alegacyofleaderShiP
Trial & litigation Section Chair : LaurenHumphries – BuchananIngersoll & Rooneylearningfromthe leadershipofourpastcan helpshapetheleadership ofourfuture .
Pictured : J . Bob Humphries
Iam honored to serve as the Chair for the Trial and Litigation Section for the 2024-2025 Bar Year . In coming to this role , I have had the privilege of serving with many wonderful leaders in Tampa . As I continue in my career , I have found myself seeking information about my late father , a Tampa tax attorney who passed away in 2005 . I would like to share the following story of his leadership that I learned just this past year :
Growing up in rural Georgia , J . Bob Humphries always dreamed of being a fighter pilot . After enlisting in the U . S . Air Force , he learned that his eyesight was less than satisfactory , and that he
would never fly . He went on to attend FSU College of Law , where he worked as an assistant to a shoe cobbler to help pay for school . After law school , he joined the JAG Corps , serving in Vietnam and Thailand . Upon returning to the U . S ., he was stationed at Warner Robbins Air Force Base .
At Warner Robbins , he was responsible for the review of continuing contracts . While reviewing a contract for the leather used on fighter jets , he noticed that the price of leather was three times the price of the leather he used as a shoe cobbler . He asked his division head if he knew why the price was so high . He didn ’ t have
an answer . He asked person after person — still finding no answer . This was the 1970s , a time of no internet or cell phones .
Instead of signing off on the contract as is , he got the authority to fly to El Paso to visit the manufacturing plant responsible for the leather . At the plant , the owner showed him two large conveyor lines for curing leather . The first line — for any customers — was cured with regular chemicals . The second line — only for the Air Force — was cured with horse urine . When asked why the leather was cured with horse urine , the
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