Rob Blackwell Audio
[00:00:00] Judge Murray: Okay.
[00:00:09] Rob Blackwell: I'm the CEO of Satech Services LLC, an IT consultant firm that serves clients throughout the United States of America. I have about 20 years of tech industry experience and a wealth of industry certifications, but most importantly, I love doing work in the community.
[00:00:22] Coach GC: Rob, we have been talking about doing this podcast for forever , and I'm excited that we are finally getting it off the ground and launching in our inaugural episode. On December 4th of all days, shout out to the bruhs that are listening. I'm just excited that we're able to get this done.
[00:00:39] Coach GC: But again, I'm coach GC. I am the managing attorney and CEO of association GC. And we focus on helping, lawyers, law firms, businesses, nonprofits, every entity under the sun achieve greater change. And in addition to that, I have a strong [00:01:00] focus on executive coaching, which has started this whole platform for me and this foray into speaking publicly.
[00:01:06] Coach GC: just this past month, I celebrated my fourth year, public speaking with a speech in Indonesia. I'm excited to finally be doing a podcast though. This is my first ever podcast. So I appreciate being able to be on the mic with you, my brother.
[00:01:21] Rob Blackwell: Hey, the feeling is mutual, man. And as you said, this has been in the making for a long time, so I'm looking forward to getting this done
[00:01:28] Coach GC: There is no other way to begin the exposure factor than with our inaugural guest, the honorable judge, Gordon Murray, my main man. My pops flash aka the wise one now for those who have followed any of my platforms You've heard me talk ad nauseam about my dad. He's my hero. He is the legacy that I try to emulate every day, but for those who may not know [00:02:00] him, you know my father was the first black assistant state attorney in Monroe County. He, ultimately moved back to Miami where he was a prosecutor under, Janet Reno while she was there as the state attorney.
[00:02:12] Coach GC: And then he did a long run with his own law firm. And then he ultimately partnered with a couple other people, but where his career really took off, at least in my opinion, is towards the tail end of his private practice. When he received the pro bono award, I'm gonna let him tell you a little bit more about that.
[00:02:29] Coach GC: But after receiving the pro bono award, he really started skyrocketing and eventually ended up being elevated to the bench where he currently serves in the 11th judicial circuit as the administrative chief judge over county civil. My pops has been doing some amazing things and because of those amazing things, he's gotten so many awards.
[00:02:51] Coach GC: The chief justice. Of the Florida Supreme Court awarded him last year with the Chief Justice Award , as well as the Florida bar, with the [00:03:00] Hoover judicial excellence award. So he has just been crushing it and I'm excited to bring him on stage the one and only the wise one, the Honorable Judge Gordon Murray. Welcome to the show.
[00:03:11] Rob Blackwell: Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[00:03:14] Judge Murray: Well, thank you. And thank you for inviting me and have me as your inaugural guest. It's certainly, uh, I'm very impressed with what you, uh, Young men are doing, you know, spreading the word in the community.
[00:03:30] Rob Blackwell: Absolutely. So I'll start I'll kick it off. I just have a couple of questions. So can you give us a little bit about, your early career, the upbringing, which led to you going into the law field.
[00:03:40] Judge Murray: Silence.
[00:03:52] Judge Murray: insisted that I take the bait instead of taking auto shop and then my, uh, high school teacher that, You know, really [00:04:00] helped, uh, expose me, took me to Washington D. C.,
[00:04:04] Judge Murray: with other students, took me to, uh, Tallahassee, where I met, uh, Justice Joseph Hatchett, that really inspired me, as he told me his, his home, own story, about how his dad was a sharecropper. Um, and mom was, was a maid and, and through that, their focus on education, he was able to get through and become the first African American to be appointed to the Florida Supreme Court and the first African American to be elected statewide to keep that, um, position.
[00:04:34] Judge Murray: And that really inspired me to want to be an attorney and to want to be a judge. You know, uh, my high school teacher helped me along. I was able to win the inaugural golden drum award when I graduated from high school, Miami Carroll city on here in Miami Dade. And with that, uh, award, I got a full scholarship to the university of Miami.
[00:04:58] Coach GC: So the youngest of the [00:05:00] boys, the first one to go to college to the University of Miami on the Golden Drum Scholarship, they create it that year and you receive it, how?,
[00:05:11] Judge Murray: I receive it in the area of community service. Cause I, you know, I wasn't, you know, Valedictorian. I wasn't athlete or in the band or anything. But when I was in high school, when I got out of school, I used to go to elementary school and help tutor. kids there with my sixth grade teacher, not knowing, again, that's how sometimes things work, not knowing that they had assigned me to, I guess, future teacher program and charted the hours that I, that I was doing there.
[00:05:44] Judge Murray: And so when Mr. Morris was talking about going to college and he said, he told me, talked about the scholarship and we filled out the application. He called out to the school and they were able to tell him that I had over, I think, 800 hours of what would be now considered community or public [00:06:00] service and was able to put that in an application and I won.
[00:06:05] Judge Murray: And I won at the Caleb Center Auditorium, which is really now right next to my chambers at the Caleb Center. So when I became a judge and then they, the,
[00:06:17] Judge Murray: Court and the Caleb center became reopened, I asked my chief Judge and every day I look at my award. I look to the side and see the auditorium I say it's full circle she put me at the Caleb center so
[00:06:37] Judge Murray: the University of Miami. I started out there as undergrad. Again, my next mentor was Dr. Johnson who taught me the most, one of the most important things that I've ever known, which was the exercise of learning. And then through that, you know, I continued to achieve going to law school at the University of Miami, having another excellent mentor, Professor Robert Waters, [00:07:00] and then getting out into, um, practice.
[00:07:03] Judge Murray: As you said, I started out as an assistant state attorney in Monroe County. And then after three years, came back to Miami-Dade. Worked under the honorable Janet Reno. Um, after three, four years, went into my own private practice and stayed there till 2012 when I was appointed as a general magistrate. And then in 2017, I was appointed as, uh, a, uh, county court judge, which is my current position.
[00:07:30] Judge Murray: Again, I currently serve as the administrative judge of the county. Civil, um, division.
[00:07:36] Rob Blackwell: Okay. One, that sounds like a fantastic journey. In that journey that I want to ask some questions, were there any , pivotal lessons or anything that helped shape your approach to, leadership and learning? Because it sounds like in the process of doing all of that, you've been also taking some time to sow seeds into some of the younger up and coming lawyers that are, you know, entering the law field.
[00:07:56] Judge Murray: [00:08:00] Silence.
[00:08:19] Judge Murray: questioning me asking me questions about, well, is there a black, Professor at University of Miami Law School, who is the Dean of Students, who was a lot of different people that I didn't really know at the time.
[00:08:29] Judge Murray: And then he challenged me and said, when I see you again, you better know who these people are, you better have made appointments with those people. And when I did that, it really just. sent the trajectory of my, my whole life because I just met so many people that were so helpful to me. And it was a good start and pledging out for that, that really, you know, made me really put myself out there to try to find out what was there and where I could get [00:09:00] help and how I could set my career.
[00:09:03] Rob Blackwell: That is outstanding and definitely a six for the good bros and because you brought out the program quick. Um, we're going to be the first or something. So I hear in your career, you've You're known to be the first as well. You want to talk about that?
[00:09:17] Judge Murray: Well, I was the again, the first black assistant state attorney in Monroe County,. I was the first winner of the Golden Drum Award. When I was in law school, I was the only African American, um, student in my section. Um, it's been a lot, a lot of firsts for me, you know, throughout my, my career.
[00:09:37] Rob Blackwell: Spoken like a true alpha.
[00:09:39] Coach GC: All right. One of the things you said, when you're reflecting on your legacy, you mentioned the exercise of learning. And that was one of the most profound, lessons that you taught me growing up. I was able to utilize and it it allowed me to grow and foster a sense of attainment within the [00:10:00] field, within the profession. Can you just walk us through the exercise of learning?
[00:10:05] Judge Murray: Certainly, and it was, again, something that was, You know, taught to me when I went from, you know, started off at the University of Miami, sort of very intimidated by the environment because I, you know, came from very sort of small. No one in my family had went to college. I didn't have a lot of exposure. So, um, professor said, you know, you're doing good, but you could do better.
[00:10:30] Judge Murray: Do you know the exercise of learning? I said, I did not. He said, follow me. And so he was saying, it's just the way that everyone learns. But of course, no one ever taught you that. And it talks about when you want to learn something, when you have something that you're interested in, you initially try to do what you saw someone else do.
[00:10:48] Judge Murray: All right. So you imitate what you saw, whether it's riding a bicycle, dance, cooking, whatever you do, you initially, started out because it was something that interests you. And then you started imitating what you saw them doing. [00:11:00] But imitation can only get you so far. There's always going to be a certain point where there are lessons to be learned that you can't learn just by imitating because you can't see those things.
[00:11:10] Judge Murray: I always give the example, when I'm teaching my students about riding a bicycle, you imitate pedaling, but you can't see balance and balance actually becomes more important. And once you get that, you know, and, and it's the same thing with education, you know, when you, I went to, to school, you know, as I said, in a big classrooms, you know, um, essay exams that you never had in high school and studying four or five books per class.
[00:11:37] Judge Murray: I, you know, looking, I'm trying to imitate what people are doing, trying to read, trying to highlight. But, you know, the exercise of learning taught me that the under part of learning, and I always taught my students the most important thing, the most important part about learning is why do you learn? And you learn so that you can recall information quickly and accurately.
[00:11:59] Judge Murray: It's really the [00:12:00] only reason, I give so many examples of a sport, you practice a play, you practice a play, and then you don't get it right. Then you waste it all the time in practice. You study, study, study, but you don't get well in your exam. You sort of wasted time. So you have to understand why you're doing it.
[00:12:17] Judge Murray: And so you were studying so that you can recall information quickly and accurately. And then once I understood that, I just, you know, as far as academically, there just was really no limit. I could take any class, anything and, and succeed because I understood why I was doing it. And so the third part is you practice and then the fourth you perfect it.
[00:12:41] Judge Murray: And so that's how you know, and I've certainly taught you and taught everybody that I, that I, that would've listened to me. About the exercise of learning. It really made a difference.
[00:12:51] Rob Blackwell: That's a, that's an interesting approach . I'm definitely going to look into that more offline about the exercise and learning because it could probably help me in [00:13:00] my own journey. But one thing I want to touch on, you mentioned exposure. And based on what you've done thus far, how do you think that you've exposed your children, Chad, GC and Jessica, um, as you went out and started, creating new roads, right?
[00:13:14] Rob Blackwell: I always say people like to walk on the yellow brick road. Not many want to build it. You essentially build a yellow brick road for your family where, you know, your children can follow and your grandchildren will follow. So I just wanted to hear a little bit about your thoughts on that.
[00:13:27] Judge Murray: Well, children, as they say, are like potatoes, little potatoes. They have a lot of eyes. They're like sponges. They absorb the thing. And of course, you know, I was working hard to maintain myself, you know, my family and my career. and not really understanding how much influence it was actually having on my children.
[00:13:48] Judge Murray: It wasn't until they became adults, you know, that turned to tell me, you know, that there was so many things that they saw me doing, so many things they heard me doing, um, that [00:14:00] they incorporated in their lives. And that's what, and then they became successful. And then, you know, to say, well, I can look back upon what my dad did.
[00:14:10] Judge Murray: I remember one time my, um, my daughter, Jessica, um, had told a story how, um, she used to watch me and the Alpha brothers put the, you know, wrapped up gifts for Christmas. for underprivileged kids, and that was something that you, you know, just really inspired her. And then, you know, my son, as far as being an attorney, says, you know, I watched you in court, and I saw how you handled yourself.
[00:14:35] Judge Murray: And, you know, even though I wasn't, I didn't tell him, hey, listen and take notes, but they watched, they absorbed. And so, you know, my leading helped lead them and helped lead many others.
[00:14:48] Rob Blackwell: Excellent,
[00:14:48] Coach GC: And, and I'm still, I'm still learning from you. Um, and so I want to pivot into a different direction. And you [00:15:00] taught me the exercise of learning, and it's certainly something that's been profound, but you've given so many other tidbits of information to other mentees of yours, and I kind of want to give you the floor to talk a little bit about what do you think has been the most helpful?
[00:15:18] Coach GC: Okay.
[00:15:35] Judge Murray: thing that I've learned is being available. That's the most important thing as a mentor is to be available because many times the questions that your mentees have are not necessarily the big complex questions of the world. Many times they're just small, uh, important areas in their life.
[00:15:54] Judge Murray: Something that they're going through in their life and what they just really need more than, uh, necessarily just a [00:16:00] profound answer is just a listening ear. Um, so, and then some feedback. And let them know that many of the things that they are going through, you know, I may have already been through that situation or something similar, and, and, and just give them some good advice to, you know, um, to listen, calm, understand that, you know, most of the things that you're going through Other people have gone through, and these are certain ways that you can do it, but getting back to them, being available to answer the question when it was really, when they really needed it, I thought was always one of the best attributes of being a mentor, and that was being
[00:16:38] Coach GC: Yep. Uh, the best ability is availability. That's for sure. But I'm, I'm curious, man, a man like you with all that you've accomplished, why do you care? Why, why do you care to help young lawyers? Why do you care to help? Uh, the downtrodden. Like, why, why does it still matter to you? Alright,[00:17:00]
[00:17:00] Judge Murray: Well, as I said, that the reason why is because There were so many people, those I mentioned, those that I didn't mention, some that I may not even know that did for me. You know, I was, you know, and look back at my life. And you know, that, that one picture that I like to show where I'm in a raggedy shorts and everything and say, well, look at that kid.
[00:17:21] Judge Murray: That kid is now the administrative judge, the biggest. The vision that there is in the state of Florida and maybe in many other states. How does, how does he get there? Well, I got there not because I had such a great plan, but there was just so many other people that had me in their plan that had me in their life and looked out at, look towards me, you know, that were there at certain points in my life to continue to allow me to move on from one higher step to the next step, to the next step.
[00:17:50] Judge Murray: So it wasn't just one person. It was just. So many people. And I know that the price that I owe for what has been given to me is for me to [00:18:00] always give back. I can't give back enough because I've always been given, you know, opportunities that I didn't necessarily see, but someone, you know, just, just moved me a little bit, just moved me a little bit, just moved me a little bit.
[00:18:14] Judge Murray: And then before you know it, um, I'm
[00:18:16] Coach GC: challenge you. I'mma challenge you along this exact vein. During your investiture, yeah, when you got up and spoke, you talked about a seed. Do you, do you remember what you said?
[00:18:35] Judge Murray: I do remember when I said that, you know, a seed that's in a rich ground, a rich environment where you have water, where you have sun, where you have some shelter, that seed has a chance to grow. And as that seed grows and expands, it creates more. Um, and so I've always been blessed that, you [00:19:00] know, that my life was.
[00:19:02] Judge Murray: That seed that got put in that right, um, environment with family, with friends, with others that allowed me to grow, um, and reach out now as my branches spread to touch others and had a couple of seeds of my own, my children that have grown.
[00:19:24] Coach GC: how lucky you were. You talked about how if the wind would have carried you a different direction, you could have been trampled on. If, a wave carried you off during a storm the seed could have drowned. And you just talked about just how lucky you just happened to be, to be in a position to receive help and to utilize the help that you got.
[00:19:48] Coach GC: So I've always wanted to take away just how lucky and blessed that we all are. And it really kind of goes back to making sound decisions. You always used to tell me, uh, [00:20:00] about the building blocks of decision making and how it's not just one catastrophic thing that, that typically ends up happening.
[00:20:07] Coach GC: It's, it's a series. You want to explain that?
[00:20:11] Judge Murray: Yes. And, um, because decision comes from the word size, which means cut. So every time you make a decision, you cut off all other possibilities. Meaning if you decided to go right, you cannot now go left. And so your, your life is, is, is, is just a whole, thing of making decisions. Most of them are very, you know, small and not influenced, but there are some serious decisions.
[00:20:35] Judge Murray: But, you know, I did a lot of criminal defense, and sometimes when I thought that a client, especially when I did a lot of juvenile work, thought that they were one to listen, I would tell them that. I said, if you're really honest with yourself, Be absolutely honest with yourself. You will look back and see your life just like a train track.
[00:20:52] Judge Murray: And you will see exactly where you came from. And you'll see the decisions that you had to make, and why, if you continue [00:21:00] to make bad decisions, why are you so surprised that you're in a bad situation? Whereas if you continue to make good decisions, then the odds are, because there's nothing guaranteed in life, but at least the odds are, That something good is going to happen for you.
[00:21:14] Judge Murray: And if you honestly look back, you will see that track. You will see where you got there and you'll see the decisions that you made both good and bad.
[00:21:24] Rob Blackwell: That's a profound, you know, you guys were talking about the seeds and so on, that the seeds that made me, I don't want to go biblical on you, but when I look at your bio, I look at some of the things that you're doing. I think of Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron. You know, uh, you're a member of the fraternity, fraternity incorporated.
[00:21:41] Rob Blackwell: You're a member of a 5, 000 role models of excellence project. You're a member of the ice foundation. You're active Mason. The question I have to ask, With a demanding career like you have, how do you balance out, you know, uplifting the community and mentoring others and excelling in your career like that and being a family man and doing all the things that [00:22:00] you're doing is phenomenal.
[00:22:01] Rob Blackwell: I just want to know how you're doing.
[00:22:03] Judge Murray: Well, again, you go back to sort of the exercise and learning the practice. And as I even tell all my colleagues now. It's the efficiency, um, correlation, meaning that if you have to do more work with the same amount of material, the only way to do more is to be more efficient. And that a 1 percent increase in efficiency, Will be a 3 percent increase in production.
[00:22:26] Judge Murray: So I've always focused on trying to be efficient, to look at a problem from the beginning to the end, before you start out, look at it and, and, and see what was the most efficient way. You know, one thing that they. that they have in masonry is the 24 inch gauge and where you're supposed to measure out your time because you only have 24 hours in a day, but if you can measure it out you can get a lot more in there.
[00:22:49] Judge Murray: You can put 10 pounds in a five pound bag if you put it in there fishing. So I've always tried to be efficient. I've always had to be. Efficient because again, I built it up with [00:23:00] worn out tools. I didn't have the luxury of making errors and somebody can come around to sort of clean up my error.
[00:23:07] Judge Murray: I didn't have the, the luxury of a safety net for me. For me, I had to take care of my, my wife and kids and my career, and I had to make it count every day. I had to make it count every day, so I always started off my day efficient and try to go through the rest of the day, um, that way.
[00:23:31] Judge Murray: And it's the benefit. It's what I can look at now and say, wow, look at all the things that I did. How do I, how did I do it all? I, you know, I was, I tried to always be efficient with what I was doing.
[00:23:43] Rob Blackwell: Sounds like the test of a man. Indeed. Indeed. So, um, I guess another thing I wanted to ask as, we're going through all of this stuff as it relates to your journey to the bench, your path to the bench, you know , what made it, what [00:24:00] motivated you to take that?
[00:24:02] Judge Murray: Well, as I said, when I was in high school, my high school teacher, Mr. Morris, one of my, one of my, if I had a Mount Rushmore mentors, he would be up there. He was very much into politics and social adjustment, so he was always pushing me and other students towards that. And one year he took me to, uh, Tallahassee with the inauguration of Governor Graham and I met, Justice Hatchett.
[00:24:29] Judge Murray: Like I said, I was just so impressed about his story and, you know, how he came from such humble beginnings. upbringing to be the first African American, again, to be appointed to the Florida Supreme Court and then get reelected statewide. And it just inspired me. I said, I want to be a lawyer.
[00:24:47] Judge Murray: I want to be a judge. It just inspired me. And from there on, that's, I've kept that as my goal. To be there one day.
[00:24:57] Rob Blackwell: So, uh, we're going to jump into a [00:25:00] section that we're going to call rapid fire questions. And uh, we've been said it a thousand times since we've been on the interview, but what is your favorite memory relating to alpha
[00:25:10] Judge Murray: Uh, taking my son over. Absolutely. Nothing, nothing was better than, than that day to, uh, take him over and shake his hand and give him the grip.
[00:25:21] Rob Blackwell: walk me through that.
[00:25:22] Coach GC: . I kind of remember that day a little differently. But go, go, go ahead, Flash. Go.
[00:25:25] Judge Murray: heh heh heh.
[00:25:31] Judge Murray: Well, it was, you know, a long process for him. One of the things that I learned later on was how difficult it was for him as a legacy that I didn't understand. You know, and what he actually went through, you know, to, to get through and, and how, uh, being a legacy was, was, was not, it was, it was difficult, put it, put it that way.
[00:25:54] Judge Murray: And so to know that he did that and he did that, you know, one never, not wanting to [00:26:00] disappoint me, you know, and, you know, in situations that he could have just walked away from and said it wasn't worth it, and so to be there that day. You know, to give him those last impressions, to send him on his way to Alpha Land, I guess.
[00:26:13] Judge Murray: It's just nothing, nothing, nothing's better.
[00:26:17] Rob Blackwell: Yeah, you know, and clearly you set an excellent example because he's almost 20 years and he's never been inactive. That's true. GC. All right. Always been active.
[00:26:26] Coach GC: exception of a time I was suspended. Uh, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get into that another
[00:26:32] Rob Blackwell: going to pass. Yeah. Yeah. We'll pass. We'll pass. We'll pass by that.
[00:26:38] Judge Murray: Sometimes you gotta fight to be free, they say.
[00:26:41] Coach GC: That's all right, though, man, that, that pathway led to Murray Murray Lambda. There's a better breed of alpha. And we, we've had some tremendous stories.
[00:26:51] Coach GC: Uh, spiraling from from that decision that he made in fall 1981. With his [00:27:00] three other lion brothers, the bold ones, at Eta Delta University in Miami. That decision that you made to join the frat has, I mean, that's the reason I know Blackwell. Yeah. He grew up in D. C. and, you know, matriculated, to Maryland where he launches his business and everything, and I would not have met him but for, Both of us going to, an Alpha event.
[00:27:25] Coach GC: It was a highway cleanup, right?
[00:27:28] Judge Murray: man.
[00:27:35] Coach GC: the only reason I, I, I became frat. 100 percent the only reason was cause I shouldered your legacy with pride. And, and, and look where it took me. And look where it's still taking me.
[00:27:49] Coach GC: Train, train keeps moving. Ha
[00:27:51] Judge Murray: taking it.
[00:27:52] Coach GC: ha.
[00:27:54] Rob Blackwell: Indeed.
[00:27:55] Judge Murray: Can't stop. Won't stop.
[00:27:58] Rob Blackwell: I know,[00:28:00]
[00:28:02] Rob Blackwell: but I will ask you this. Uh, so what's one piece of advice you would give your younger self? You know, now that you have acquired all these, uh, all this wisdom through, you know, trials, tribulations, experiences, people you've met, um, what's one piece of advice you would give your younger self?
[00:28:18] Judge Murray: My younger self, again, just, just, just stay, never quit. Never, never, never, never be afraid. Um, you know, my dad always said, and we said as Alphys, don't, don't go back. So if you're going down the road and you're, you're kind of low on gas and you kind of know there was a gas station back there, keep going forward, keep, keep rounding that curve because you know, you, you know, what's already behind you, but there's always so much ahead of you.
[00:28:46] Judge Murray: So never go back, never slow down, never pull to the side of the road. Always keep moving forward every day.
[00:28:54] Coach GC: You're full of wisdom and you've given me a lot of bars over the years, but one bar you said at a [00:29:00] conference, and I don't think I've ever heard you say it again. And it was along the lines of making poor decisions but still moving forward.
[00:29:09] Coach GC: And you likened it to being on the highway and the decision being. A road sign or an exit sign. Do you remember that one?
[00:29:16] Judge Murray: I do remember that, uh, what I was saying is that, You know, mistakes in life. Okay. People make mistakes. You know, we all make mistakes. Uh, and I looked at it. It's like a, again, it's like a sign on the highway going towards it. The sign comes up. Okay. And maybe that was a, was a mistake, but if you keep going, then the sign gets behind you.
[00:29:42] Judge Murray: And then as you get going, it gets smaller and smaller. And then at some point, um, the time goes away. It's almost like I also say, you know, like when you're riding along on the highway and it's raining real hard and your, and your window broke, so the water's getting on the side of your face, but you're [00:30:00] going along anyway and you know, you're tense, you're nervous, you're holding the steering wheel.
[00:30:05] Judge Murray: You can't see that well in front of you, but you keep on going and then, then the rain kind of slows up. And then all of a sudden the rain stops. And next thing you know, you're back to doing 75, 80 miles an hour, the sun is out. And you forgot all about that period of time where you were so nervous.
[00:30:21] Judge Murray: Always move forward. You keep moving forward and , those things will pass you by. And they'll just be, they won't even be memories anymore.
[00:30:30] Coach GC: And that seems like a very specific memory of Bryden.
[00:30:36] Judge Murray: Yeah, that's one. Dad, do you want me to wipe, wipe the rain off the side of your face?
[00:30:42] Coach GC: Good times, man, good times.
[00:30:45] Rob Blackwell: Oh, my goodness, man. So, uh, y'all, y'all, y'all probably got stories for days. You probably can get a Netflix special out of
[00:30:52] Coach GC: I was gonna ask the rapid fire question. All right. What's one skill that you know that every leader has to [00:31:00] master?
[00:31:03] Rob Blackwell: Hmm.
[00:31:03] Judge Murray: Hmm.
[00:31:12] Judge Murray: is your greatest asset.
[00:31:13] Judge Murray: Time and reputation is your greatest asset as a lawyer because your reputation is the one thing that gets to court before you do. Stays there next to you like co counsel and will stay there even after you've left will be your reputation.
[00:31:29] Judge Murray: All right. And if you understand that, and always, you know, have a good reputation, it does, it does work for you that you don't realize that it's actually doing. And then also understand that time is your greatest asset because you can save money. You can save other things, but you can't save time. Once that moment is gone, it's gone.
[00:31:50] Judge Murray: You can't bank it. You can't. You know, it doesn't grow interest and say, well, I'll go back and then I'll use that time later. Can't do it. Once that time has passed, [00:32:00] it's passed. So again, it goes back to getting, being efficient, you know, having a good reputation, working hard, moving forward. Those are the skills that everyone, if you can master those.
[00:32:12] Judge Murray: You can be successful,
[00:32:15] Rob Blackwell: So it sounds like when you're talking about the whole reputation piece, as I translate that over into the field that I'm in and technology, like, before people meet you, they read about you in a way, you know, almost like your resume speaking for itself reputation speaking for yourself. So, I think that is very profound before people actually meet you and get to know you. They read about you. Interesting.
[00:32:35] Judge Murray: Especially in the days of social media. you can't really hide yourself as much as you used to do before. And so many times, if you go in for an interview, like you said, everybody that's sitting at that table may have already had an opinion of you. And if it's not a good opinion, you may have thought you had a great interview.
[00:32:50] Judge Murray: And you know, you just don't get the callback or you don't get the position and sometimes they won't tell you why. You know, I, I was speaking to a lot of young people and I was telling them to [00:33:00] go back to do an audit of your social media, you know, when you're getting ready to graduate from college, you're getting ready for that first job.
[00:33:06] Judge Murray: Go back. And at the time I was doing, I think Facebook had been around 10 years, and I told them I did the same thing. Go back and look at that. And if you see any pictures, you know, that, that doesn't put you in the most flattering situation, maybe you want to go ahead and hide those pictures, delete those pictures.
[00:33:23] Judge Murray: You know, alcohol, weapon, anything that doesn't put you in a great light. And it may not have been anything because the picture is just one simple moment in time. It couldn't have meant anything, but they look at it and they, they could judge you by it. And I know when the state attorneys hire people now, they look through your social media, both your, your pedestrian name, and they also try to triangulate to that fraternity name or other name that you may have had as a social media thing. And you can find out a lot about people by looking at their social media
[00:33:54] Coach GC: that was, that was self, uh, self invested capital right there [00:34:00] when you told me to just go ahead and before you get married, go ahead and review that Facebook one more time. I went ahead and just, I went ahead and just deleted it. I just started a whole new page and just, I just let it go.
[00:34:11] Judge Murray: That person doesn't exist anymore. There's no sense in keeping them alive.
[00:34:16] Coach GC: man, you talked about reputation and one of the biggest things about reputation is about a sense of self, right? And a sense of what it is that you want to accomplish. So I want you to talk about your thoughts on success. And what it means to you?
[00:34:33] Judge Murray: The best way I can really just describe it because sometimes You know, you don't always know the success that you are creating for yourself. But I'm going to go back to my investiture. And my son spoke at my investiture as my last speaker. And at the end, he gave a beautiful speech.
[00:34:52] Judge Murray: But at the end he said, one last thing. Dad, I want you to stand up.
[00:34:57] Judge Murray: And I want you to look at your colleagues. And look [00:35:00] at your family, and look at your mentors, and look at your mentees, and look at your friends, and look at all these people, and understand they are only here for one reason, and that's because of you.
[00:35:12] Judge Murray: Because of all the things that you've done, that you don't even realize, so many different ways you may have touched people's lives, that you don't even realize. Is why they're here. Stand up and look around and look at all the people. And it was overflow room. So you had two overflow rooms of people that couldn't even get into the one courtroom.
[00:35:33] Judge Murray: All there for you. And it's really based on the person that you are and, and, you know, reaching out and just trying to do good all people, you know, not just because you think they are going to benefit you in some way, but he just did it because it was the right thing to do. And I'll, I'll always remember that.
[00:35:52] Judge Murray: I didn't see that coming. That's part of the speech, but it really just, um,
[00:35:57] Judge Murray: took me away at that moment. I have to [00:36:00] look back at the video to see the moment. It was just really that profound.
[00:36:04] Coach GC: you know, it's funny. Uh, I thought I was about to give the worst speech in my life because I remember that speech. And you know, me, I don't prepare my speeches, right? I get up there.
[00:36:14] Judge Murray: Yeah, man. I asked you, did you prepare?
[00:36:16] Coach GC: I told you, I got you. I told you. So I don't, I don't prepare my speeches, right? Because I know, and this is something that I teach, my coach lawyers.
[00:36:28] Coach GC: No one else knows what you're supposed to say. Right? And the more you over prepare, the more you think you have to be perfect and stick to what you wrote. And you could lose the moment that way. Or you could just get so off kilter because you're like, I don't remember exactly What the next sentence was that you end up butchering your own speech, a speech that no one had expectations for, because no one knew what you were going to deliver, right?
[00:36:52] Coach GC: Because, you know, in most cases, most of my coach lawyers aren't delivering prepared remarks. So they're not delivering prepared remarks that nobody [00:37:00] knows. So I went into that speech thinking, okay, I'm just going to get up there and I'm just going to talk, you know, talk from the heart about my dad.
[00:37:06] Coach GC: And then I followed Jack Hickey. Who had done like amazing like intel and research on you. Like he's talking about your UM days and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And then Michael Heiger gets up and Jack was the president of Miami Dade Bar. Biggest, bar association in the state. Then, uh, Michael Heiger gets up and he had stories for days and he was an amazing speaker.
[00:37:30] Coach GC: And he had known you since law school. So he had all these stories about you and who you've been, over the years. And then you had one more speaker, a former judge. Izzy Reyes gets up and then he crushes it and he's funny. And this has been the only moment where I thought, I should have prepared.
[00:37:50] Coach GC: I should have prepared. Ha.
[00:37:53] Judge Murray: I just did a mock trial this past weekend, I was telling the uh, the young attorneys, you know, Don't get [00:38:00] trapped by depositions and reports and everything because they just trap you into a Mindset of focus or something. You gotta let all that go. I told them about the one attorney that was really good that never took And he said, because it frees me up to really get to the points that I'm trying to make.
[00:38:22] Judge Murray: And that, and you know, maybe not having written something really freed you up to, to what you really wanted to say. And then you, you said, but I've seen you deliver that, that many times before and other times you've, you've always delivered. But like you said, you, you, you weren't, you didn't bound yourself by, I got to cover this.
[00:38:41] Judge Murray: I got to cover that. And so I'm going to be free. To, you know, let it out, let it out from the heart.
[00:38:49] Rob Blackwell: Yeah, I will say, uh, coach, that's some of the best advice you've given me too, because my best ones are the ones that I don't prepare. So, thanks.
[00:38:57] Judge Murray: Least know where you're supposed to be at and what you're [00:39:00] supposed to be talking about.
[00:39:01] Rob Blackwell: frame it right, you know, but to you guys's point, if you're trying to, you know, Honing in on certain things or you're trying to write it verbatim. Oh man. When you stumble, it's gonna be worse than what it should, but when it's come from as genuine as from the heart, you have a, uh, you have an idea of what you're speaking on.
[00:39:17] Rob Blackwell: I mean, I don't think anybody in that room could tell him how to speak about his father and how he feels about his father, like, I don't think anybody, uh, will beat him in a competition with that. It's lovely. That's what it's that, but to this point though, um, yeah, man, it's, it's so much is.
[00:39:30] Rob Blackwell: It's pretty flowing when you, you know,
[00:39:32] Coach GC: going to send you the video. You've got to hear the other speakers, bro. I was under pressure. I was under siege, bro. I was fighting for my life because I couldn't, there's no way if I would have got up and delivered a mediocre, uh, speech and, and by God's grace, it wasn't. It sounds like it wasn't
[00:39:50] Coach GC: all right. So Flash, Blackwell and I come together to create this podcast called the Exposure Factor, because we truly believe and really it's him. He was the [00:40:00] driving force, behind the idea and wanting us to begin having a discussion with these unsung heroes, these people that. They present just like, uh, you know, a force multiplier of good and so while we came up with this concept, he came up with the name Exposure Factor. And while we were thinking about it, if you look at the little logo, you see a spotlight, right? The X, two spotlights. And I came up with this segment called The Flash Moment.
[00:40:31] Coach GC: In honor of you, especially since you're our inaugural guest. So I want to talk about your flash moment. And that's that moment where you were in a spotlight, and it shaped your journey. I, I have one for you, but I want to see if it's the same one that you'd pick for yourself. And mine is, is, is third hand.
[00:40:49] Coach GC: I wasn't even there. Uh, just heard about it. So, floor is yours. What is your, what is your flash moment?
[00:40:59] Judge Murray: Well, you know, [00:41:00] I was practicing. I got a call from a boomer client, a friend of mine. I said, can you help my son? He's, you know, they're trying to take away his wife, his family. You know, what are you talking about? And he lived in Sebring, Florida. So it wasn't even in Miami and didn't have any money, but he needed help.
[00:41:20] Judge Murray: And so the situation was that his wife had got into a really serious car accident. Car flipped over many times and she was in a vegetative state, although she didn't have any serious injuries, no head trauma or anything, but she wouldn't wake up. Just wouldn't wake up. With no real other injuries, she just wouldn't wake up.
[00:41:42] Judge Murray: And so at a certain point, you know, there's a big trauma team and everything that, or medical team that's working on her and it's been months have gone by, she's just in the same state. Just laying there. And so they decided that, well, maybe they can let her go home. Since she [00:42:00] doesn't have any medical needs, let her go home and that the home environment may be helpful to her.
[00:42:06] Judge Murray: So they got some funding together for him to put a hospital bed and all sort of stuff in the house to bring her home. So they did that. They brought her home. Still no reaction. Then the team just said that maybe if you had, um, conjugal contact with her, that may. And there was some, uh, studies about that, but one of the nurses didn't agree with that.
[00:42:30] Judge Murray: So, so he did, and he came back and reported it. He said it was the worst. It was just, just wasn't what you're thinking of, or what the one nurse said. She went to the police, to the Highland County Police Department, and they come back, and they want to charge him with, like, sexual battery on an unresponsive person.
[00:42:49] Judge Murray: They want to, um, Take her away as a protective adult. Um, and so, uh, my friend says, you got, you got. begging you, you gotta help him, [00:43:00] you know, and so I said, okay, I would, so I, you know, I go up there first thing, you know, we got the criminal stuff out of the way, based on what the doctor was saying, but then adult services comes and they said, we're going to take her away, we're going to take her back, put her in a facility, and he will, and, and family will only be allowed to have supervised visits with her, as long as she stayed in the condition she stayed in, so I had to, I had to fight that, I remember, um, Driving up there, um, just me and Mike, I drove up there and met him.
[00:43:28] Judge Murray: We went to the courthouse, just me and him. You know, they have their protective services people, the guardian ad litem, the attorney, the sheriff, the detectives and everything. And, um, you know, it was, it was quite a hearing, but I, but I, I succeeded in the hearing by talking about, That the greatest and the most valued relationship under our constitution is the relationship of husband and wife.
[00:43:54] Judge Murray: And all he was doing was what the doctors told him could possibly [00:44:00] help her. You know, he testified as, there was no sexual gratification in what he did, he was crying, it was worse. So, I win the case.
[00:44:08] Judge Murray: So they, they dismissed the, uh, the charges and she was able to go back home. And then his mother, who had asked me to go do this, wrote a letter to the Florida Supreme Court about it. And the Florida Supreme Court then wrote back down to, I guess, contacted officials in Dade County, and they said they were going to give me the pro bono award, the 2007, um, Florida Bar Pro Bono Award.
[00:44:34] Judge Murray: And it was given to me at a service at the Florida Supreme Court. Um, and have my family there, GC. I know we remember being at the court. I can still see some of the pictures that we took together. And in the end, it wasn't really even about that. She stayed in that vegetative state for another five years before she actually died, but she died [00:45:00] at her home with her husband.
[00:45:02] Judge Murray: With her son, with her other family members, instead of being, you know, in some, adult living facility where only had supervised visits and just the fact that I was able to, to, like I said, beyond getting the Pro Bono Award, just understanding that I kept a family together all the way to the end, because she never, she never woke up.
[00:45:24] Judge Murray: She stayed in that visitative state for I think seven years before she finally died. But she died at home with a husband holding her hand, a child laying there with her family members that was there and I, and you know, they were so grateful for it and they always, you know, uh, speak of that and that really showed what you can do when you, you know, sort of just put your heart into something and not worry about, oh, you know, what's going to happen because I, again, I did it pro bono.
[00:45:53] Judge Murray: I wasn't, I didn't do it to make money. I didn't, I got this award, but I didn't even know about the award until they. Wrote me a [00:46:00] letter and said, Hey, come, you're going to get the award. And then how it lifted my career. None of those things was my goal starting out. It was just trying to do the right thing and help out a person that really needed help.
[00:46:12] Rob Blackwell: The only one needed to be done, tell you, good work, good yellows work. I just want to get some insights on our conversation and now, you know, I'll sum it up, you know, like this in life, there are two dates that coincide with us, the date we're born the day that we leave this place.
[00:46:32] Rob Blackwell: But that dash in between those two dates and what we do at that time is how we leave a lasting legacy and just based off of what I know of you and what you've shared with us, uh, seeing your family, you know, being able to call you a frat brother, friend, family, brother, all that good stuff, man. You're building a village out here, man, on so many different fronts, um, with the folks that you're mentoring, with you, the seeds that you're sowing in the community.
[00:46:57] Rob Blackwell: And I just want to, you know, take this, [00:47:00] uh, moment, man, and give you your flowers and just simply say, like, it is an honor and a privilege to know you, to be able to call you brother, friend, call you family. Like man, it's an honor and privilege to know you and see the things that you're doing and the reality, you just doing what needs to be done, right?
[00:47:16] Rob Blackwell: Cause nobody else will, but you're willing to, and you're building that village, you're building that yellow brick road for more than just your family, for everybody. So this is my really, tip my hat to you on that.
[00:47:26] Judge Murray: Thank you, and I appreciate it, and I appreciate all that you've done. Like I said, you accepted my son when he moved up there to D. C., and even my daughter, and I mean, you're, you're the one person that they could, either one of them in a second would be the, you'd be the first person they call, situation, you, you know, you always, you've always been there.
[00:47:44] Judge Murray: So I, I certainly appreciate all that you've done to, you know, to help me or to help my family out, man, and your lovely family as well, you know, and, and even when the time, remember? Set your target. Focus. [00:48:00] Let it go. Bullseye.
[00:48:02] Rob Blackwell: Indeed. Indeed. Indeed. And I tell you, uh, you know, your son, that ain't pro bono work. That's a different individual, man. I tell you. That is a, that is a, that's a job in itself and a case and a, yeah, that ain't pro bono work, man.
[00:48:31] Coach GC: and I thank you for being our inaugural guest on The Exposure Factor. You got any lasting words you want to, you want to say?
[00:48:42] Judge Murray: Well, again, I'm very, very proud of you. The work you've done, the things that you've done. You know, he was the one that walked into the governor's office to say, Can I talk to you about my dad? You know, because he was in Tallahassee at the time. And, you know, you have just [00:49:00] taken anything that I have done And lifted it up to a level that, that I, I didn't know really existed.
[00:49:08] Judge Murray: And so, you know, I, as much as I appreciate all the love that you give to towards me, it really all goes back because you've taken it and you've done more than I could have ever possibly done.
[00:49:21] Rob Blackwell: You know, uh, that is amazing. Uh, it's not like you just gave a reflection of how you, you know, you viewed your son's career and just him as an individual. But, uh, do you see what you got for your dad?
[00:49:34] Coach GC: Kind of put me on the spot there, bro. I know lots of you made up them.
[00:49:38] Rob Blackwell: Hey, man, look, you say a clarification, right? For all the listeners and the folks on the call. You said you don't need to prepare for a speech,
[00:49:46] Coach GC: Dang.
[00:49:47] Judge Murray: Well, one thing that I can say too, I'll just add to that. I would not do my investiture until Trey, my son, grandson, Gordon Murray III was able to come and [00:50:00] attend. He brought Trey there. We have the picture and proof. He can never do any more than
[00:50:05] Coach GC: Enjoy. Trey loves Grandpa Judge. We'll be seeing you sooner than you think, God willing. So yeah, I am excited about the prospect of what we can do going forward and, I appreciate you sharing the exercise of learning with us. And just reflecting on your journey.
[00:50:29] Coach GC: And again, you're, to me, your journey is pretty remarkable.
[00:50:32] Judge Murray: You know all those things that we do, I did. And I guess just for the right thing, really.
[00:50:40] Judge Murray: Just really for trying to do the right thing, staying out of trouble.
[00:50:43] Coach GC: amen. And look at the legacy that you've left behind by doing so. Again, thank you for, for being on, being our inaugural guest. We certainly appreciate you. Uh, this is going to be it for us until 2025. We just wanted to give [00:51:00] you this preview episode of the exposure factor, where we talk about leadership, professional development through storytelling, uh, some of our, you know, most renowned unsung heroes, hopefully giving you a glimpse of what you can achieve so you can create greater change in your own life.
[00:51:19] Coach GC: I'm coach GC and I got my cohost Rob Blackwell. We appreciate y'all being here.
[00:51:27] Rob Blackwell: again.
[00:51:29] Judge Murray: All right, thank you all. Good program.
