Law Office of Thomas J. Gruseck

05/01/2024

DON'T EVER let them tell you that the ones demanding peace are the dangerous one.

08/29/2020

WHEN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FOUNDED the University of Pennsylvania, he had the Latin phrase "Inveniemvs viam avt faciemvs" ("We shall find a way, or we will make one") put on the arch over the main entrance to the campus. One can easily imagine how Franklin himself exemplified that saying in the cause of American independence from Great Britain, first spending years secretly networking to foment revolution as a member of various secret societies and as a member of all four religious congregations extant in Eighteenth Century Philadelphia, and later as the main diplomat procuring the assistance of the French.

But Franklin did not invent this saying. It was fist ascribed to Hannibal, the Ancient Carthiginian general who surprised the Romans by taking an army over the Alps to invade Italy. Indeed, if anyone ever MADE a way to do something, it was Hannibal, who took a North African army, complete with elephants, and marched it around the Mediterranean, across the Strait of Gibraltar, across Spain and France, and then put mountain climber spikes on their shoes to go over the Alps to stun the Romans.

It is often a lawyer's job, whether drafting a contract, recognizing a less-often used legal theory as a basis for bringing a lawsuit, or coming up with a creative proposal to settle a conflict, to find a way to do something or make a new way if possible. That is why you'll find the words "Inveniemvs Viam avt Faciemvs" as a footer on all my correspondence, to inspire me to creative problem solving.

09/25/2019