I’ve written about old versus young lawyers and the need for succession planning, as well as the issue as to when old lawyers should throttle back, or at least take a supporting role, instead of being pushed or shoved aside or out.
A great old man lawyer is retiring later this year, and I think he’s doing it the right way. He’s never been in the AmLaw 100, 200 or whatever, and he’d be most chagrined and unhappy to find himself in such company. He doesn’t have a fancy office (the furniture is mid-century and looks like it’s been there since then.) No names here, and hopefully, no sufficiently identifiable characteristics.
He has typified what has been so great about the legal profession and what I think we’re losing when we define ourselves as a business rather than a profession. I don’t think he reads Above the Law, and I haven’t told him about my column. This will remain our secret.
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In light of how we identified parties in law school, I will call him Mr. A. Mr. A. has had a suburban practice for more than fifty years. While he focuses on certain areas of law, he is, based on his many years of experience, much of a generalist. He knows the law and he knows his clients.
I met him many years ago through various bar association activities, and I was struck, even then, at how he was, that is, a gentleman lawyer, courtly, patient, professional, polite, hard-working, and devoted to the law and his clients. I remember thinking that if I ever needed a lawyer who does what he does, he’s it. No need to interview prospects; I knew he was the one as soon as I met him.
And he’s been it: lawyer, counselor, friend, for more than a decade. I have referred a number of my friends to him, and they have all admired and respected him and been very pleased with his representation. Every time I referred a potential client, Mr. A. would thank me by letter for the referral and my trust and confidence in him. How many lawyers do that today? Raise your hand if you do, and I don’t mean in an email or phone call. A letter, remember that? By snail mail, remember that also? He bills appropriately (and probably not often enough and for as much as he should); he is responsive; he is a lawyer’s lawyer. Who could ask for more?
I’ve had more than my share of lawyer role models (I’ve been very lucky that way), but Mr. A. and my family’s lawyer for decades are at the top of my list. My family’s lawyer, and I’ll just use his nickname, I.J., was a sole practitioner in the days before specialization took hold. He and his family also happened to live down the street from my parents and were close friends. I.J. always provided wise counsel and represented me many years ago in a family matter. He was, just like Mr. A., a lawyer’s lawyer.
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Neither Mr. A. nor I.J. were ever in it for the money, for what they could bill, what kind of home they could have, cars they could drive, vacations they could take. They lived and breathed the law and service to their clients. Just as my physician father would make house calls to his patients (Google “house calls” for what that meant in dinosaur times), both Mr. A. and I.J. would make house calls to their clients when necessary. They were never in the “what’s in it for me” mentality. The clients were first, last, and always. Both lawyers were always there when you needed them. They understood that the practice of law is a service, not a product, and that practicing law is a privilege, not a right.
Granted, both Mr. A. and I.J. didn’t have crushing student debt when they started practice. (A big Bronx cheer (Google that too), to law schools who continually have upped tuition costs, making a legal career essentially unaffordable unless independently wealthy and the profession is sufficiently elitist as it is.) Everyone understands all too well the nondischargeability of student debt.
However, I think there still are ways to practice our profession (not a business in my mind, and it never will be… dinosaur at work here) with dignity, politeness, and grace and an abiding interest and concern for what is best for the client, not for the lawyer.
When I would ask Mr. A. when he planned to retire, the answer was always an emphatic, “Never.” He wanted to practice for as long as he could. His ability to represent his clients was undiminished. But nature and time have made other plans and recurrent health problems have forced him to do the last thing he wanted to do, which was to retire.
In his letter, notifying his clients of his impending retirement, Mr. A explained his succession planning (something we talked about over lunch on more than one occasion.) His successors are younger lawyers, who can pick up from where he leaves off, and continue the firm’s traditions. His firm, in one iteration or another, has existed for close to one hundred years and has remained small deliberately to, in his words, “…deliver a personal touch to his clients. What a personal touch Mr. A. has had; I would imagine that he has touched positively the lives of more clients than he can count.
Mr. A. and I.J. have been and will always be for me the epitome of what prompted me to become a lawyer. I will never know any others like them in my lifetime. More’s the pity. I am sorry for those who will never have the experience of being represented by a lawyer’s lawyer.
Earlier: Old Lady Lawyer: Nothing Succeeds Like Succession… Planning
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Jill Switzer is closing in on 40 (not a typo) years as a active member of the State Bar of California. Yes, folks, California, that state west of the Sierra Nevada, which everyone likes to diss. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see old lawyers, young lawyers, and those in-between interact — it’s not always pretty. You can reach her by email at [email protected].