vo-ca-tion /vo-ke-shun/[voh-kay-shuhn] noun—a particular occupation,business, or profession; calling.
George E. Pruden II
The goal of this column is to enlighten our readers about the private endeavors of attorneys who are part of the MCCA network. By examining lawyers and their work practices by day in contrast to the personal interests that they pursue outside of the office, it is our hope that this series of articles allows our readers to see the other side of lawyers who manage to pursue unique interests despite their demanding careers.
George E. Pruden II
Throughout his campaign for the White House, Barack Obama made perfectly clear that basketball was his game of choice. Time and again, he took time to shoot hoops between speeches and squeeze in those "good luck" games on the days of primaries. After a tepid attempt at bowling, body surfing in the Pacific, and his helmeted bike ride along the shores of Lake Michigan, there was no mistaking where the president's heart lay sport-wise.
In interviews, President Obama describes the ways in which his high-school basketball experiences taught him the importance of teamwork, and how he has translated those lessons into his political philosophy. With the commander-in-chief's favorite pastime well-established, one wonders: When will he upgrade that outdoor half-court on the grounds of his new home?
Basketball can be said to be "the new golf" in Washington, and George E. Pruden II, a senior counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), could not be happier. When Pruden says basketball has been, and continues to be, a big part of his life, he does not exaggerate: A lifelong player, Pruden is currently listed on the roster of two different teams and officiates at both boys' and girls' high-school games throughout the D.C. metro area.
Pruden closely watches the action on the court.
A referee for 22 years and an attorney for longer, Pruden's style is to strive for resolution with as little conflict as possible: "When I'm involved in litigation or something deemed equally adversarial, I like to make my point without going for the throat. I take that same tack when officiating. My belief is to respect the players, coaches, and spectators, and in turn they'll respect me. Over the years, this has worked most of the time; as I get older, it seems to prove even truer.
"You want people to understand your call, but you don’t want to spend all day explaining it to them," he adds. "It's also important to know the rules. There are rules in basketball and law that you just have to learn; there is no substitute."
Pruden remains inspired by the D.C. area communities' unceasing support for youth and high-school basketball programs. He is motivated by the dedication of ever-present parents who never miss a game and are happy to drive the players to wherever they need to be. He also draws strength from the example of many coaches (some of whom Pruden describes as being eligible for sainthood) who routinely give time and sometimes money—and frequently serve as parental figures to many of their players.
"In general, referees need to maintain some distance from players," explains Pruden. "Nevertheless, I do help to foster good relationships between players and coaches, and do my best to keep players from opposing teams sane on the court. I see myself as a teacher, and a big part of what I do is to educate about basketball—you'd be surprised just how many coaches don’t know all the rules of the game—but also to impart the enduring importance of teamwork and good sportsmanship to the players."
He continues, "Refereeing gets pretty intense at times—parents can be more argumentative than players—but it's worth it." Not only does it keep him off the couch—in a typical week, Pruden referees three or four games and plays in just as many, sometimes more—but it also makes him a better player. "Refs," he notes, "acquire a superior understanding of the game."
A member of both the Baby Boomers and Drew’s Printing basketball teams, Pruden plays in two Maryland leagues for adults over 50 on the same night. Like his law school team, Pruden’s current teams are equally hard to beat. In fact, the Baby Boomers took the gold medal in the Maryland State Senior Olympics last September.
"Since qualifying for the over-50 league about four years ago, I’ve had more fun playing basketball than I’ve ever had in my entire life,” shares Pruden. “At this point in your life, you have no delusions about making it to the NBA. We just play the game because we love the sport. We play hard and, while we talk a little trash on the court, it’s all in good fun.”
Pruden enjoys recalling the days he played guard on his championship-winning law school team. On game days at North Carolina Central University School of Law, he and other “ballers” would exchange shouts of encouragement as they passed each other on campus between lectures, all eagerly anticipating the time when they could explode into action on the court. “It offered a much-needed opportunity to release stress,” remembers Pruden. “And as a full-time student working forty early-morning hours a week loading airplanes, I was under my fair share of stress.”
Today, more than thirty years later, Pruden feels pretty much the same way. “Basketball remains an outlet that keeps me sane and grounded,” he explains. “The team members are like family [his 60-year-old brother plays with him on one of the teams] with whom I can share my successes and troubles, professional and personal. We regularly spend time after games checking in. A psychologist friend likens the whole experience to group therapy.”
When not on the court, Pruden can be found at the OJP in Washington, D.C., serving as legal advisor to the Community Capacity Development Office and the Office for Victims of Crime, and providing legal advice on the many programs funded by these two offices. "A lot of what we do is related to billions of dollars of grant work. We fund almost all aspects of our country's criminal justice system: victims, police, courts, and corrections. Also, we litigate discrimination cases before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and train agency managers and executives on how to avoid having discrimination cases filed against them."
Additionally, Pruden serves as the principal legal advisor for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer, considering what information is subject to release and fielding requests from adamant writers, reporters, and the public in quest of agency documents. Under the Obama administration, Pruden expects to see a loosening of strictures that will result in a government that is more open and transparent. "On his second day in office, President Obama put out the word that his philosophy with FOIA was to release, whereas the Bush administration's stance was not quite as sweeping," states Pruden. “Without good reason to do otherwise, we will now be inclined to release."
av-o-ca-tion /ævo-ke-shun/ [av-uh-key-shuhn] noun — something a person does in addition to a principal occupation, esp. for pleasure; hobby.
Prior to his current tenure with OJP, Pruden spent six years as general counsel of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) for the District of Columbia, a position which he describes as his dream job at the time. A federal law enforcement agency created under the Clinton administration, CSOSA gave Pruden the opportunity to flex both his legal and public administration muscles, supervising more than 26,000 defendants and offenders on pretrial release, probation, or parole in the District. At CSOSA, Pruden not only oversaw the development of the legal office and played an integral role in its certification as a federal agency, but also, in his words, "enjoyed the opportunity for me to help a population composed primarily of African American men to do better."
As a career federal government employee, Pruden was the first African American attorney to work in a supervisory capacity in the Federal Bureau of Prisons' general counsel's office, where he was an associate general counsel and the ethics officer. Pruden was the first African American attorney to reach a GS-14 (the second-to-highest rating on the federal government's general schedule) in 1989, and later became the first African American attorney to reach GS-15. "I've witnessed a lot of change," reflects Pruden. "I've been the only minority in an office. It's not always the best feeling, but it's also something you don't see in government anymore."
For Pruden, the word "government" holds no negative connotations: "Growing up in the segregated South, you couldn't rely on people's goodwill to make them do the right thing. Very often, it took the government and the courts to make things right. I'm a firm believer that the government can do, and often does, a lot of good—and that attorneys working in government agencies play a big role in that."
Even as a little boy, Pruden knew that he wanted to be a lawyer. His story is not particularly unique in that respect – a relative suggests a chatty kid grow up to be a lawyer and get paid for talking; said kid idolizes fictional TV litigator (in Pruden’s case his name was Perry Mason). Nevertheless, it is compelling in other ways.
Odd for a man of his generation, Pruden is the grandson of a former slave and her former owner. It happened this way, he explains, because his father – who served in the Coast Guard for 40 years — was 70 years old when he was born. In many respects, Pruden refused to allow circumstances to interfere with the pursuit of his dream. He grew up in very tight financial circumstances in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area of Virginia. He left high school his junior year to join the Marines; two years later, with a General Educational Development (GED) degree in hand, he went on to graduate from Norfolk State University with honors with a B.A. in political science and public administration. He went on to law school on a full scholarship, and subsequently realized professional success.
Soon Pruden will be eligible for retirement, but depending on how things go, he may just stick around. He says, "I like our new president—not only because he prefers basketball to golf—but I think he can do a lot of good for government and the American people. For this reason I might stay on longer at OJP than I otherwise might have."
And just how long will Pruden remain a fixture on the court? "That's something I'll do until I drop," says Pruden without missing a beat. "Basketball is my way of staying connected." DB
Do you have an interesting pastime that you want to share in this space, or do you know other attorneys whose away-from-work activities might be showcased in this column? Please send your recommendations to robtruhn@mcca.com, and we'll consider your submissions for upcoming issues. Thanks!
Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md.
From the March/April 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar®