tony was an urban chicken farmer. vince had an amazing economy of words and tony had an inability to put a period on the the end of a sentence. vince loved to work out. and tony loved yoga. i think the immortal words of st. francis summed them up the best "nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength. "vincent and tony were our gentleness and our strength. together, gentleness and strength stood on that fateful day that brought us together here for this service. together, gentleness and strength went into harm's way and together, gentleness and strength have left us. vincent and tony were two men who had every gift but length of years. vincent and tony were two men who dedicated their lives to serving others and vain spent tony were two men who were role models, not just in how they died, but most importantly in how they lived. let us all strive to get the perez and valerio family strength in the days ahead to overcome their grief. and to vince perez and tony valerio who gave their live

it was the way tony reacted. that's the way tony was, he was reacted. i was also amazed at some of the girls that tony knew. they all seemed pretty nice. when i knew tony when he was younger, he was the kind of guy that walked around with the pocket protector and the glasses. and i thought, you're a geek but you're my brother so i have to love you. and one of the encounters tony and i had we were walking down westboro boulevard and we decided to take a shortcut. so i started sinking into the mud and i was sinking more and more. and i said, tony you better go and go to the fire station and get help. so i kept sinking and sinking. and they finally got there, and all i lost was a shoe. and all i kept thinking was my mother is going to be mad. she is going to have to buy me new shoes. and one time we were learning how to surf. and he had the short wet suit and the 6-foot surfboard. and i had the long wet suit and the 9-foot surfboard. and i thought, why would i have the long board? i also thought why do i have the long board? i fried that out for a while, i

i hope tony likes it. [laughing] [applause] >> we knew this would be tremendously embarrassing to tony, because tony, you know, doesn't like to be recognized in any way. but the reason we did this, tony -- and i want to thank the trial lawyers association or the northern california criminal trial lawyers association as well as stuart hanlon. we're going to also have an image of you -- a sculpture of you, in our trial room to help inspire the next generation of attorneys. but this one is yours. [applause] so thank you very much to all of our panelists. we're going to take a five-minute break and then come back with our next p >> the second panel. this panel is going to be incredible. it really is. we have a superstar panel and, of course, a superstar moderator that i'm very honored to introduce, and that's judge lee baxter. and judge lee baxter is retired now from the bench, although you would never know it. and she's enjoying a new career as a photographer, is a great photographer. but during the time that

tony would certainly tell us that one. yet we know that they are heros because of who they were and what they did. and they gave their all and they gave it for all of us. we know today that all of our rituals and all of our prayers will not take away our pain or the pain of their families. but let us in a real sense be so important that we are here today, that we acknowledge what happened and we acknowledge the gifts that they gave us, especially in being san francisco firefighters. and we know that as we honor them, we also honor the perez and the vallero families who share that with us. and we always do it together. that's the fire department's way. and we have a unique bond that if you are not a firefighter, it's hard for them to express or define that, but it is a bond that cannot be broken, even by the power of death. so today we sometimes get it and sometimes we are buried together, we thank vinny and tony for not only being together and showing us what it means, but to give them the supreme sacrifice, that we do thi

tony could talk. and tony could talk, and when he was done, he could talk some more. i used to run into tony often out in the waters surfing. and he would paddle up. i would try to avert eye contact because i know it would be a five-hour discussion, but he would paddle up and begin to tell a story. i would catch a wave, paddle back out, tony would still be talking as if i had never left. i would catch another wave, come back out, he would still be talking. this went on and on until another firefighter who was surfing paddled up and said i never thought i would pray for a shark attack, but

tony would certainly tell us that. we know that they are heroes because of who they were and what they did. they gave their all and they gave it for all of us. we know today that all of our rituals and prayers will not take away our pain or the pain of their family. it is important that we are here today. it is important that we have knowledge is what happened and acknowledge the gift that they gave us in being san francisco firefighters. we know that as we honor them, we also honor the perez and valerio families who shared them with us. we always do it together. that is the fire department way. we have a unique bond that if you are not a firefighter, it is difficult to express or defined. it is a bond that cannot be broken, even by the power of death. today, we sometimes die and we sometimes are buried together. we think vinnie and tony for not only been together and showing us what it means to give this supreme sacrifice, we do this together honoring and remembering them because they taught us not just how to die but

tony? >> i think in a corrupt society in a perfect society as we have, there has to be a hope or a projected ideal that there is justice, we'll say, in the court system and that there's idealistic lawyers, and there's fair judges, and there's not, you know, indelible bias and prejudice and rac racism, sexis, and all of those things dissipate, you know, when we approach the per diem. it's just like blinding our self. it's a way of taking the placebo instead of the medicine. great reform is required. we're threatened now by totalitarian tactics, grand juries, informants, mandatory sentencing. it's not very good, my friends. we're losing constitutional rights every day. and i think the way we appease our conscious, those of us who desire, i guess, not to probe and not to reform and not to speak out is we pretend that things have occurred in courts that didn't real liquor. [applause] >> it sounds like all of those things would make great tv or, of course, a great novel. paulette, you've spent s

and right next to her we have tony serra, and tony serra is the most prolific trial lawyer of our times. he's tried more cases than any other living lawyer. if you ever had a chance to see him in court, it's just a sight to behold. it really is. we're so grateful that he could be here today. he's trying a triple homicide case right now in oakland. he has a jury out waiting. you may get called away but we're hope you're able to stay for the panel. finally, we have sheldon siegel. and sheldon siegel is a corporate lawyer who has written a series -- i think seven books now, a fictional criminal defense attorney named mike daley who actually lives here in san francisco. and he's written a series of books and these becomes have been shown and transcribed and read throughout the world. so we're going to start now with a clip, a video clip and then we're going to go to the panel. >> i think it is our national novel. if there was a national novel of week, this would be it for the united states. i think it's the favorite book of almost everybody you meet. >> the first time in my life that the bo