Significant Moments: The Earl Segal Connection and Court Circles

Joseph himself would scarcely have imagined that . . .
Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.
. . . his precocious . . .
Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son.
. . . appointment to Mariafels represented a special distinction and . . .
Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.
. . . one of the major steps in a candidate’s progress . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . but he was after all a good deal wiser about such matters nowadays and could plainly read the significance of his summons in the attitude and conduct of his fellow students. Of course, he had belonged for some time to the innermost circle within the elite of the Glass Bead Game players, but now the unusual assignment marked him to all and sundry as a young man whom the superiors had their eyes on and whom they intended to employ.
Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.
At the same time, being more or less part of an inner circle meant that I made automatic enemies, or at least awakened jealousy and envy in those who, rejected by the circle, felt rightly or wrongly that I did not have as great a claim to this circle as they did.
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
There were bitter hostilities among the young men, as there were bound to be in a court circle.
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
His associates and ambitious fellow players did not exactly withdraw or become unfriendly—the members of this highly aristocratic group were far too well-mannered for that—but an aloofness nevertheless arose. Yesterday’s friend might well be tomorrow’s superior, and this circle registered and expressed such gradations and differentiations by the most delicate shades of behavior.
Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.
The consequence was easily foreseen—
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan.
[The disciples’] reverence for The Master was balanced by their malice for his Shadow; they wanted [the Master’s chosen disciple] to fail even if the Master himself had to suffer as well.
Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.

While I worked at the DC law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld the partner who oversaw the Legal Assistant Program was Earl L. Segal, Esq. Earl Segal was a real estate attorney. I had the paranoid suspicion that Mr. Segal was telephoning around, making inquiries about me. I thought to myself: "If I were Earl Segal, who would I contact to find out information about Gary Freedman? Well, being a real estate attorney, I would contact his Property professor from law school."

My property professor from law school was an individual named William Clarke. So I wrote the following letter to Professor Clarke in the year 1997:

June 24, 1997
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530

William H. Clarke
Professor of Law
Gonzaga University School of Law
P.O. Box 3528
Spokane, WA 99220-3528

RE: Weapons Possession - Intent to Inflict Grievous Bodily Harm/Possible Intent to Commit Murder - D.C. Corporation Counsel Affirmation - Possible Concealment of State and/or Federal Weapons Law Violations

Dear Professor Clarke:

During the period March 1988 to October 1991 I was employed as a legal assistant at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ("Akin Gump"). Attorney managers at Akin Gump terminated my employment effective October 29, 1991 upon determining, in consultation with a psychiatrist, that a complaint of harassment I had lodged against several co-workers was attributable to a psychiatric symptom ("ideas of reference") prominent in the psychotic disorders and typically associated with a risk of violent behavior. See Freedman v. D.C. Dept. of Human Rights, D.C. Superior Court no. MPA 95-14 (final order issued June 10, 1996). In the period immediately after my job termination senior Akin Gump managers determined that it was advisable to secure the office of my direct supervisor against a possible homicidal assault, which it was feared I might commit.

In pleadings filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court, the District of Columbia Office of Corporation Counsel (Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq.) affirmed that Akin Gump personnel had geniune concerns that I might have had plans to procure firearms for an unlawful purpose and possessed the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm or commit murder. Mr. Ruff currently serves as chief White House Counsel to President Clinton (telephone no. 202 456 1414).

I attended the Gonzaga University School of Law during academic year 1979-1980, and was enrolled in your two-semester, first-year course in property (final grade B+) (student no. xxx xx xxxx).

I have been under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service as a potential security risk to President Clinton, and was interrogated at the Washington Field Office by Special Agent Philip C. Leadroot (202 435-5100) as recently as February 1996, about 16 months ago. Questioning by Mr. Leadroot centered on the issue of presidential assassination.

I request that you disclose to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (David M. Bowie, Supervisory Special Agent, Washington Field Office, 202 252 7801) the content of any communications you may have had with any Akin Gump attorneys regarding me. Attorneys who may have directed inquiries to you include Earl L. Segal, Malcolm Lassman, or Laurence J. Hoffman (managing partner), among others. Mr. Segal specializes in real estate law.

Enclosed are some additional documents that provide background to the matters discussed in this letter.

Be advised: President Clinton's own lawyer, chief White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff, is talking real guns, real bullets, real brain tissue.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman

Well, call me crazy, but a few days after I sent out this letter to Professor Clarke, I picked up vibes from my sources at the Cleveland Park Branch of the DC Library -- from none other than Brian P. Brown -- that Professor Clarke had indeed contacted Earl Segal. But, hey, I have been diagnosed with asymptomatic paranoid schizophrenia. I have a lot of strange thoughts! I guess you could say it's my business to have crazy thoughts. It's how I earn my living!