G-Bar News
April/May 2019
President's Article
Kirby Mitchell
Which is it, Greenville Bar: one space or two?

There is a divide lurking among the Greenville Bar. You might yet be unaware of it, making its impact all the more alarming when it arrives at your law office or in an opposing party’s brief. I was not aware of this deep split until recently when I shared a rough draft with coworkers at S.C. Legal Services (“legal aid”). My colleagues sent me excellent edits, helpful corrections, and one younger attorney offered a blasphemous suggestion that chilled the empty space in my soul where warm bonhomie for my fellow Bar members had resided up until that moment.

A simple issue of no apparent importance carrying considerable symbolic weight amid the compromise-free subculture of legal writing experts (i.e., nerds). The question, dear G-Bar member, is one you as an attorney must face alone, every single time you end a sentence and begin a new one: one space or two?

National legal battle lines have been drawn with self-styled typography experts arguing with a restraint usually found in pre-match hype at the World Wrestling Federation. Two-spacers are attacked as deserving “life imprisonment” (See “ Space Invaders” by Farhad Manjoo). In response, attorney one-spacers are simply described as “ crazy”.

Complicating the schism is the all-too-common view that the one-space-vs.-two-space debate is a proxy battle in a larger “generational divide.” [Sigh].

Few topics deliver less helpful insights and more insults than the soft pop culture / marketing concepts of so-called “social generations.” At a superficial level people born at roughly the same time tend to have some shared experiences, similar influences, and some common life expectations reflecting when they came of age. Beyond that, I am confident that the terms Gen Z, iGen, Centennials, Millennials, Gen Y, and Generation X are, at best, useless.

There was an unprecedented spike in babies born in the U.S. from 1946 to 1964, so the term “Baby Boomers” has a basis in fact. After the “Baby Boom generation,” not so much. People are born and die every day, so I’d vote that reductive labelled social ‘generations’ don’t exist. Marketers and authors want to sell ideas and products based on dubious to non-existent demographics. Are purported generational characteristics applicable to Greenville lawyers? Attributing anyone’s behavior to a person’s perceived generation probably says more about you than that person and/or the alleged “generation,” particularly when applied to a diverse social cohort like the 2019 Greenville County Bar Association.

So, does your ‘generation’ determine whether you are a one or two spacer? Time to test the theory. I’ve invited friend David Dill, a Greenville Bar member, Nelson Mullins associate, and ‘one space’ cadet to give his best argument for: one space. He is an excellent writer, so he might persuade you although I hope not.

The Greenville Bar simultaneously honors traditions while welcoming new ideas. Come join
your multi-generational colleagues April 29th to May 3rd for our annual Law Week celebration (see inside newsletter for a full schedule of all events). All one-spacers and two-spacers welcome. I drink red wine with fish. If you wear white after Labor Day I am unlikely to notice. Using only one space after a period in a legal writing? No. I’ll leave that to David. I’ll be doing that never.
I, David Dill, am a single-spacer. And I’m unrepentant. Well, maybe slightly repentant. Call me a lapsed two-spacer. My typing instructor, like most of yours, taught me to use two spaces after a period. Yet after typing innumerable text messages, emails, and pleadings, my fingers adopted the path of least resistance and dropped the second space. Now, after years of single spacing, retraining myself to strike the spacebar a second arduous time would needlessly interrupt my writing process—to say nothing of the lost billable hours.

This is not a matter of convenience, inertia, or counterculture keyboarding. Rather, the rules quietly changed. The leading arbiters now limit writers to just one space; a surprise, no doubt, for those of us whose typing courses once penalized such conduct. The Chicago Manual of Style, the US Government Printing Office Style Manual, and the Associated Press Stylebook are among the authorities formally mandating one, not two, spaces after a period. You will feel this most acutely if you dare strike the spacebar on your Apple device a second time and find that a period, not an extra space, appears. (The Chicago Manual of Style is one source, but who are we to quibble with the autocorrect wizards at Apple?)

Typography, like language itself, is constantly evolving. The Chicago Manual of Style explains this development as a move necessary for consistency: “Absolute consistency is easy to monitor when double spaces are never allowed, but less easy when some spaces after periods are double and others single (such as those at the ends of abbreviations and initialisms in running text).” A plausible reason, though I suspect chance and the democratization of typing play larger roles.

Two-spacers take heart. If you like your two-spacing you can keep your two-spacing. But don’t be surprised if you gradually start to drop the extra padding to match your text messages and emails (née e-mails).

You’re welcome to change on your own time. We’ll have plenty of space left for you on team one.
VOTE NOW ON THIS ISSUE:
One space or two after a period in legal writing?
One Space
Two Spaces
Results will be announced at the Law Week Luncheon.

LAW WEEK LUNCHEON
May 2, Noon
Poinsett Club
$15 per attorney

Speaker: The Honorable Aphrodite Konduros
Wickensimer Award Recipient: Shannon Webber 
Judge Frank Eppes Memorial Golf Tournament
May 10, Furman Golf Course

Benefiting the Greenville Bar Pro Bono Foundation
Judges Reception- Steak & Lobster Cookout
May 29, 6:00-9:30 pm
Greenville Country Club, poolside

$40 per person
The South Carolina Bar Foundation invites you to an evening of fun with friendly competition against fellow upstate attorneys while enjoying food and beverages, networking, and maybe some harmless trash talk at our Be a “Fore”ce for Justice Topgolf Tournament, June 5th, 2019 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Topgolf Greenville.

Family Court by the Numbers
(From 2018)

Domestic Relations Cases Filed: 5,427
Juvenile Cases Heard: 1,140
Hearings Set: 6,253
Payments Taken: 261,062
Money Collected: $39,020,080.92
Contempt Cases Heard: 3,176
Bench Warrants Heard: 1,271
People Seen by our Counselors: 7,758


Member Benefits Card
The Greenville County Bar Association's Member Benefits Program was unveiled at the "Year-End" CLE with discounts to many business including the YMCA, SportsClub, North Hills Automotive, Greenville Theater and MANY MORE!!
ANNOUNCEMENTS

WE HAVE RETIRED and have most of our office contents for sale at very reasonable prices. Desks, conference tables, lamps, chairs and waiting room furniture. We are giving away a wall of books which look impressive but are not updated. Call us for an appointment since we are no longer manning the office. Leave a message if we don’t answer because, once again, WE HAVE RETIRED. You can also buy the office! Jim Sarratt 449 0152 or Bill Clarke 270 9431

Office available for one or more lawyers and paralegal/receptionist. 101 W. Park Ave. Some optional furnishings. Contact Leah Eppes at 864-201-3283. 

Dority & Manning, P.A. is pleased to announce that Alison Davis has joined the firm as an associate.

Grimes Teich Anderson LLP is pleased to announce that Jeff M. Martin is being made a partner with the firm. Jeff joined the firm as an associate in 2013. He will continue to handle South Carolina workers’ compensation and personal injury cases in the Grimes Teich Anderson Greenville office. Jeff also handles long term and short term disability disputes, and his management responsibilities will increase.  Jeff, a Greenville, South Carolina native, received his B.A. from The University of South Carolina and his J.D. from Campbell University, Norman A. Wiggins School of Law in Raleigh.

South Carolina Legal Services has three (3) attorney openings.

A seminar entitled: Fathers' Rights in Adoption will be held on May 3. More Information Here.

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s Jonathan Klett has joined the American Red Cross Upstate SC Chapter board of directors.
Upcoming Events
May 2: Law Week Luncheon
May 3: Family Court Liaison Meeting
May 10: Judge Eppes Memorial Golf Tournament
May 29: Judges Reception- Steak & Lobster Cookout
June 5: SC Bar Foundation Event at Top Golf
December 10: Christmas Party
December 12: Memorial Service