In many regards, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. What’s not to like about something so food-centric – and, after all, it’s well-known that I am obsessed with food. Wine too, but I digress.
Thanksgiving has a certain universality which makes it extra special. I also love Christmas and Easter, but those Christian observances get muddled with secular perceptions. Not everyone shares a common understanding about the import of those holidays – not even close. On the other hand, everyone can take Thanksgiving at face value. It’s good to be thankful.
That common ground bridges wide differences among families, friends and the larger community.
Of course, I can offer an expected litany of things for which I am grateful. The list is a long one. Truly, I am quite blessed.
But since this is a law firm blog, I should address lawyer stuff. Right?
It was my great good fortune to have become a lawyer, specifically a trial lawyer. Like so many other young people, I went to law school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I got out of the Army. I was an okay law student, but no one back then would accuse me of being a legal scholar – and no one would say that about me now.
When I graduated, the job market was not great. Nor was I at the top of my class. The only job offer I got was with an insurance defense firm in Southwest Virginia. At the time, I felt like a bit of a failure – and an exiled one to boot. Abingdon was a town of less than 5000 people and over 300 miles from Richmond.
My time in Abingdon turned out to be an almost unquantifiable stroke of good fortune. I worked for excellent lawyers. They taught me to practice law, and they let me get the experience I needed to get to be an effective attorney. Among other things, in two and a half years, I tried probably 20 jury trials. I joke that the aggregate value of those cases was likely under $100,000, but those were my cases from start to finish.
I loved it.
I knew then that being a trial lawyer was my calling.
Since then, my career has had plenty of ups and downs, just like anyone else’s. I have made at least my share of mistakes and bad decisions. All of us do. What has stayed constant, however, is my passion for this business. Representing clients, analyzing cases, going to court – and all the other stuff that goes with this world of being a trial lawyer – is what I do.
I can honestly say that in forty years of being a trial lawyer, there has never been a point when I wished I did something else for a living. I have had plenty of frustration with law firms and other lawyers, but my love for what I do has remained constant.
On my next birthday, I will be seventy. While I am healthy and have no thoughts of retiring any time soon, the reality is that I am in the closing days of my career. One naturally looks back on life at this stage. With that perfect vision of hindsight, I can’t help but be extraordinarily grateful for this life spent doing what I do. What a privilege it has been – and, God willing, I hope that privilege doesn’t end too soon.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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