suddenly noticed that Joe was not with them. So, they retraced their steps and found Joe pulling grass and weeds which had grown up in the cracks of the concrete on the Diamond lot.

The three of them waited for "the gardener" to finish his chores, and then they all continued on their way. That's Joe Diamond. A man who earned the respect of the banking community as a lawyer, real estate investor, leader in the automotive parking and car rental business, merchant ... and parking lot gardener extraordinaire. A genuine Mensche!

Chapter 58 [Not finished] President of the National Parking Association

National Parking Association News Release June 7, 1962. Col. Josef Diamond, a prominent Seattle attorney, was unanimously elected by the NPA to serve as its president for 1962-1963 at recent meeting in Chicago. As President, represents a 4.75 billion dollar industry. Active in civic organizations, heart assoc, Century 21, Centtral Association of Seattle, Virginia Mason Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, Society of Military Engineers, American Legion. Chapter 59 [Not finished] Warehouse merchandising in the 1950's? The Gov-Mart Story

In 195_, Josef founded Gov-Mart, a warehouse operation catering to government employees. discount store owner, and operator involved in food, drugs, hardware, clothing, optical, furniture, jewelry, service station, appliances, radio and tv, oil heating, shopping centers, tires, batteries, auto accessories, Seattle Times July 20, 1966: "The Smartest Guy I Know" co-owner of Gov-Mart, then sold out to Baza'r about a year ago.

Having known and admired Josef since childhood, Jerry Alhadeff remembers Josef as a life-long family friend. Then in 1958, Jerry became engaged to Linda Shulman who lived next door to Joe, thus availing himself even more opportunities to visit Josef. As Jerry tells the story:

"I spent a lot of Sunday afternoons at Linda's house ... well, actually I spent 90-percent of the time at Joe's house, visiting with him in his den.

"One Sunday afternoon, Joe asked me if I would like to go to work for him and for my future father-in-law as a floor walker (trainee) at the Gov-Mart store which they were in the process of buying. Joe explained that I would be trained as the assistant manager for a new store to be built in south Tacoma, and he offered me a starting salary of $750.00 per month.

"At the time, I was working in our family seafood business for a salary of $450.00 per month. I had recently requested a raise, but was promptly told that I was not worth the salary I was already being paid.

"I asked Joe's permission to discuss his offer with my father. My father's response was that Joe was crazy to make such an incredible offer to me, but that I should take the offer.

"Shortly after I reported for work, through a bizarre series of events, I became the manager of the new Tacoma Gov-Mart store. Diamond and Shulman enjoyed tremendous success with the Gov-Mart business.

"Then one day, I received a call from Joe inviting me to go with him on a business trip to San Francisco to a convention of discount department store owners from all over the country. Joe had planned to take his wife on this trip, but she had suddenly become ill, so he invited me to accompany him on very short notice.

"I quickly gathered a file drawer full of documents to prepare myself for the trip, and met Joe at the plane. Upon arriving at the Fairmont Hotel registration desk, an enthusiastic young executive with arms loaded, eager to get to my first meeting, Joe said: 'Relax, have a good time, I will see you in a couple of days.'

"I attended a couple of sessions and found them to be a complete waste of time, so Joe and I spent the remaining hours together, discussing parking lots, parking lot equipment, and real estate.

"Joe has been a wonderful mentor, an unbelievable motivator, and most important, a close friend. Many years and many deals after Gov-Mart, we became partners in numerous small ventures. And then, on one very special day, Joe called me and said:

"'I heard you were going to Chicago on a business trip. There is a pretty lady in Chicago I would like you to take to dinner.' That pretty lady picked me up and we had a delightful evening together. It wasn't long after, that Muriel Bach, whom I met that evening, became Mrs. Josef Diamond."

Chapter 60 [Not finished] Founding Northwest Bank

Chapter 61 -- "I don't want to be in the rent-a-car business"

At the time the Seattle World's Fair ended in 1961, there was a double-corner lot at Eighth and Pike in Seattle which Josef wanted to buy. He relates the story this way:

"This property was owned by a friend of mine, David Litvin. I had known Dave for some time and thought that he might be interested in selling his land and buildings, so I approached him about it.

"The property had a row of one-story buildings facing Pike Street which were all rented out to a variety of different businesses. One of these businesses was Seattle U-Drive, a rent-a-car business also owned by David. In the back of the building was a garage for the rental cars. Dave had been in the car rental business since 1928 in the Windsor Hotel. I think he started his U-Drive business before anybody else was in that business, except perhaps Hertz who was probably first in the business.

"When I approached David about buying his real estate, I told him that I would leave the retail stores in place, but I would plan on turning the car rental business into a parking lot until we could build a big building there. When I discussed this with Dave, he said: 'Yes, Joe. I'll sell my property to you ... but only if you also buy Seattle U-Drive'."

Josef said: "Dave, I don't want to be in the rent-a-car business ... I don't know anything about that business and I have no interest in it. I don't know what I would do with it. I have enough to do with my law practice and running the parking business."

Dave replied: "Well, if you will buy everything, then my wife and I are going to retire and move to Hawaii. But if you don't buy everything, you don't buy anything." Then Dave thought for a minute and said: "I'll tell you what: Somebody you know in the parking business, John Cain, told me that he was interested in getting into the U-Drive business. Why don't you talk to him?"

Josef did talk with John Cain and they came to an understanding which would allow Josef to purchase David Litvin's real estate which he wanted ... even though it meant he would also acquire the Seattle U-Drive business which he really did not want.

However, Josef always looked at every challenge as an opportunity, so he was now planning to spin-off the rent-a-car business into a separate corporation with John Cain. All of a sudden, Josef ended up in the rent-a-car business, as he said, "... whether I wanted to or not."

Chapter 62 -- A 50-50 business ... and: "I'll loan you the money for your half."

Now, that Josef was committed to embarking upon the rent-a-car business, he was eager to set up an arrangement which would ensure its success.

They determined that Seattle U-Drive was worth $50,000, taking into consideration the 17 used automobiles that came with the business. Since John Cain didn't have any money to put into the business, Josef said:

"John, I will put up the entire $50,000 for this business. I will loan you the money for your half, so I will own half and you will own half."

Then John said: "Now, I'm going to run this business, is that right."

Josef said: "That's right, John. You are going to run it."

And John said: "And you are going to be president, right?"

Josef said: "No, John, I am not going to be president. You are going to be president."

Of course, that really pleased John, and that was exactly what Josef intended. Because he wanted John to be pleased and to be successful with the operation.

Then John asked: "Well, am I going to get a salary?"

Josef said: "John, if the business makes any money, you should certainly get a salary because you are going to be working there and taking care of it."

John said: "Well, how much salary?"

Josef said: "You set your own salary, but set it on a basis that the salary is only paid if the business makes enough money to pay that salary. I don't want to feed it if it doesn't."

John said he wanted a salary of $600 per month, but Josef said to him:

"No, John, I'm not going to pay you $600 per month. I'm going to pay you $1,000 per month. But I just want you to know that if the business makes it, then you are going to get that salary. But if it doesn't, you are just going to take all of the profit that it does make, and that is all ... up to $12,000 per year. Then, when the business is making money and if you want more than $12,000 per year salary, then for every dollar you take over $12,000 per year, I'm going to get a dollar."

John asked: "Does that mean that you are not going to get a salary?"

Josef replied: "No, I am not going to get a salary. But for every dollar over the 12,000 that you take, I'm going to get a dollar."

John thought that arrangement was just great, and that is how they started business together with 17 used automobiles.

Chapter 63 -- "17 used cars and four terrific employees ..."

John Cain had an outgoing personality and Josef knew that his enthusiasm and his devotion to the rent-a-car business were key ingredients that would make the business successful. That is why he wanted to establish an arrangement with John which would ensure that John would always retain that positive enthusiasm for their business, that would ensure that he would continue to work hard to keep the business successful.

So, when Josef acquired Seattle U-Drive, he got a fleet of 17 used cars and, best of all, four terrific employees!

John Cain, John Pierre, Hank Ader, and Burnett "Sammy" Sams). One of the essential principles of success in business which Josef realized very early in his business career was this priceless gem: "Good people make good business."

Although John Cain knew nothing about the rent-a-car business when they started out, he was motivated to apply himself to the task enthusiastically, and he learned quickly and was driven to make the business succeed. He took care of the day-to-day operations, watching every penny, but going along with Josef's expansion program and desire to make the company grow.

That is what makes a quality business: Individuals who are driven to make the enterprise succeed.

John Cain and John Pierre, in particular, were two employees who made the difference between success and failure in the rent-a-car business and they both stayed with the business throughout Josef's involvement in that business. Together, they saw Seattle U-Drive through the transition into Budget Rent a Car of Washington and Oregon and the enormous success which followed that development.

In 1988, John Cain passed away. John Pierre had worked for Seattle U-Drive from before Josef and John Cain took over the Company until his retirement in 1990. John Pierre remembers his long association with Josef with great relish. He says:

"Joe didn't want his name associated with that business until he was quite sure that our honor and integrity were such that he would have no reason to be ashamed of the operation. Later, when the company became a Budget Rent a Car franchise, the entire enterprise became one of the great loves of his life.

"Personally, I would have been willing to pay for the fantastic education which Joe gave me in so many, many relaxed sessions we had together in which Joe addressed every subject from law to real estate to managing operations.

"The most important principle I picked up from him was this gem: "Any business can be a successful business if you have good people ... and any business will be a bad business with the wrong people."

"Once Joe was having a discussion with one of our managers who was arguing that a certain location could not be profitable. The manager argued: 'How can we possibly operate it at a profit?' Joe replied: 'Simple. Just take in more than you pay out.'

"I always found it to be rather special that Joe enjoys just about nothing in the world more than a simple McDonald's hamburger ... with a whole ton of ketchup. He likes ketchup on everything. I once chided him saying that I wouldn't be surprised to see him put ketchup on ice cream. He looked up, almost with a hurt expression, and said: 'Doesn't everyone?'

"Joe was the most listened to voice in the entire Budget Rent a Car System, and he became the Chairman of the Licensee Advisory Board. Just being associated with Josef Diamond gave me special respect and recognition among my peers throughout the entire country.

"But even more than all that, I have always appreciated his friendship. He is the most tender and loving man I have ever met.

"The world needs more like him."

Chapter 64 -- From Seattle U-Drive to Budget Rent a Car

About six months after acquiring Seattle U-Drive, and at the same time that Josef was president of the National Parking Association, he was approached by Jules Lederer (the husband of advice columnist Ann Landers) who had started Budget Rent a car. Lederer wanted Diamond Parking to put his Budget Rent a Car franchises on all of Diamond's parking lots. He also wanted Josef, as head of the National Parking Association, to sell this idea to all the other large parking business owners.

Josef told Lederer that he would be interested in a franchise with Budget, however, he said: "I already have a rent-a-car business, Seattle U-Drive."

Lederer said: "You can't have both."

Josef immediately responded, "Then I can't have Budget, because Seattle U-Drive is more important to me than Budget. You are just starting up and Seattle U-Drive is a well established business which goes back to 1928. It is well known and we just can't give that up."

Lederer insisted that in order to have a Budget franchise, Josef would have to enter into an exclusive arrangement with Budget. Josef rejected that proposal.

A few years later, though, in 1962, Josef finally did negotiate the purchase of both Washington's and Oregon's Budget Rent a Car franchises and he merged them with his Seattle U-Drive operation. This is how it happened:

Two young fellows had bought the Budget franchise for the Seattle World's Fair. Right after the fair ended, Josef was in New York for some National Parking Association business and he met Jules Lederer again. This time, Josef made a deal with Lederer to purchase the Budget Rent a Car franchise from the two young fellows who had previously owned the franchise for just the one year of the fair.

How do you lose money on a rent-a-car franchise during a world's fair?

It seems that the two young fellows had put in $50,000 between them when they bought the Budget franchise for the world's fair ... but then they had lost $5,000 during the fair. That seemed rather surprising to Josef because they should have been making money and not losing money, especially during the excellent opportunity which the world's fair presented.

In any case, their Budget franchise had actually declined in value to only $45,000 and they were very happy to sell out their franchise for that figure and walk away from the Budget Rent a Car operation if they could get $45,000 of their investment back and take only a $5,000 loss.

About six-months later, Josef also purchased the Budget franchise for the State of Oregon, as well.

Seattle U-Drive had started with just 17 cars. As Budget Rent a Car of Washington and Oregon, Inc. the operation grew to more than 4,500 vehicles ... and Josef held the Budget franchise in Washington and Oregon for 30-years. After John Cain died and all the other shareholders insisted on selling the business, Josef negotiated its sale for $26 million dollars.

Chapter 65 [Not finished] The Chairman of the Budget Rent a Car advisory committee.

At the first meeting of the Budget Rent a Car Advisory Board attended by a friend of Josef's, Aaron Ferer, in a private meeting before the official sessions, Aaron to observed one of the Budget officials 'coming off the wall' ... having what seemed like a major fit. Aaron exclaimed that he had never seen anything like this before. It seems that this individual was speaking to the president of Budget Rent a Car as though he was some kind of mobster. Aaron described the scene this way:

"I thought there was going to be blood on the floor or someone thrown out of a window. But then I noticed Joe sitting there calmly taking this all in as though it was just routine. But I was worried and looking to Joe for some kind of guidance. Finally, Joe said a few words and the whole situation began to calm down.

"That was the first time I ever saw the "Great Negotiator" in action, and I was impressed. Later, I learned that these other two men apparently went through this same kind of routine all the time.

"As a young man, I was very impressionable because these other three individuals were all bigger than life to me. Since that time, Josef has become one of my dearest friends ... someone whose friendship I cherish.

On May 10, 1980, Josef gave a speech at the second annual meeting of his Budget of Washington-Oregon organization:

"First, I want to thank to all of you here for being good business people, representing good management and good relationships with customers. You are people who care about Budget, its progress and its future. You care about Budget customers. I know that, because Budget has been successful, and that is due to your efforts, know-how, and willingness to dedicate yourself to Budget.

Today, Budget Rent a Car operates about 1900 cars and trucks in its Rent a Car/Truck department, about 900 cars under its lease program, and has over 170 cars for sale. That's more than 3,000 vehicles.

Budget WA/OR does an annual gross business in excess of $12,000,000. It operates in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima, Bellingham, Olympia, Everett, Pasco, Bellevue, Bremerton, and Auburn in the State of Washington. Also in Portland, Medford, and Eugene in Oregon.

Our business is successful. It has grown tremendously. Not because we are in the rent a car business or the lease business or sell cars and trucks, but because of you - good people devoted to doing a good job for Budget. If not for you, this progress would never have been accomplished.

It's a good start, an excellent start, but really only the beginning. As Budget gets bigger and better, it can only do so with you people making it possible. You, too, progressing with the Company - we shall all progress together and there is lots of room for improvement.

With all of our present growth, at the airports, we do less than 1/3 of the business that Hertz does in the airports. We do approximately one-half the business that Avis does in the airports. We have been gaining on National and we are doing almost as much as National.

We should be doing at least as much as Avis, and before long, we will. We offer equal cars and services. Budget has everything to offer that each of the big three rent-a-car companies have, and in some respects more.

Our equipment is every bit as good.

Our rates are better, though because of increasing costs, we are having trouble keeping our discount image. We will, however, continue to maintain our discount image, and keep our rates below the rates of the big three. We must.

Our service is better because we have better employees. More interested employees and operators.

We offer free parking at Diamond parking lots which no other rent a car company has available.

We have Sears Rent a car and Sears has over 24,000,000 credit cards. What a great contact for our Budget operations.

It is a matter of letting the world know what we have to offer, and then making sure that we give our customers every courtesy and the best of service, cleaner cars, and special attention. We should handle and carry our customers luggage for them. We should open car doors. We should address our customers by name and be sure we let them know, as our advertising says, that they are Number 1.

There is plenty of room for new locations ... not only in cities in which we are presently operating, but in cities we have not yet opened up, such as Vancouver, Wenatchee, Walla Walla, Aberdeen, and Hoquiam in Washington plus Bend, Klamath Falls, Pendleton, Corvalis, and Beaverton in Oregon. What an opportunity we have to grow. Not only is there an increased demand for rent a car and rent a truck, but we are entitled to and should have a much larger share of the existing market. Because we are offering more to the customer.

From 17 vehicles in 1961, to over 3,000 vehicles in 1980 - 19 years later, I think is an excellent beginning. This was accomplished with good people - those we started with, and you people here today who came after and did the job for Budget.

A few thousands gross business in 1961 and over $12,000,000 gross business in 1980. A good start.

How did we get there? Our people recognized that we needed two things for the rent a car business to grow. We needed to get in the airport where most of the rent a car customers were, and when we couldn't get in the airport, we got right next to the airport where we made our business grow. Then later, when we could with a little pressure, we moved into the airport itself.

We also recognized that to expand, we needed to have rent a trick and lease a car and a special department to sell cars. We moved in those directions, and we now have an excellent rent a truck operation, and excellent lease a car operation under Walt Nolan, and a special department selling cars, also under Walt.

At the same time, we recognized the need for a national image with a national reservation system. We couldn't do that with Seattle U-Drive. What we needed was Budget Rent a car.

How we got Budget Rent a car may be interesting. Jules Lederer (Mr. Ann Landers) had started Budget Rent a Car in California about the time we acquired Seattle U-Drive. He was selling franchises, and had sold a franchise to some people in Seattle. He was looking for additional franchise operators all over the country, and felt that those people in the garage and parking business all over the United States were good prospects to run a Budget Rent a Car, and so he approached the National Parking Association. As President of the National Parking Association, that brought Jules Lederer in touch with me, and he wanted my help to encourage parking people to go into the rent a car business.

I knew we needed and wanted Budget Rent a Car in Seattle and the State of Washington, but he wouldn't sell it to us and give us a franchise because we had Seattle U-Drive, and his policy was to not permit both operations. I made no progress in discussing the matter with him.

Not long after finding out that it was possible to buy the Budget franchise for in the State of Washington, I was in New York at the Plaza Hotel with Bill Barr, Executive Director of the National Parking Association on parking business. I found that Jules Lederer was also there trying to work Bill Barr and me over to making some overtures and leads to parking operators for him. After two days of New York whiskey and late hours and furnishing Jules with leads to other parking operators, I came away with a consent from Jules to transfer the Budget license to Seattle U-Drive.

We could still operate under both names - Seattle U-Drive and Budget Rent a Car. The first 68 cars that we rented and carried in the fleet would be free of any franchise fee obligation. After the first 68 cars, we would pay a franchise fee on all cars, whether used in the Seattle U-Drive fleet or the Budget Rent a Car fleet. That arrangement continues to this day, giving us 68 cars free of any franchise fee to Budget, although we have long since stopped using the name Seattle U-Drive, though for sentimental reasons, we still carry the name on the office door. Actually, Seattle U-Drive was formed in 1928, one of the oldest U-Drive companies around, and as I pointed out to Jules in New York, had a better name in the State of Washington, at least, than Budget.

At the time we bought Seattle U-Drive, and I bought the real estate from David Litvin, Seattle U-Drive was located in the building paying $500 a month rent, and John Cain was concerned when we set up Seattle U-Drive as a separate operation that I would eventually destroy the building for parking and there would be no place for Budget to operate. I asked John what he wanted in the way of a lease, and he said "five years", and we agreed on a five-year lease. I asked him what he wanted to pay in the way of rent for the five years, and he stipulated the same rent - $500 that had been paid and we agreed on that. John wanted to know who was going to run the rent-a-car business and I told him that John was - it was his responsibility. He then wanted to know what salary he would get and when he suggested a salary, I increased it by half again as much, and said that was his salary for running Seattle U-Drive, provided it made enough profit to pay that salary. He then wanted to know what my position and salary would be. I told him that I would be secretary of the company and did not want any salary.

I did point out, however, that thereafter, he could fix his own salary whenever he wanted to fix it, provided there was money to pay it and provided further that every time he increased his salary by $1, I would then receive $1 to match that increase. That arrangement has worked in good stead for me for these many years.

After we bought Budget, John came to me and suggested that we now had two downtown offices and we didn't need two downtown offices, but that the Budget office at Virginia and Westlake was the better of the two offices and he wanted to move to the one office. I reminded him that he wanted and got a five-year lease, but after worrying him a little, I did cancel the lease, and eventually destroyed the building where there is now a Diamond Parking location.

Budget was on its way with a good downtown location, and with the help of good devoted supervisors and managers and employees. We have the world ahead of us. $12,000,000 gross business today with 3,000 vehicles. But with your help, there is room for great improvement. While we can't hope to catch up with Hertz now, we should before long be able to match Avis in dollar volume and in the number of cars we operate in our area. We have everything to offer that Hertz and Avis offer, and in many respects we have more. They don't have free parking, and they don't have Sears Rent a Car with 24 million credit cards and the reliability of Sears tied to Budget. we have better people, and we are going to catch up. There is lots of room for us at the top.

Chapter 66 [Not finished] Confronting the lion in his den

Chapter 67 [Not finished] Grizzly bear or Teddy bear?

Chapter 68 [Not finished] Mr. Innovator

* Directorships, real estate, and other business interests

An article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer once stated: "Any large real estate deal in downtown Seattle probably winds up on Joe Diamond's desk."

Josef has invested in real estate, construction, shopping malls, a silver mine, banking, and oil exploration. In Seattle, he owns all or part of the Terminal Sales Building, the Diamond Building, and the Electric City Building, and the Cinerama Theater (among others): in Bellevue, the former Old National Bank Building; in Spokane, the AMEAC Building; in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the Coeur d'Alene Plaza Apartments; in Beaverton, Oregon, Cascade Square; and also many properties in Anchorage, Alaska.

With vast experience in business law and in real estate, Josef has served on more than 30 corporate boards of directors, including Northwest Bank which he founded and their successor, Old National Bank, on which boards he served for 25 years. He is also on the Board of Directors of West Coast Hotels, Inc.

Chapter 69 [Not finished] Make employees feel important, part of the family

* keep them informed ... also a paragraph on Actionline

Do unto others the way you would have others do unto you

Another marvelous hall-mark of this great gentle man is the loyalty which he has elicited from people who work for him ... from his personal secretaries to the many top executives who have managed various business ventures for him for more than six-decades. Josef's philosophy is simple: "Treat employees the way you would want to be treated. Treat them as equals. Treat them with fairness. Make sure that people are well informed and that they like what they are doing."

Josef believes that for a secretary or for any employee to like what they are doing, they need to know what they are doing and why they are doing it. He says, "If a secretary is just typing a letter and it doesn't mean anything to them, that is a problem. But if they understand why we are writing this letter and why I am expressing thing a certain way and why I am taking certain positions, then they can do a much better job." He has always encouraged people to ask any question they want to ask. If they don't understand a letter or a contract or why he is doing whatever he is doing, in any situation, he wants the people who work with him to ask questions so they can understand. It is terribly important for people to understand why they are doing whatever they are doing.

Of course, he also emphasizes that legal business is usually very confidential and is not to go outside of the firm's private offices, but all the people who are directly involved in doing the work, to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it.

Josef encourages his secretaries to read all of the mail that comes to him because, he insists, there is nothing that comes into his office through the mail which is to be kept confidential from those who work directly with him. He encourages them to read it and ask him any question they might want to ask about it. He treat his employees as part of his own family, because they are.

As a result, the people who work with Josef take an interest in what they are doing and they are always ready, willing, and able to help.

Many times, he gives correspondence to his private secretary, saying, "Answer this for me and then let me see it." He can do that because those who work directly with him are kept so well informed and made a part of every project. "But," he insists, "I read every letter that is written for me before I sign it ... and no letter ever goes out of my office without my reading it all the way through from beginning to end."

PART FIVE - THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS Chapter 70 [Not finished] Simple rules -- profound impact

Chapter 71 [Not finished] "I have always tried do what I feel is right"

Josef's success in getting the DeFunis case brought before the Supreme Court of the United States and ultimately achieving a landmark decision of great proportions was due both to Josef's skill and to his conviction for fairness, according to Patricia Cavendar. Josef's dedication to fairness has been and continues to be a source of inspiration to many people. Symbolic of this, Patricia goes on to descibe a touching memorial to Josef's convictions:

"Once when I stopped by to see Josef, he invited me to choose a flower from his garden. I selected a white rose. Josef removed the thorns for me. I still have that rose standing straight and tall (as a dried flower) where I dress in the morning ... and I always remember his words: 'Be fair and strong.'

"Sometimes it takes a lot of strength to be fair."

Chapter 72 [Not finished] How to know the difference between right and wrong.

One of Josef Diamond's succinct principles offers a clear, simple way that anyone, adults as well as children, can easily tell the difference between what is "right" and whatever may be "wrong." He says: "Never do anything you are not willing to have the whole world know about. If you are willing to tell the whole world what you have done, then it is probably right. But if you would be embarrassed or ashamed to tell the whole world, then it is usually wrong."

Of course, he acknowledges, there are private and sometimes highly personal and sometimes confidential business matters which anyone might not want to tell the world about, not because they involve "right" or "wrong," but simply because of their private or confidential nature, but

How to know the difference between right and wrong

It is very simple to know. If you are willing to tell the world what you did, honestly, and you wouldn't worry if it got into the newspapers ... then don't worry about it. You are in the right. But if you are concerned that somebody might find out and you don't want anybody to know what you did or what you said, then it must be wrong.

Now, it could be something that is right, but you don't want to tell the world about it just because it is a private matter. Of course, we all have some private things which we don't want to broadcast to the world, but it isn't anything that you are ashamed of. So, the easy answer, particularly for children, is: If you are willing to tell your mother and your dad and your friends what you did, then it must be all right. Don't worry about it.

Chapter 73 [Not finished] The Clean Desk

Josef's secretaries, and he has had many good ones over 65 years, have always been rather surprised at the fact that, when he quits work to go home at the end of each day, his desk is always clean.

You can go into many people's offices and see piles of papers all over the place, even stacked around on the floor. Not in Josef's office. He will not leave the office until the top of my desk is clear.

Sometimes, he confesses that he just puts some things in his out-basket for his secretary to put away ... and then asks for the same item the next day. But it has always been a priority to him to "clear the deck" and not leave it all cluttered up.

* His secretary once said: How could any client have confidence in a lawyer so disorganized as to have piles of paper all over his desk?

Assistant Attorney General Doug Hartwich of the Washington State Department of Highways called on Josef at his office in the Exchange Building back in 1958 to negotiate the purchase of one of his downtown properties for the freeway. Doug remembers Josef's office having beautiful wood paneling, deep-pile carpets, and large impressive desks ... his own being the largest desk Doug had ever seen. He recalls: "Joe was seated behind his desk and I don't remember him smiling much when I mentioned the State's offer. Without any doubt, Joe is one of the most effective settlement negotiators I have ever encountered."

As a young attorney with Diamond & Sylvester, Robert Hibbs remembers Josef's office was at the end of the hall in the corner of the building with windows on two sides of his office. Robert remembers: "Outside the windows was a wide ledge which was home to many pigeons and sea gulls. Joe would open his window and feed bread to the sea gulls and Joe and the gulls got to know each other quite well.

"Often when the gulls felt that they had not been fed enough, they would screech loudly and even pound on Joe's window and flap their wings. Many times meetings in Joe's office regarding the fate of large properties or businesses in Seattle or in the nation had to be interrupted so Joe could appease his pecking, flapping, screeching friends on the ledge outside."

Chapter 74 [Not finished] Taking time for people ... time to listen

[Italic quote:] "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

What's the rush?

Is there any doubt that there are very, very few people who have accomplished more during their life than Josef Diamond? And yet, it is noteworthy that he has almost never, if ever, been observed to be in a rush or to rush anybody else.

He says: "I try to not rush into things. I do have a time-schedule ... and I do put in lots of hours ... but when clients come to me and have a problem, I never tell them that they have 10-minutes to tell me their story. I don't that is right or proper. I think you have to take the time to listen and digest and understand what people are saying and what their position is and understand the problem they are facing before you can begin to think about what might need to be done. If you are in a rush, then you are not going to do the job right."

A friend, Leslie Cook, relates this touching story: "When I lost my step-father who had raised me, and then my husband left me and I was feeling very low, Josef and Muriel invited me to dinner at their home. Joe began telling stories about his boyhood and his roots in Russia and I became so involved in his stories that I totally forgot my own pain and I had a wonderful evening for the first time in months. Josef's stories made me realize that, with effort, no obstacle is insurmountable. His life certainly proves that.

Jim Daly of Rainier Bank remembers Josef as not only a hard worker, but a great listener and someone who was always eager to help young business men. In several situations, Joe's advice, financial help, and recommendations assisted several small companies to grow. Jim says: "I especially remember the kindness he showed to a former law client who was in desperate straits, both financially and emotionally, and in very poor health. I noticed a letter in our credit reference files at the bank on Diamond thanking Joe for his help." Josef has always been the quintessential Good Samaritan.

On being accessible

Today, many people try to insulate themselves from the rest of the world with layers and layers of secretaries and assistants. But when you call Josef Diamond, most of the time, you will be shocked to discover that the voice on the other end of the phone is ... Josef Diamond. He answers his own telephone. And, he is always polite in doing so.

If he is in conference or legitimately unavailable, leave a message for him and you will receive a return phone call ... from him ... usually the same day.

Call to make an appointment and you may be shocked to discover that he is surprisingly accessible ... not only to the people he knows, but even to complete strangers.

* when business conditions deteriorated, he forgave my rent payments until the business recovered
* he has touched so many lives ...
* Doing charitable good works without fanfare.
National Jewish Hospital and Research Center - Dinner chairman
First Vice President Virginia Mason Research Center

* The incident which touched his secretary most was the letter from Josef's cousin whose husband was terminally ill. She had only casually mentioned to Josef that the medical bills were piling up; and later when going to make payment, discovering that Josef had already paid the bill. He had never said a word to anyone about having done so.

Chapter 75 [Not finished] Taking time to think and digest

* Somers: "I have never seen you in a hurry."

Chapter 76 [Not finished] One subject per letter

* Stay focused, one thing at a time, and finish it

* Concentrating completely on the matter at hand

Business letters with more than one subject.

The best way to answer that is that the best way to write a letter is to clearly identify the subject matter of that letter. Now, you don't have three subjects. You only have one, and that is the subject of the letter. When my secretary has a copy of that letter and it has an "In RE ... subject" then she knows where to file it. But if that letter has three or four different subjects, then how do you know where to file it? I get many letters that have four or five subjects in one letter ... I don't know what to do with it. Now, I tell my secretary to make five copies and file it under each subject, which is nonsense.

Chapter 77 [Not finished] Answer your own phone -- return every call in a timely manner

"I really do get quite upset when I leave phone calls for people and they don't return them. When I write letters and I don't receive a reply. That is not right and that is upsetting to me." He says, "I return every phone call, even if I know that it is somebody soliciting business or that it involves something that doesn't really interest me. I answer every letter, without fail, and I always try to do it within a reasonable time."

Chapter 78 [Not finished] "You have to be able to admit it when you are wrong."

Chapter 79 [Not finished] Profanity is ignorance made audible

Josef has often said: "Profanity is not taught in any school. You don't need it to make yourself understood."

After nine years of working with him, his secretary Judy Ann Moulton says that she heard Josef use a cuss word on only two occasions. Once he said "damn," and one other time (when he was the most furious she ever saw him) he said to someone: "You are dishonest and a lying [expletive deleted]." One shudders to imagine the seriousness of the offense which would have prompted such a rebuke from this supremely restrained gentleman.

There is an old proverb which says: "Speak softly and carry a big stick." In Josef's case, the proverb might better be expressed this way: "Speak softly and make yourself understood with simple, plain, respectful language." If the words that come out of a person's mouth accurately reflect what is inside, then Josef Diamond's thoughtful and respectful speech is a further confirmation that there is no vileness in him. In today's often disgustingly foul-mouthed society, it is refreshing to hear anyone speak without having to resort to four-letter words to try to make their point.

Josef observes that he spent seven years in college, and he was never taught a single word of profanity. He says, "I don't know that anyone needs profanity to express themselves. I think you can make yourself understood perfectly well without any profane words. Profanity offends me. I don't like it."

Take a lesson, world.

Chapter 80 [Not finished] Pet peeves

* lawyers bouncing from firm to firm

* He will not hire anyone who was presently employed by another law firm.

That is just an idiosyncrasy of my own. If a secretary is working for another law firm, whether I knew that law firm or not ... in the early days, I knew every law firm in Seattle ... but if a secretary is already working for another law firm, that is the first thing I ask her, is if she is working for someone else. I would say, I'm sorry, but I can't talk to you, even if I needed you, I wouldn't talk to you unless you were out of a job and needed work. If she balked at that, I would say, is it all right if I call your law office if I can interview you for a job. If they balk at that, then I am not interested in talking to them. Good secretaries are very hard to get, but I think it is wrong ... and yet, I have a hard time justifying my own view of this matter, because if that same secretary came to me from some other business, not a law firm, and she was already employed by that other business, I would not hesitate to interview her or hire her if she was the right person for the position. But if she came to me from another law office I would not hire her. That is just the way I look at things in this profession. I would not hire someone away from another law firm.

Today, you find what never occurred in the past, is lawyers moving from one law office to another, even partners moving from one law office to another. I wouldn't hire a partner out of another law office. That is just wrong, as far as I am concerned. Unless you could call up and ask them, would it be all right with you if we were to hire John Smith, your law partner, and take him into our office. I just think that is wrong. This is just my own policy.

[Not finished] "Treat others as you would like to be treated"

Chapter 82 [Not finished] Any business can be successful if you have good people

and any business will be a bad business with the wrong people.

"Good people make good business, no matter what it is and bad people make bad business, whether you are running a bank or selling shoestrings.

When I talk about good people or bad people, I am talking really about competent people on the basis of honesty, ability, desire, dedication, and a willingness to devote oneself to the business, and a willingness to work hard.

The right kind of management and any business is good, and bad management in whatever business you are in is bad business.

Open, honest, and fair treatment of customers and suppliers, as well as all other people you deal with, bankers, salesmen, professional people like lawyers and accountants is essential. Fair dealing is the most important factor to be successful in business."

Chapter 83 [Not finished] You must like what you are doing.

Josef down plays his success, saying: "Things have broken right for me ..."

The secret to success, he says, is in doing something that one likes. "That is what people have to learn. I tell people all the time: If you have a job and you don't like it, try something else."

Josef Diamond has always preferred to be known first, last, and always as an attorney, because that is what he likes doing most. He never considered retiring because he enjoys working, solving problems, being with people, and especially negotiating.

Chapter 84 [Not finished] Taking into account a client's ability to pay

* Helping Marco DeFunis all the way to the Supreme Court for no pay
(and winning because it was right)

Josef never charged a fee for his work or even for his expenses in connection with the DeFunis case. (Details of this case are in Chpt 26)

* Suing a client to collect $25,000 for a day's work
(and winning because it was right)

I like to accomplish for my clients what I think is right and fair

No use billing somebody or trying to collect if they can't pay, anyway.

If the established laws do not support that position, then I think I can make the law to support the right position. In this case, Marco was not being treated right and fairly.

When somebody comes in and talks to me about a matter, I have never asked whether or not the client could pay for the legal work. My concern is whether the client is right or wrong and whether the client should get the relief. If I think he is right, then I think the law will support that position. So, in talking to him and hearing his side of the story, the only real problem, in my mind, is trying to determine whether the client is lying to me or telling me the truth. Assuming that he is telling me the truth, then I can usually tell whether he should be helped or shouldn't be helped. If he should be helped, then I want to help him and I try to get it done. If he is wrong and his claim is not meritorious, then that is something else again. The law is not always so clear-cut that you can always find the answer to anything. In almost any question, you can look in the books until you can find cases going both ways on it. So, I start with the idea, is this person right? Are they entitled to what they are asking for. If they are, then I will find some law to support it ... or else I will make a new law to achieve the right objective.

Chapter 85 [Not finished] "Can we award Mr. Diamond more than he asked for?"

Chapter 86 [Not finished] Muriel's insights on Josef's patience, endurance, incredible mind, and helping others

M: You are a very private person, and therefore, one doesn't always become aware of your wonderful patience, and endurance, and your incredible humor.

I will never forget the time I first discovered this wonderful mind and attitude and heart that you have ... when a relative of mine called from Chicago in a state of utter hysteria and I said, wait, let me have you talk to Joe and within five minutes, you had everything resolved and we haven't heard from him since.

a lot of people are not aware of, tell you someting about him, ... he wants so much always to see the best iand the most positive aspect of a person's being ... that he often neglcts to look at what is not so positive. He never speaks ill of anyone.

this incredible capacity to not see evil. I've wondered how he could be such a successful lawyer ... even in opponents at law, he will not see the evil in the opponent, but he wants to win the case without seeing the evil. Doesn't feel any hatred or any anger, will do his fighting on legal terms/basis without becoming passionate about it. (He is a passionate man, however. but does not allow passion to be the basis of his legal appeals). He really enjoys being in cvharge.

Esther Druxman, actress and friend of Muriel: Joe accepted me with all the warmth and charm for which he is so well known. When he accompanied Muriel and me on a week-long commercial job in the Canadian Rockies, he was a real trooper. Muriel and I were up at the crack of dawn to get ready for long days of shooting at various sites chosen by the camera crews ... and there was Joe, also up by 6:00 am to help with the luggage and just to be there (and this was just a few weeks after his heart by-pass surgery). I know that the accommodations made by the production staff were nothing like the rooms Joe would have booked for Muriel and himself. In fact, one room was so small that in order for Joe to get out of bed, Muriel had to get out first. But he took everything with a great sportsman attitude.

Chapter 87 [Not finished] "You can't get him to say something bad about anyone"

Chapter 88 [Not finished] Loyalty

Shirley Fleishmann: The name Joe Diamond has always been magic, special, wonderful to me. Once when a very special case surfaced in our lives (a case in which we were going to sue 'the Big Bank'), the only one my husband and I wanted to handle this monumental job for us was Joe Diamond. Imagine our disappointment when he declined. His reason for declining? He felt that someone whom he had mentored was already our lawyer.

In Josef Diamond's world, loyalty also manifests itself in mutual respect. Edna Dodds was only 19 years old when Josef hired her right out of secretarial school. She was determined to succeed but often wondered if the firm might have regretted having hired her when she had so much to learn. Yet in spite of all the patience and understanding which Edna feels was needed so that she could succeed, she expresses admiration and appreciation that ... "I cannot remember ever being criticized unless it was constructive and helpful. I really enjoyed the closeness and the mutual respect that was always shown in our office. I was always always 'Miss Zorn' and I always addressed the men as 'Mr. ...' That was 55 years ago. Whenever I have visited Joe since, I have always been warmly welcomed. He truly is a forever friend."

The former Chairman of Old National Bank, David Clack, describees his first impression of Josef Diamond as being extremely favorable: "He is an utterly charming, warm, and friendly man. His ability to look on the bright side of every situation turned out to be a key element in our ability to recover from a serious financial problem. With Joe's steadfast support of ONB management, his timely and thoughtful advice was always welcomed and appreciated.

"In a lifetime, you are lucky if you meet a handful of people on whom you can really count to come through when the chips are down. Joe Diamond is one of those people. And I consider it a privilege to have known him. Although Joe shuns taking credit and is not susceptible to flattery, he deserves to stand up and take a bow to a standing ovation from his many friends and associates for whom he has always gone the extra mile."

Chapter 89 [Not finished] "My real fortune is my family"

When I started practicing law, I realized that I could always make a living practicing law. But I also realized that if I was ever going to make any money, I was going to have to go into other things than practicing law, and I did that through several business ventures. Anyone can make a living and build an estate, and we all do that to some degree or another ... but the thing that really counts as what you call "a fortune" to me is my family.

My first wife was a very lovely person. We were married for 45-years and she was the mother of our two children. Sadly, I lost her. But then, I got married to another lovely lady, Anne Julien, and we had a wonderful marriage for four years. Sadly, I lost her, also. They were both very important parts of my life. But then, fortunately, about a year after Anne's death, I found Muriel who is a wonderful wife and help to me. My life, my family, my children, and my friends are really what life is all about, to me.

Money is just to be able to buy food and to keep yourself warm. The family is what is most important. Although I don't always agree with all of my family, they are still my family and the most precious part of life to me and I am going to look after them ... and hope that they don't have to look after me ... but I think they would if they had to.

Family is what is most important.

Chapter 90 [Not finished] "Wait to Worry"

Somers White also recalls that Josef summed up his personal philosophy of life in these words: "Wait to worry."

From his long, productive life and countless friendships and relationships with clients, all of whom were also his friends, Josef observes that he has seen far too many of his clients waste emotional energy worrying about things that never came to pass. He says: "Needless worrying is a tremendous waste of emotional energy ... and most worrying is needless."

The same thing holds true for adults, too.

Wait to Worry. The creed that I go by.

This is just a way of life. We all have problems. We all have things that we think we need to worry about. And maybe we do. But if you will just wait to worry, you would be surprised how that takes care of most things. In the first place, you wait to worry, the problem is now, but you are going to wait. In so many cases, if you wait until tomorrow, something happens and the problem either goes away or it doesn't seem quite as bad as it did yesterday, or it is just not as serious as it seemed before, you find another solution. If you just wait to worry, I guarantee that your problems are not half as bad as you first thought about them. And the longer you wait, the better it is.

Just wait to worry and you have a much nicer life. It's a way of life.