Creativity and Breaking Tradition
with James d’Apice
image by Field
words by KaldorOver its short history, Laws of Creativity has unwittingly adopted traits similar to the legal profession: a commitment to convention and a respect for what has come before. Every portrait has followed precedent, even if the final judgments are distinguished by the specific facts of each subject.
Just as case law can be overturned (the US Supreme Court recently emphasised the point), creative projects can be re-examined – especially when the project will be remade even stronger as a result (if only Dobbs met that same threshold). And what better reason for revisiting precedent than a subject who embodies divergence as much as tradition: James d’Apice, commercial litigator and director at Chamberlains, has built a career on being sui generis; in that spirit, a piece about him should also be “of its own kind”.
To understand this instalment of Laws of Creativity, you need two pieces of context – one you already know and one you probably don’t.
The first is that d’Apice, through his “Coffee and a Case Note” series, changed the game for how lawyers promote themselves and grow their practices. The other is that, before he was a legal practitioner, d’Apice practised in the art of battle rap – the now fading form of performance rhyming that combines witty wordplay with searing sledges – under the moniker “Peach”.
These two facts are unexpectedly connected. Pick some lyrics from a rap song and the sentiment might mirror how d’Apice feels about being a lawyer on TikTok (think Kanye West’s taunt in “Stronger” about “a thousand yous” but “only one of me”). Battle rapping is instinctive and assertive, but also accessible and highly consumable. And so Peach’s rhymes are the perfect theme music for d’Apice’s brand of lawyering, which he describes as “approachable rigour”.
So, for this portrait, Laws of Creativity will replace paragraphs with bars and stanzas, to present the highly anticipated rap battle between d’Apice the Litigator and Peach the MC. (The introductory quotes are from d’Apice, but the battle rhymes are imagined, inspired by his conversation with Laws of Creativity…)
Scroll down for the battle…
“The difference between James and Peach is perhaps non-existent. Very, very much not a character; it's very, very much me.”
Peach
Who’s Peach?!
A battle rapper
Like and Follow grabber
Regal Grammer, legal spammer
Working dadda, wields a spanner
Just to stick in
Plus a pod on horror flicks
Tok Tik, the plot thickens
James
Cheers mate, nice biography
But before all that, Peach is – well – me
“My dad was chairman of the partnership board [of Makinson d’Apice]. His dad had been a partner and his dad had been a partner and I was there as well. So there was a nice fourth generation echo. But I was very insecure about it.”
James
As a kid
Didn’t really know what dad did
Now I’m at the family firm
I can lift the lid
Like a twist top, old man’s the boss
Now I understand why folks were fans
And paid their compliments (and costs)
But wait, stop!
I’m not here to claim Excalibur
Don’t wanna be known by my name
I’d prefer by my calibre
Peach
Family business, like Cain and Abel
Stable choice is to stay in the stable
But I’ll switch roles (like Royce) to pen my own fable
Yeah it’s time to join some Knights at another round table
“I need to do it in a way that excites me and engages me, and is different.”
Peach
Game changed and I must win
Listened to Susskind
But it’s still a trust thing
So I commoditise with substance
Mixed caffeine, with court reports
I’m courting new scenes, I won’t be caught short
James
Director now, directing how
Chambos flows in the web of info
Everyone knows, that knowledge is free
So I share my knowledge, aggressively
Share my knowledge, with a cup of coffee
Share my knowledge – but sell access to me
“Adding a bit of joy to the functional. If we gotta do it, why not have fun with it. It’s something that applies to my approach to legal practice and to life.”
Peach
The dapper d’Apice
Dressed more lawyer than a rapper be
But if the suit suits, then that suits for me
Just spruce up the look with a mask – and make it floral please
James
My game is commercial lit
Where heads bump and follicles split
Chasing hares and facing writs
Pacing courts and taking hits
Yes, in this game it’s very necessary
To bring the fight to every adversary
But I live by this chant (just like Kerry):
We’re not estopped from still being merry
Outro
When Laws of Creativity met d’Apice, our conversation ended with an unplanned rap battle.
Peach kicked things off (actually his lyrics this time, not imagined):
It’s been a few decades
Since I’ve had some mates to spit with me
So I picked the mic up with Laws of Creativity
Freestyle, off-the-top-of-the-brain mode
James d’Ap, yo, it’s Coffee and a Case Note
The rest of the battle – and who won? That stays unreleased.
James d’Apice (as Peach) released a couple of unsuccessful mixtapes, played a few rap shows and co-hosted Arvos at FBi Radio with Shag (the pair currently have a podcast for FBi called Spooko). In the legal sphere, James is director at Chamberlains and his team litigate corporate disputes. His Coffee and a Case Note project continues to lead the industry as a tool for education and for building a book of business.