I hope you and your family had a good summer and were able to be out and about enjoying yourself with family and friends. This summer has afforded me an opportunity to think back on cases we’ve been involved in recently. We continue to be busy and have been successful in some interesting as well as challenging cases. 

On a celebratory note, this Fall marks my 54th year of practice since I graduated from Harvard Law School in 1971. As I said in my newsletter this time last year noting my firm’s 40th anniversary, it’s hard to believe that this much time has passed. I consider myself fortunate to still love practicing law, and I derive a sense of satisfaction in being able to help my clients to preserve their wealth, and in protecting and defending their interests. Again, I’m grateful to our present and former clients and colleagues, as well as to opposing counsel, who have all helped us reach this milestone. It’s fair to say we couldn’t have done it without you.

I began practice as a business and securities lawyer, working on contracts of all kinds, commercial and business transactions, investments and real estate. Then, due to the needs of the firm I worked for, I was asked to take on litigation matters when things slowed down in the securities and business areas. Working in litigation gave me a new perspective about law and business. For instance, the litigation of contract disputes taught me how and why ordinary contracts run into problems. I was in New York City this summer and saw a delightful comedy, “The Play that Went Wrong.” And so it did, from forgotten lines to collapsing scenery. Well, seeing what “went wrong” in contract litigation, in real estate transactions, in securities and corporate control disputes, and in employment cases, all helped to make me a better lawyer in representing clients not just in trial matters that erupted after the fact, but in the work I did in preparing and negotiating my own clients’ contracts, real estate transactions and employment agreements, to name a few. This is to say nothing of the experience I gained in trial and appellate practice. My cases provided me with what business school master’s degree programs refer to as “case studies” of what to be careful of when practicing law.

Unlike in some recent newsletters where I have written about some ongoing cases, at this point the cases I am involved in are at sensitive points in litigation that warrant my discretion at this time. More to come when the time is right.  

This past June, I attended the Annual Meeting in Paris of ij International Jurists, the consortium of law firms from around the world in which I’ve been a member for many years. Through ij I’ve been able to provide my clients with legal advice from attorneys in those countries where my clients do business or encounter legal problems. I also provide advice and services concerning U.S. law for my colleagues’ clients doing business or wishing to do business here in the U.S. Recently, I was called upon to assist a European client of one of my colleagues, an art gallery, in a dispute over a work of art delivered to a customer in Utah. We were able to strike a settlement satisfactory to both sides, thus avoiding what would have been lengthy and expensive litigation for all parties.  

It’s always a pleasure to get together and discuss legal issues of mutual interest at these annual meetings. A group photo of representatives of the various ij member law firms is enclosed with this letter. 

As always, we continue to practice in a wide range of legal areas, including corporate, commercial and business law, trials and appeals, real estate issues, employment and discrimination, divorce, international, and university law. If you have any questions about our areas of practice or about any legal matters where we can be of assistance to you or someone you know, please do not hesitate to call on me.