2011 Holiday Gifts for Lawyers: Harvey Birdman, Red-Tape Cuff Links, Bobbleheads and Tech Toys
From the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
& Museum.
Some law-related gifts might be poorly thought out: A crystal gavel is just asking to be shattered. For people who want to get a jump on their Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping, here is a small selection of gifts for the lawyers in your life.
As one of America’s most beloved lawyers, Abraham Lincoln’s bust appears in many law firms. You can get your own from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, which has a beautiful bronze sculpture of the Young Lincoln for $299.99. But if you’re looking for a Lincoln bust with a trifle less dignity and at a lower price point, they also have the Lincoln Bobblehead, which comes in at $14.99. Looking for a Supreme Court bobblehead? Well, the Green Bag makes them, but they’re not for sale. Check eBay!
Several steps up on the dignity scale is Approach the Bench: The Chess Set for Legal Professionals. The king piece is represented by a bewigged judge, the queen is a blind lady justice, the bishops are attorneys, knights are bailiffs, rooks are stacks of law books and pawns are jurors. The pieces are made from cast bronze, and the board (made from bronze and travertine tile) has three levels to resemble the judge’s bench and jury box. You can purchase a set for $595.
Approach the Bench: The Chess Set for Legal Professionals.
When we wrote about lawyers in comics in our November issue, several people chastised us for leaving out Cartoon Network’s Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Now you can watch Harvey defend Shaggy and Scooby against drug-possession charges at your leisure in Volumes 1-3, sold as a set on Amazon for $38.49.
It might not startle you to discover that there are many, many “humorous” lawyer T-shirts available online. One Journal reporter recommends this shirt and its version of a letter to Santa to all offspring of lawyers. There is also an “I Own Blackacre” T-shirt collection. There are countless others, but in the interest of taste, we’ll leave it to you to search CafePress and Zazzle.
In the ABA’s monthly podcast The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology, Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson uncovered some great gift ideas in their annual Tech Toys for the Holidays show. Love the iPhone but hate the lack of a keyboard? Do your fingers get cold when you take off your gloves to use touchscreens? Are you a germaphobe? They have the gifts for you. (Sorry, folks, the solar bikini is just a prototype, though they are taking custom orders.)
Red-tape cuff links from the National Archives.
The Duke law library blog the Goodson Blogson also ran a holiday gift post. We like their suggestions of Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual ornament and the National Archives’ paperweights and jewelry made with genuine government red tape.
Reid Trautz of Reid My Blog has come through once again with his annual gifts post. His suggestions this year run from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Kindle Fire to bacon jam and a private scotch tasting party.
And lastly, what says “I respect your noble profession” better than a solid pewter $125 stapler shaped like a shark? Unless it’s the matching $75 staple remover?
Have any other gift suggestions? Leave them in the comments!
