When Jimmy Buffett sang about an affable degenerate wallowing in a beach town, he created a mystical place called Margaritaville. It's not a real place, of course, but whenever two or more gather in the name of cheeseburgers, tropical cocktails, or pencil-thin mustaches, then the spirit of Margaritaville springs to life as a shared experience.
In 1985, Buffett opened the first Margaritaville shop. Later came restaurants, resorts, and retirement communities – each branded with the Margaritaville name, each promising the Margaritaville experience. Margaritaville is now a registered trademark, a legal fiction that exists only because it is recognized by the courts and the law. All of law, by the way, like the Margaritaville trademark, is a work of fiction, made real thanks only to a shared belief in its legitimacy.
We often think of justice as a result produced by the legal system – something we "get." But just as Margaritaville is more of an experience than a place, justice is more of an experience than a result. We don't really "get" justice; we experience it. Through the experience of justice, I've seen corporate defense attorneys become resigned to their client's liability. I've seen criminal defendants confront their culpability. I've seen juries moved to tears.
Results, obviously, are important, but a result is the product of a process, and going through that process – for the plaintiffs, the defendants, the litigators, the mediators, the judge, and the jury – is an experience, and that experience is called justice. As litigators and advocates, we have the opportunity to help shape that experience for all parties involved, and the experience we provide will ultimately impact the result.
The song Margaritaville, like the legal process, is about accountability. Through a series of dubious experiences – a heel injury, a mysterious tattooing, a perfunctory search for a salt shaker – the plaintiff (or is he the defendant?) comes to realize, after all, "It's my own damn fault." It's an experience most of us can relate to. It resonated with millions, and it has allowed Jimmy Buffett to leave behind a billion-dollar legacy. Not a bad result.