Toast to the Jolly Testator

Earlier on this blog, I asked for assistance to locate a a poem or other witticism that essentially says that a counselor’s best clients are those that fail to plan or forego paying for sound advice.

Thanks to Andrew J. DeMaio (Neff, Aguilar, Cox, Magee & DeMaio, LLC, Red Bank, NJ), we may have located the poem.  It may be Toast to the Jolly Testator attributed to Lord Neaves as follows:

“Ye lawyers who live
upon litigants’ fees,
And who need a good many
to live at your ease,
Grave or gay, wise or witty,
whate’er your degree,
Plain stuff or Queen’s Counsel,
take counsel of me.
When a festive occasion
your spirit unbends,
You should never forget the
Profession’s best friends;
So we’ll send round the wine
and bright bumper fill,
To the jolly testator
who makes his own will.

He premises his wish
and his purpose to save
All dispute among friends
when he’s laid in the grave;
Then he straightaway proceeds
more disputes to create
Than a long summer’s day
would give time to relate.
He writes and erases,
he blunders and blots,
He produces such puzzles
and Gordian knots,
That a lawyer, intending to frame the thing ill,
Couldn’t match the testator
who makes his own will.