All the World’s a Courtroom

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Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will preside over a different kind of trial in Los Angeles next week – one that will have him reviewing Shakespeare instead of amicus briefs.

The justice is swinging through town to adjudicate a Jan. 31 mock trial of Hamlet at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. He was recruited by Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles founder Ben Donenberg, who, as a member of the National Council of the Arts, has crossed paths with Kennedy.

“It turned out that he had done a similar program in Washington, D.C., and he kindly offered to do it as a public education program in Los Angeles,” Donenberg said.

Local attorneys will argue over whether the Danish prince would have been mentally fit to stand trial for murder had he survived the end of the play. Jury members will include actress Helen Hunt and real estate developer Larry Silverton.

Patience Pays

Tom Barrack credits Loyola High School as being the pivotal institution in forming his character. And now he can say he’s given quite a lot back to his alma mater.

Last month, Barrack, chairman of Santa Monica-based real estate investment firm Colony Capital LLC, stepped down as chairman of a fundraising committee for Loyola, located near downtown Los Angeles. During his six years in the post, the committee raised $105 million – the largest cash campaign ever for a Jesuit high school.

“Loyola has a magic formula for taking self-centered boys and turning them into selfless, caring men,” Barrack said. “When I look back at the quantum leaps forward in my character, that was where I learned to stretch myself beyond my capabilities. I’ve been in love with the place ever since.”

Patience is the virtue that Barrack sees as crucial in fundraising.

“People always tell you that your request comes at the wrong time so it’s a matter of laying long lines and slowly pulling them in,” he said. “The hardest thing is that after a while people don’t want to take your call.”

Paddle Board Cure

When Tom Gallagher won his first paddle boarding competition in 2008, he couldn’t suspect how greatly the activity would later help him. Gallagher, longtime owner of Gallagher Chiropractic and Sports Medicine in Long Beach, had joined the five-mile Dana Point race at the urging of friends.

“I didn’t even know what the sport was and ended up winning it,” he recalls of the 254-competitor race.

Then disaster occurred. After developing a bone spur in his neck, Gallagher, 50, became paralyzed on his left side. “It was a nightmare,” he said. “I was in severe disabling pain.”

Now, a year later, he said that he is 75 percent to 85 percent rehabilitated, thanks largely to the paddle boarding regimen he has continued. It includes a daily 1.5-mile paddle from his bayside home to work near the water in Belmont Shore.

His passion has turned into a business, of sorts. Gallagher has opened the SUP Café, which sells both breakfasts and paddleboards.

Staff reporters Alfred Lee, Joel Russell and David Haldane contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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