When I heard the opening lines of "Sgt. Pepper" and the reference to TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY I was a boy, and 2 decades seemed an eternity. Well, you just got to get more decades under your belt, and you get to reminisce about THREE decades past...
So Paul and I took offices at Quantum, a very early version of Burro, or We Work. We had fielded calls from our advisors, including Paul's estate lawyer friend Malcolm, and they suggested proper partnership agreements, and key man agreements, and all manner of legal marriage. Instead, we opened a new bottle of Stoli, got 2 glasses of ice, and I made this toast: "On the memory and honor of our late fathers, George and Hy, we pledge to treat each other well and honestly." We clinked the glasses, drained them, probably poured a few refills, and that was it.
And man, were those heady times. Our motto was "Whatever it takes," and it took a LOT of effort -- lawyering from 8-6, and then networking and rainmaking most nights and weekends. We had some great contacts -- tv lawyers and their former employees, and they were kind enough to refer us clients. And I did an early favor -- for Dr. Barry's unit secretary.
She was looking to buy fans at a local K Mart, and when she pulled one off the shelf, the weight fell out onto her foot, breaking a toe. Since her insurance had a deductible, she came to see me about a claim -- just looking for her $250 back. In record time, I got K Mart to agree to pay her $5K, and had her into the office -- it was right before XMas. I told her the news, and she said how great that was -- and our fee was, what, $2K? No -- I explained the fee was zero -- she was a friend of Barry's and it was our pleasure.
She began to bawl -- no one in her life had ever given her a gift worth $1K, let alone more than that. This meant she'd have the greatest Christmas ever. We hugged. Thereafter whenever she encountered someone needing a lawyer -- she referred them to HER lawyer. And it led to a rather healthy amount of fee income over the ensuing 2 decades -- sadly the biggest case coming from her own family -- a tragic fire involving her great niece.
Anyway, nothing stopped the 34 and 45 year old lawyers. We hosted judicial fundraisers, and fundraisers for politicians, and never asked anything in return, unlike most raisers of funds in our fair city. We were able to give generously to charity. One tale that stands out in memory was of our bank teller Fernie.
He was a great guy -- we called him our private banker. He would always take great care of our clients, many of whom were negotiating large checks for the first time in their lives -- he made them feel like they were well off.
Fernie came to us -- his daughter played basketball for Northwestern High in Liberty City -- any way we could contribute some money towards new uniforms. We were in the chips that week, as Paul used to say, and we bought them all. We got invited to watch the girls play in a playoff game, against a squad from a Catholic school consisting of much shorter Latina players than the taller Liberty City girls. The Northwestern team lost! The Catholic girls were coached absurdly well -- no one made a mistake. Hopefully our uniforms weren't the bad luck...
Again, in the chips, in June of 1996, we took 20 people to Vegas for a Firm Retreat. No one paid for a single drink -- limos everywhere, top meals and shows. We had just settled a huge case against a rental car company, and decided to treat our people like royalty. It was the trip to remember.
No one paid for a meal, or hotel stay, when they went with Paul and me. And it's funny -- POST the salad days, no one, or only rarely, do we seem to be on the receiving end of acts of generosity. And that's just fine -- we wouldn't have had it any other way.
Rabbi Yossi just brought things into focus. His shul and Friendship Circle were beneficiaries of our largest gifts. He hit me up for another pledge a few years ago. Coincidentally, I got my friend Jeff to start attending minyan -- the prayer group of 10 men needed to do it right. Yossi said "David -- you bringing Jeff to us is MORE significant than all the money you and Paul have donated."
Really Rabbi, I asked, does that mean I needn't make any more large contributions? "Well let's not get CRAZY" was his response.
Anyway, our banner dinner last Saturday was the celebration. I hope to now look forward, instead of sitting around talking about the glory days. Hell, as Springsteen sagely noted, I probably still will.
But today, I say to Paul, it's great to be your partner. Let's keep running, or at least limping along, awhile longer...
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