Perhaps because I practiced law for 35 years, I find that lawyers and judges are excellent subjects for cartooning. Many lawyers and judges, of course, are brilliant, committed and honorable, though there are a few who can’t claim all those adjectives. But all lawyers and judges are performance artists. Whether talking tough in a negotiation or strutting their stuff in a courtroom, part of lawyering is being on stage. And if at times their stage presence is memorable, there are plenty of times when comedy intervenes. 

The Bay Area is home to a formidable bar and some of the best judges in the country. Covering Legal Affairs as a reporter for Bay City News gives me a chance to document their cases, report their arguments and at times question the positions that they take. Cartooning however gives me an opportunity show the comedic side of the law profession, or what is now all too frequently called the “law business.” 

My subjects are not actual lawyers and my drawings are not of any individual, rather they depict scenes that from my many years of observation I believe could easily happen.   

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Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.