Devoting time to an attorney's family needs does not mean that work obligations can be ignored.
I retired from my corporate law practice in June 2025, after 40 years with the same firm.
In today's world of constant job moves, I chose to be a legal dinosaur. But I am not talking about a typical "set in his ways" lawyer who is resistant to adopting the technology that has revolutionized the practice.
I had always been an early adopter of internet tools. I quickly saw how going online could improve communication with clients and help with research (especially locating useful resources, particularly for transactional due diligence).
Instead, my "dinosaur DNA" came from finishing my career at the same place where I started after law school, on September 3, 1985.
As many have told me, "no one does that anymore" - but I did and was happy about it.
(Ironically, I was still only 4 in longevity at my firm when I retired - my 40-year stay was not an exception.)
In an era of constant lawyer movement among firms, why was I happy to stay put for so long?
At first, I embraced the unregimented structure of a small, collegial firm, in contrast to what I heard from law school classmates about their lives at "big" firms - and had observed, personally, during a summer clerkship.
Instead, from the first day, I received challenging research assignments, and I was flexible enough to pursue them in detail.
(Of course, it helped that I quickly proved I could find the proverbial needle in the haystack, especially in one case of personal interest to a firm partner.)
As a result, over the years, no one objected when I chose to devote time to important personal matters.
First came my parents' protracted terminal illnesses. For a year and a half, I spent most afternoons on hospital visits, rather than working at my desk (in the era before smartphones).
In gratitude, I worked on weekends and evenings to meet client needs.
Next, we raised a child with a developmental disability.
I had to devote a lot of time to school meetings and attend special education CLE programs to learn how to advocate on his behalf.
As I became more involved, I also spent time networking with parents of children with disabilities, at meetings in our local and neighboring school districts, and also often at night.
(I still recall, many years later, when I learned the key tip that led to our son's potty training from another parent at a live meeting.
I still always kept up with my work, especially online (before doing so became common).
As a business lawyer accustomed to using my skills on behalf of clients, I quickly realized that I could share what I was learning about disability advocacy by networking with other parents.
Although my online skills eventually proved invaluable, initially, after my son's diagnosis, I learned advocacy at meetings, which also took time in the evenings and weekends (especially if I had to drive to the meeting).
So, when I was quickly recruited to coach and, after a year, run a Challenger Little League program for players with disabilities, I gladly agreed to be able to spend more time with my son, even though I always had to leave by early afternoon to get to the fields in time to set up.
I enjoyed it enough to keep at it for 11 seasons, long after my son lost interest, even though it meant leaving work in the very early afternoon on game days.
In hindsight, I am as proud of the work I did as a Challenger Coach as anything else in my life, (other than my marriage and children, of course).
Of course, in those years, sleep was often at a premium between the challenges of raising our children with my wife and my advocacy work during an active era of M&A deal-making.
(Today, in contrast, most such networking takes place online, through restricted-access social media sites.)
Just as during my parents' illnesses, I didn't want to risk losing the flexibility my firm offered (and which I needed to be a disabilities parent) had I changed firms.
Even more importantly, I had to support my wife's day-to-day care for both our children at home and in their school activities.
My appreciation for my firm only grew as I began my publishing career.
The firm had always encouraged attorneys to market ourselves by writing.
Having already published non-legal articles in college, I soon secured a regular cyberlaw column in a national legal publication, which took off during the dot-com era.
In fact, our Managing Partner even had me open a billing number - classified as "marketing" -for my writing to track the time I spent on articles.
Fortunately, my articles actually even led to several well-paying new business clients.
Throughout my career, I also regularly sent my published business law articles to current and prospective clients to demonstrate our knowledge on actual issues about which I had written.
I think they were welcomed not only as free advice but also as plain-language demonstrations of our knowledge about emerging legal issues.