Cusanbery spent his first 11 years out of law school working with different law firms. He was then named to his current position with Mission Pharmacal, but soon missed the camaraderie of other lawyers, so a friend encouraged him to join the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).
After a few months of involvement, local leadership asked him to participate in its ethics committee. Part of his duties included helping to secure speakers, including judges, for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses focusing on ethics. He did that for a few years but soon felt the program could be enlivened.
“It’s not so exciting to hear judges talk about ethics,” he says. One year, his local ACC chapter tried a different tact: they hired a guitarist who entertained and educated by singing songs about ethics. The experiment didn’t turn out as hoped. Not only did the effort prove a financial bust, the songs were not geared towards the corporate attorneys in attendance.
Armed with the knowledge of Cusenbary’s theatrical past, the chapter’s executive director asked him to organize an original musical CLE about ethics. With a background in musical theater, Cusenbary jumped at the chance to create the cabaret she requested. “We did that a few years but then we outgrew our space,” he recalls. As it happened, a former judge who was on board of performance spaces in San Antonio saw a show and arranged for the group to perform, rent-free, in a downtown venue.
The first Ethics Follies®, 12 years ago, was staged at the Plaza Club in San Antonio. This October, the troupe will celebrate a decade performing Ethics Follies at the larger and prestigious Charline McCombs Empire Theater. Not only has the venue changed, the cast has, too. When the troupe first started, attorneys, both in-house and out, comprised most of the performing group. “Now it’s 50/50. We have realtors, professional actors, attorneys---people who care about ethics,” he says.
Some shows utilize upwards of 60 participants, although the group’s traveling troupe ranges between 10 to 15 people. Performers don’t withstand an audition, per se, to join the group. Sometimes, Cusenbary will see someone perform in a show and then ask if they’d like to join the troupe.
Cusenbary’s longtime standing in the San Antonio community helps, too, since his networking net is cast far and wide. He also relies on others already in the group for their suggestions.
Explaining Ethics Follies
Ethics Follies offers a unique and entertaining way to teach ethics to attorney groups, both in Texas and outside the state. Through the use of creative and parodied lyrics to music, normally Broadway tunes, the group sings, dances and educates their audiences, which often also include non-legal types.
“Ethics Follies applies to anyone who has seen people going down the wrong path but keeping a positive attitude,” says Cusenbary, whose wife, a San Antonio physician, is also a member of the troupe. The lilt on shows is decidedly Southern, he says. That means “we keep a smile on our faces despite getting lost in quicksand. It’s a gracious, backhanded way of talking,” he explains.
Since the group’s inception a dozen years ago, Ethics Follies has performed that same number of shows. One is based on the music and plot of the longtime Broadway smash ‘Chicago.’ Currently, Ethics Follies is revamping and updating the show it performed ten years ago when it moved to the Empire Theater. Titled ‘Decent’s Decent,’ the plot focuses on a company that falls into mayhem due to fraud and deceit.
“It’s based on my experiences of legal communities during my career,” says Cusenbary. Jeff Gifford, a member of Dykema Cox Smith in San Antonio, has been involved in Ethics Follies since Day One. He has contributed to some of the scripts and lyrics and has performed both in San Antonio and beyond. For example, he joined the group when it performed for bar associations in Columbus, San Francisco and New Jersey, as well as for the Wal-Mart Attorney Training conference in Benton, Arkansas. The American Bar Association in Chicago has also hosted Ethics Follies.
Gifford got involved in theater in the fourth grade. While in college, he performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. However, he doesn’t consider himself much of a singer. “I’m more of a hack,” he says. However, he gets a kick out of performing a wide array of characters speaking with foreign accents.
He also enjoys participating in Ethics Follies for another reason. “I love the people I work with, professionals in the community who care about ethical business behavior.” While educating audiences about ethics using humor is one of the great takeaways of Ethics Follies, it has a philanthropic angle, too.
“With regard to fundraising, Ethics Follies was created to fulfill our ACC Chapter’s mission of educating in-house attorneys in current ethics issues facing in house attorneys. Over the years, it grew to be a networking event for attorneys, accountants and executives who believe that good ethics is good for business, so we added networking to the Mission Statement," Cusenbary explains. "When we started having money left over from the CLE registrations and sponsorships, we selected a charity to donate the net proceeds to. That charity has always been The Community Justice Program, which provides free legal services to the poor in easy-to-access areas like recreation centers, gymnasiums or the VA hospital lobby. So fundraising has now been added to our Mission as well: Educate, Network, Give Back.”
After paying for the production of the show each year, putting aside enough money for the ACC Chapter to operate for another year and pay the Executive Director, Amber Clark, the extra cash is donated. He says the amount is usually between $20,000 and $25,000 annually, depending on attendance at the San Antonio shows. Some organizations donate money to our chapter for a performance, such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts Conference, which has had us perform twice and makes a donation to ACC. For further information about the troupe, consult Ethics Follies.
Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.