Several days ago, I passed my 60th birthday. I would like to use the word “celebrated” but that is not accurate. My life is overall good; I have a wife who means everything to me, has been undyingly loyal, as have been my two children. I am quite proud of both of my children and my wife. I cannot say otherwise that there are no complaints.
Physically I am doing well, for which I am grateful. Of course there are the usual issues; thinning hair, a bit too much weight, and a slower jogging pace. The losses over the decade, however, or more profound and troubling. Going to my 50s, I was a long time member of a closely knit law firm. On the surface, everybody cared about everybody. With several notable exceptions, this was illusory. Several of the people have remained close and loyal, but the fabric was frayed and ultimately broke for reasons relating to developments in the practice of law.
I am now productively and somewhat happily involved in my own practice and appearing of counsel to other firms. The idea of retirement does not appeal to me, especially since I have at least one third of my life left, and want to remain active throughout.
Without mincing words, the losses have been among family and friends. Certain of those losses are through death and illness. Others were fallout from the recent presidential election. Others mystify me more because I have always assumed that the need for friends was ingrained into the human psyche.
Instead, most people I have known a long time are on the surface friendly, but avoid or cannot wait to end conversations. Maybe it’s technology. Maybe it’s just being in the 50s and 60s. However, I do not want to be too negative since many of the friends and family members both that I have lost or that remain were good to me well beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions. I hope I returned the friendships amply.
In sending this message, I wish to express gratitude for the years of friendship and hope for many more such years. I look forward to more good times, and wish everyone a happy Pesach or happy Easter.
Happy belated birthday, from someone 11.5 years your senior. If your future is anything like my past, be prepared for some surprises. Cherish what’s good in your life, for you may lose it with no warning. We are all visitors, just passing through.
I’m 20 years ahead of you. Expect change. All I can say is that when I had a heart attack 52 years ago, I would have been astonished if someone told me I would get to 80. I guess it beats the alternative.
Briefly, the Bankruptcy Consumer Protection and Practices Act (BCPA) (may not have title of statute totally right) made several changes. The consumer changes were the most famous but from the point of view of our practice the least important.
The main changes that affected our firm, which handled mid-capitalization businesses, were:
[ol]
[li]Limitation of time to assume or reject a lease to a non-extendable 210 days (180 plus one 90 day extension), from a 60 day period that a judge could extend at will; and[/li][li]Small business section that required a confirmable plan be filed within 90 days (I think, am too lazy to pull the statute) unless extended by a difficult-to-obtain court order.[/li][/ol]
The latter order is difficult to obtain since the Court has to find future plan confirmation “likely.” These provisions dramatically reduced our Chapter 11 business, which was our lifeblood.
Two attorneys tried to start a consumer division. It lost over $600,000 in about 3-4 months. That forced us to merge into another firm. Personality differences forced my mentor and thus by extension myself to make an ill-advised move to a larger firm.
DM or call me if you wish for more, since I don’t want to be too specific on an open discussion board.
So far, I am racing towards my 60th with the same joyful anticipation I had when I was closing in on 50, 40, and 30. I admit becoming 20 was disturbing to me. I wasn’t ready, I hadn’t done stuff I wanted to have done before I was 20, and it made me feel sidelined and it made me worry that thw world would move on without me.
I’m on a roll. I’m back on my feet and whether I succeed in drawing major attention of my species to my story, I’m back in the fray trying to do so. I have more resources and unorthodix notions of how to do this, while at the same time the energy to do this stuff and feel excited about it. I may be middle-aged but I have 14 years before I hit the demarcation that makes me OLD. Don’t fear old age either. I will have decades of it, being a genuinely old person. I have an older person’s slow blanket of willful persistence. I’m 58 and looking forward to my 90s. I’m going to connect to people when I’m that old, and make it work for me. Be the gentle wise person with my own notions. Be prepared to take the risks. Old enough you can’t take much from me that time isn’t coming after. Continue to learn from others who are doing this. Forward into my 100s.
I see, your bread and butter work dried up and forced your company structure to adapt - yes I often see how that creates new alliances. Legislative changes taking away work has happened to me twice so far in my career and I’m only(?) late 40s. The most recent was a change in the law that allowed laymen to do what beforehand only attorneys could do. Mind you, if they do it themselves they usually do it badly and end up needing help at some stage, but most of the initial filing fees and consultation fees are gone now. My practice has evolved and I do more of a mixed bag of work, including translations and reviewing contracts. The world moves on. Although new lawyers come and go at our firm, we, as an entity, have remained. I’m not particularly close with anyone at work though, beyond just the occasional lunches or drinks after work. I like it that way, as I am a bit of a misanthrope.
No birthday had ever bothered me until I turned 50. My mother said to me “Some day you’ll wish you were 50 again.” I learned that truth when I turned 51.
JBG, we may not always agree, but I do respect your wise counsel in matters of law. Enjoy your 60th, and I look forward to many more years of debating, talking, and conversing.
It was more “edifice complex.” In other words we had hired attractive young attorneys and we wanted to keep them busy. They wanted to be “partners” so an adventure was the only way this could happen. It wound up costing us our independence. We easily could have survived with the original four and a junior or two. Oh, I forgot to mention a junior partner had a compensation guarantee of $200,000, which made her better than a partner. I found out by my diligence.
Was that changes in ethics rules or actual legislation?
It was that way until the adventure. I myself asked for solely litigation assignments so that I would have a portable skill when the deluge arrived.
No matter how many lunches, drinks etc. people still look out for Number One.
Legislation mainly, but social changes too including the internet, have changed intellectual property law a lot. International treaties like the Madrid Protocol have streamlined things so someone can file an international application with WIPO and don’t need to file specifically in any individual country. Anyone off the street can search the Patent Office databases these days and also file their own applications. All this wasn’t so in the past.
