Maybe he needed a referral from my wife's uncle

In Underwood v. U.S., on the petitioner's claim for post-judgment relief from his conviction, Judge Wilson concludes his opinion with these words:

"Underwood, who is not an uneducated man stubbornly states, apparently for effect: 'my lawyer done me wrong.' Yet, here the facts are equally as stubborn, and his lawyer is simply that, a lawyer. He is not a magician. He cannot make the stubborn facts disappear."

The uncle, by the way, is the author of Inclined Toward Magic: Encounters With Books, Collectors, and Conjurors, which I think is his mostly first-person account of a lifetime of collecting books about magic. He also put together a book called Wizard Exposed: Magic Tricks by and Interviews With Harry Houdini Howard Thurston and Other Past Masters of Magic. Many years ago, we had dinner at the in-laws with David and one of his old magician buddies, who then performed a few magic tricks, successfully and without damage to persons or property.