By objective measures, we’ve each enjoyed productive careers. As we’ve said, none of us are rich, but we live comfortably and we’ll avoid abject poverty as old men. Regular vacations on the French Rivera aren’t in our futures, but we’ll be fine. Still, sometimes we ask, “What if we’d done things differently?”
We all remain satisfied with choosing a legal career. Each of us enjoyed success as a lawyer. We don’t regret going to law school or into practice. How we went about the details of our careers, we think, merits reflection, and doing so might provide insight others can use on the front end of their professional lives, whether in law or something else. Additionally, our readers have shown us the kindness of following this blog and engaging with us on critical issues of the day. Sharing more about who we are provides our readers with more information about how we got to where we are.
HENRY’S TAKE:
I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I might not advise a young person in my shoes today to do the same things I did at the beginning, considering market forces and the present state of the specialty I chose. With the way my career unfolded, however, I can’t see charting a different course. Things fell into place. My spiritual sense gives a feeling of joy and gratefulness. My common sense says leave well enough alone. Given my personality, outlook on life, and way of doing things, nothing I see now I might have done would have produced something better than clerking for two of the nation’s best federal judges, practicing in a firm that concentrated on civil rights and made a difference in many lives, and a 31 and ½ year tenure as a federal magistrate judge. Different circumstances might have allowed me to serve as a district or appellate judge, but I have no regrets about that.
WOODSON WRITES:
If, in declaring he doesn’t have a dog in this fight, Henry means he has no regrets, I suppose I could say the same. I was offered and seized many professional opportunities. I became personally acquainted with four Arkansas Governors (Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, and Bill Clinton). Two of them (Bumpers when he was U.S. Senator and Clinton when he was Arkansas’ Governor) solicited my political advice. My peers elected me the first African American Pulaski County Bar President and University of Minnesota Law Alumni President. But, looking back, I would have done some things differently. I see specific actions that would have made me a better lawyer, prevented mistakes I made, and smoothed my path. I allowed my impatience with racial inequality to overcome better judgment, resulting in circumstances that later haunted me.
After graduating from law school at Minnesota, I interned with Minnesota Legal Services. A legal services internship affords a new lawyer a wide variety of experiences, such as litigating against lawyers representing corporate landlords, home builders, real estate developers, and retailers. Not only does he or she gain exposure to a host of substantive legal areas, the new attorney must interact with all sectors of the profession.
Exposure to this variety of subjects and lawyers enhanced my ability to represent my clients and better understand the legal landscape. I cut this process short in the mistaken belief I needed to get back to Arkansas quickly and join a civil rights firm. Everything I found in Arkansas in 1976 would still have been here three years later. Had I waited, I would have been a better lawyer and less vulnerable to significant mistakes I made later. Similarly, had I been content to methodically build my practice with one or two partners, focusing more on character and less on academic pedigree while building a large general practice firm, I could have created greater stability in my practice and my life.
ROB SAYS:
Like Henry and Woodson, I had opportunity. I became the first black partner in my 150 plus lawyer downtown Houston firm. I know now, however, I didn’t put total focus on skill development. I didn’t develop an understanding of learning a craft. I didn’t do all the things excellence requires. Only now do I comprehend what getting really good at something takes.
My public speaking facility and a solid legal education at the University of Texas made me a reasonably competent trial lawyer from the start. But the economics of big firm practice prevent new lawyers from getting many trials, so I followed the program, taking a few cases to trial and doing training exercises. What I didn’t do was hang around the courthouse watching masters of the craft (and some who didn’t know what they were doing). Yes, I would have missed
some ball games while finishing my work, but so what? What I didn’t do was take pro bono cases so I could gain trial experience at the expense of my time, not the money of my clients or my firm. What I didn’t do was stay an hour later at the office two days a week reading trial tactics literature authored by expert practitioners.
I recognize I have good skills. I know now, though, I could have been great had I gone the extra mile. I would have had more to sell to clients, I’d have hauled in more clients, and I might have finished my career with a reputation as a “go to” lawyer for clients with real problems.
COLLECTIVELY:
By acknowledging our failings, we don’t suggest the world treated us unfairly. We’re not victims. We know, however, the value of going under the microscope and honestly taking stock of what’s there. We hope our looking back gives others looking forward useful hints for avoiding regrets.
Left to Right: Henry Jones, Woodson Walker, Rob Wiley
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