As a young lawyer in Houston, I had the good fortune to sip whiskey with veteran trial attorneys who never ran short of stories. One told of a country lawyer who journeyed to the big city to argue before the court of appeals. The case was going well, until a judge asked, “Counsel, are you aware of the maxim, volenti non fit injuria?”

“Why, your honor,” he answered in a voice as smooth as melted butter, “in the piney woods of East Texas, we speak of little else.”