Before Leo was a teacher he practiced law. His career started before the 1929 crash. Back in those days, he worked for a newly established law firm in the Citadel. He was young and eager but needed some guidance so he was assigned to small time clients and hard luck cases. None were particularly challenging but he followed the rules, filed the papers, did the work and got positive results. He helped every client who came through his door by following the letter of the law. Truth prevailed and justice was served. Those were happy times.
Then one day a family member came to him with a whopper of a case. It was a real David vs. Goliath situation that involved taking down a financial giant, the Citadel Bank and its President, Carson. It was the type of case that could make or break a lawyer's career. It was intimidating. He knew the bank had endless resources to fight, but Leo reviewed all the details of the case from every imaginable angle. He was sure that if he took the case he would be on the side of right. Once the facts came out he was sure that the bank would be obligated to pay substantial fines, and it was possible that Carson would be sentenced to jail.
There was a lot of money at stake, so the bank and their attorneys made attempts to settle the case outside of court, but Leo rejected their offers. To him it was a fight over principles. It was clear who was right and who was wrong. So he took the case to trial and crossed swords with the Citadel Bank and Carson in the courtroom. Leo took a risk. He played fair, followed the rules and the letter of the law and he lost. He lost big
His opponents used massive amounts of money to fabricate hypothetical truths. They used every dirty trick imaginable to discredit Leo and his client and it worked. There was nothing fancy about their technique; they just had purchasing power enough to circumvent the law. To them the truth wasn't a weapon, it was an obstacle and Leo was crushed along with it.
In the last few moments of the trial, right before the verdict was read, Carson turned to Leo and freed a sly smile. The smug bastard already knew the answer. He knew the result before it was read to the rest of the court. Leo lost the trial. Then he lost everything else.
In the business world he became a pariah. He took on one of their own and lost a high profile case. To potential clients it didn't matter how you played the game, it mattered if you won or lost. No one wanted to risk hiring a loser, especially one who lost so big and so publicly.
He clung to his principles. He took pride in knowing he was right. He lost because they lied, but no one else cared. He had faith in the law and was made a fool. His failure cost him his job, his career, his reputation, his first marriage, his health, and his friends. It nearly cost him his license to practice law even though he had done nothing wrong. Carson's web of influence ensnared the City. Leo learned how vulnerable he was. Average people were just bugs easily squashed by the financial giants of the Citadel.
Leo's internal dialogue screamed. "How could you be so God damned stupid?"
At Redact University he sat in his office red faced. His blood pressure was rising. His body shook as rage kicked its way through him. The pen he'd been using to grade papers exploded under the pressure and ink poured all over the desk and his hand.
"Great, just great!" He fumed.
He wanted to start screaming. He wanted to turn the desk over. He wanted to thrash the props in his academic prison. He wanted to tear the Citadel apart…but he didn't. Instead he took a deep breath, sat back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He wiped the sweat from his face with inky fingers, leaving blue streaks behind.
He concentrated on controlling his breathing… He assured himself it was all over now… There was nothing he could do about it… It was a thing of the past… He made his mind blank… He thought of floating in cold water… He made himself numb… He preferred the numbness to the frustration. It was the only way he could survive. He warned himself. "I’m going to have a heart attack some day if I’m not careful."
Eventually he calmed down. He remembered his students. They were depending on him. He cleaned up the mess on his desk and got back to work on their papers. He tried to focus on the task and forget about the outside world again.
In the aftermath of the big trial Leo couldn't find a job. As the depression hit it seemed like everyone was in limbo. Living became a source of anxiety with no sign of relief. A sympathetic family member helped him get an interview at the University. The school was more forgiving of his past failure and they found him a teaching position. He turned his back on the legal system and locked himself away in the halls of academia. He tried forgetting his history, but he could never escape the consequences. The reminders of his failure continued to flog him. He once heard that, "Those who can't do, teach."
And it stung.