Anthony Haller, a Philadelphia labor and employment lawyer, is a partner at Blank Rome—as well as a poet.
When Haller struggled to think of a gift to give his mother in 2019, approaching her 103rd birthday, he took to paper and pen. Haller wrote a poem, “The Old Lady and The Tortoise,” which recounts his mother having a fictional conversation with a creature of her same age.
After he gave her the poem, his mother learned it by heart and recited it frequently. So the next year, in 2020, when she turned 104, Haller wrote a sequel conversation between his mother and the fictional turtle. When his mother passed away in 2021, just shy of turning 106, Haller wrote a third conversation, which he included in his mother’s eulogy.
The trilogy of poems dedicated to his mom serves as the basis of Haller’s recently self-published poetry collection, “The Old Lady and The Tortoise and Other Poems,” which includes other poems Haller wrote at pivotal moments throughout his life, beginning around age 18.
The proceeds of the book, published last month, will be donated to AmericaShare, a foundation supporting girls’ education in impoverished communities in Haller’s birthplace of Nairobi, Kenya.
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"From Lawyering to Poetry: Blank Rome Partner to Donate Book Proceeds for Kenyan Girls’ Education," by Amanda O'Brien was published in The Legal Intelligencer on October 3, 2025.
To learn more about the book or to purchase a copy, please click here.
