My cruise took me to Saigon the other day. My tour guide was an enthusiastic young man named Hung. He explained that his generation wants to focus on making money and supporting their families, rather than dwelling in the past. When it comes to what the Vietnamese refer to as the “American War,” he said that they are willing to forgive, but not to forget.
I did great legal work for Dr. Bob. He even said so. My service was impeccable. My fees were reasonable. It was a great relationship.
One day, Doctor Bob called to tell me that he had sold his clinic, and he asked me to provide the deal lawyer with any required assistance. And just like that, I found out that my relationship with Dr. Bob might have been a mile wide, but it was only an inch thick. You see, I was not his “trusted advisor.”
by Maureen T. McKay and Murray Gottheil
Our background is in business law. Imagine our surprise when our editor suggested we write about the rule of law, which you might have heard is currently on life support. This foundational principle of democracy is the stuff of inspirational speeches by lawyers of the constitutional, criminal and administrative persuasion. Lawyers like us are more concerned with the trivial things that businesspeople care about, such as maximizing profits while minimizing liability. We are experts in drafting representations and warranties, incorporating companies and doing lunch.
Chris was a client of mine who was in deep, deep trouble. I was brilliant, as usual. Following a period of intense stress for us both, Chris escaped with his business and fortune intact. He paid me handsomely, and without question. Seeing how appreciative he was of my efforts, I took the opportunity to ask him why he never sent me his easy stuff to do. I appreciated the challenging files, but being the greedy lawyer that I was, I also wanted his routine work to keep my juniors and clerks busy billing hours.
I am on a slow boat to Tokyo. Over the last few weeks, I have come to know Bill and Paul, both good looking guys in their early eighties. Bill is a pianist and music aficionado. He wears a baseball cap that says, “I’m old, but I’m cool,” which pretty much sums things up for both of them.
You will all remember Hansel and Gretel. Abandoned by their stepmother, they left a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way out of the forest. Birds ate the crumbs, and Hansel and Gretel got lost, and eventually fell into the clutches of an evil, cannibalistic witch. Imagine, with me if you will, that AI was around at the time. Had AI trained on those breadcrumbs before they were eaten, it could have produced a map to lead Hansel and Gretel to safety.
I recently met with a law firm Associate of a recent vintage, whose employment was terminated after a short tenure at her firm. She has no idea why she was fired, for the simple reason that the firm has not told her. She had received no complaints about her work and had even been given a few compliments. In the legal world, that is just about a ringing endorsement.
Back when I was still willing to set foot in the United States, I booked a cruise from L.A. to Dubai.
But then war broke out in the Middle East, and the cruise line eliminated several ports from the itinerary, shortened my cruise by six days, and dropped me off in Cape Town.
My firm had a thriving real estate practice in the 1980’s. When the real estate market tanked from 1989 until about 1996, they were not happy times. We did not hire any real estate lawyers in those days.
Bob told me about his law firm exit interview with Joan from H.R. When Bob said that he was leaving due to the unreasonable workload, Joan was curious, because Bob was one of several associates who had left that department for the same reason. What surprised Joan was that in other departments, the associates were working many more hours, but no one was complaining, let alone quitting.