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Charles Becton Nominates Martin Brinkley

Article Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010

MARTIN BRINKLEY: NOMINATION REMARKS
CHARLES L. BECTON
June 26, 2010

THE GREEK CONNECTION

Our president-elect loves the classics - classical music and classical literature.  In his downtime, he reads stuff like this. [show slide of Greek literature] It's all Greek to me, but for our president-elect these opening lines of the Odyssey are glorious Greek. The man reads the Greek classics in Greek.

If ever you want to know about the pre-classical literary giants, Homer and Hesiod, ask our president-elect. And he can also tell you all you need to know about the great Greek classical writers - philosophers, like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; lyrical poets like Sappho and Pindar; playwrights like Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; and historians like Herodotus and Thucydides.

And this may all be part of mythology's master plan, because I'm betting our president-elect, Martin Brinkley was the hero in stories told 'round campfires in ancient Greece.  Can't you hear the bards?  Can't you see old, blind Homer beseeching the gods: "Oh goddess of inspiration, help me sing of [brilliant Martin], that master of schemes!"

They hearkened to that literary giant for lore unsurpassed
And as the legion sat waiting for grand stories of the past,
Homer spun a futuristic tale of things that would be done
Thousands of years later by a genius - a Brinkley-clan son.
It was as riveting as tales of famed Odysseus
Riv'lling feats of Achilles, Ajax, Jason, nay, Perseus.

Homer presaged the exploits of the encyclopedic one.
As those afar gathered nigh, here is the tale that Homer spun
Of the intellectual prowess of Martin the Spartan
And of the signet leadership skills of this Brinkley chieftain.

A Philips Exeter Academy grad in '84,
He blasted standard intelligence tests with near-perfect score.
Then he mastered the classics at Harvard with honors galore,
Graduating "Phi Beta Kappa" in just three years, not four.
Then studies abroad at the University of Cologne
Making its ancient studies institute a lab of his own.

And for law school, he chose to matriculate at UNC
Where he set Van Hecke-Wettach hall ablaze earning his JD
As clerk for Judge Erwin on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
He changed votes with his remarkable analytical skills.

Now, at Smith Anderson Blount Dorset Mitchell and Jernigan,
His expertise in corporate finance makes him the chosen one.
His honors and accomplishments - too numerous to recite
As are his community activities, done with delight.
But his bar association work, I detail for you now.
And with just 24 hours in a day, you wonder how.

Martin Brinkley served ably, well, and tireless as a member of the Administration of Justice Task Force, the Appellate Rules Study Committee, the Audit and Finance Committee, the Citizen Lawyer Task Force, the Endowment Committee, the Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee, and the Public Service Advisory Committee.

In addition to serving on the North Carolina Bar Association's Board of Governors, Martin has chaired the Young Lawyers Division, the Communications Advisory Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee, and he co-chaired the 4ALL Task Force.

If Martin had been living in ancient Greece, he would have sat atop Mount Olympus. And his mother would not have held him by his heel, as did Achilles' mother, while dipping him in the River Styx; rather, she would have thrown him in, making even his Achilles' heel invulnerable. Had Achilles' mother done that, Achilles (like our modern-day Martin) would have had no weaknesses when she pulled him out.

Yes, had Martin been living in ancient Greece, there would be another magnificent sight in the zodiac - constellation "brilliantameter." Martin is not just a brilliant man, but he's also a humble man. He is "plumb eat up with" goodness from the crown of his head to the taproot of his feet. And, he's a man who harkens and listens well.

Phillips Exeter originated the system of instruction known as Harkness Teaching in 1931 to foster goodness and knowledge. And, in the spirit of that principle, Martin will foster goodness and knowledge among us. That's why the past presidents of the bar association are proud to place into nomination as our 117th president-elect Martin H. Brinkley.