About the Author

Now, as grandparents, Bert and Suzie, in view of the direction their beloved country is headed, are deeply concerned about the future for their grandchildren. That concern led Bert to write this memorandum.

Albert "Bert" R. Killackey is an attorney enjoying the retired life. But to say that he took the "scenic route" to get to this stage is an understatement.

Bert's love for American history and the United States Constitution awakened in his Eighth Grade government class at El Monte, California. But architectural drawing competed for his attention. His widowed father knew exactly what to get him: a drawing board and tee-square, and a book of edited Supreme Court opinions. When Bert was a high school freshman, his father passed away, leaving him to be cared for by his older brothers. To finish high school, Bert switched to night classes so he could care for his wife and son by working as a window glazier at a large manufacturing facility. There, he became the union shop steward, winning every worker safety grievance he filed on behalf of the rank and file. His marriage ended after three years, and Bert wrote his own divorce and custody arguments which his lawyer filed with the court. He was then a single dad with sole custody of two children.

As a result of spinal surgery, Bert was unable to stand all day, so he took a job installing HVAC systems, working his way up to crew leader. About this time, he married the love of his life, Suzie, who has shared his life for 50+ years. They bought a vacant lot and began designing a home for their family which had grown to include four children, making drawings on the board Bert's father had given him. Four years later, construction began. They had Christmas in their new home, minus a kitchen, which took several more months to complete.

Bert became a champion of gender equality when he learned of exclusive father/son and mother/daughter activities scheduled at his son's public school. He filed a complaint with the California State Department of Education, eventually persuading the department to end sex-segregated activities in favor of inclusive events. The National Organization for Woman awarded Bert their Golden Gazelle award for his work in sex equity in education rights.

Years later, a neurologist discovered that Bert had an inherited nerve disorder, CMT, causing progressive nerve damage. His neurologist told him to "Go back to school as this disease has no effect on the mind." Forbidden to work in the construction trades he loved, Bert fell into depression. Suzie talked him into taking a class in American Sign Language (ASL) at Rio Hondo Community College. Bert had always been hearing-impaired and felt ASL was the only way he could make it through college. His ASL professor had a different idea. She knew of a program to help students who could not afford hearing aids and helped him apply. Two years later, as a hearing aid user with nearly all "A's", but one "B", Bert transferred to Cal State University, Los Angeles with a dream of becoming a high school civics teacher. Bert then earned a B.A. degree majoring in Social Science but also completed enough units to list a minor on his degree of either Pre-Law, Women's Studies or Chicano Studies. Bert's mentor, his Constitutional Law professor, told him to include the Pre-Law minor and apply to law schools.

When studying for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) Bert quickly saw a strong connection in the mental processes of architectural drawing, construction work and the LSAT. It all involves the same analytical and logical reasoning skills: foresight and problem solving. At Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Bert focused on Constitutional law, Disability Rights Law, and Children and the Law. In 1997, Bert graduated and then became a member of the California Bar. In Bert's first decade as a lawyer he represented children in the County Dependency Court system while employed at Law Offices of Kenneth P. Sherman, of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles. Thereafter Bert and his son Mike, who followed him to Loyola Law, founded their own firm, Killackey Law Offices, L.L.P.