My career goals were influenced by my parents, popular movies, and the good luck that I never anticipated.
After practicing law in St. Louis, Missouri, for several years, I, like some of my colleagues, decided to pursue an LL.M. degree in a more specialized area. So, shortly after getting married, my new wife and I moved to New York City to study at Columbia University Law School. That led to a chain of events that eventually brought me to Cleveland, Ohio. One of my former classmates in New York (a Swedish attorney) got a job with a major Cleveland law firm and told me that the firm was looking for employment and labor lawyers. So, I applied and ended up relocating to Cleveland, where I worked in several firms during my 50-year career.
Cleveland had been largely unknown to me but turned out to be a great legal marketplace and location to practice. While I retired from my law firm position last year, I am still engaged in legal writing, especially on defamation, employment, and ADR issues, teaching foreign LL.M. students, and providing legal counseling for non-profit enterprises.
I envisioned that I would be involved in litigation but didn’t recognize the complexity of trial or appellate practice or that I would pursue a second law degree with Professors like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Herbert Wechsler (both scholars and legal advocates). I would also have enjoyed being a law professor, but until now, I couldn’t do it. My closest academic pursuit was writing law reviews and blog articles during my career. I was inspired to look into the history of defamation, arbitration, and comparative law by scholars and writers such as Richard H. Helmholz, Anthony Lewis, and William C. Jones.
My career has had many highlights and achievements. Some notable ones include; I am an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers and am a Master Bencher of the William K. Thomas Inn of Court, where I was President from 2018 to 2019. During my tenure as President, the Thomas Inn was awarded the Achieving Excellence, Platinum Distinction recognition by the American Inns of Court. I have been a member of the Selden Society for the Study of the History of English Law since 1973.
While in practice, I was listed on Chambers USA: Labor & Employment in Ohio; The Best Lawyers in America for Ohio Management and Labor & Employment (1995-2023), a Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” (2018), Human Resource Executive “Nations Most Powerful Employment Attorneys – Top 100” (2011-2017), Martindale-Hubbell: A.V. Preeminent, Ohio “Super Lawyers” (2004-2023) and Lawdragon, 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers (2023) and Hall of Fame member (2021-2023).
I have been a long-time member of the American Bar Association and, in Spring 1988, co-authored an article entitled “Defamation Actions in the Workplace: How to Protect the Employer,” in The Compleat Lawyer magazine.
Soon after beginning practice, I became involved in appellate cases and found that briefing and oral arguments were the most enjoyable activities as an associate. Later, when filing amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, as in the Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis No. 16-285, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018), I felt I was actually having an impact on the law.
Because many of my achievements after receiving a law degree were driven by luck and opportunities, probably not. Being around successful, thoughtful lawyers and in outstanding law firms guided the course of my career.
Never assume you can predict where your career will end up. Subjects that initially seem enthralling may turn out not to be, or there may be few job opportunities in that area. Being flexible is a virtue.
In many practice areas, attending a less expensive state or local law school may make both economic and practical sense. If you are going to be a litigator in Ohio, attending Cleveland State University or Ohio State University law schools may make more sense than a national or Ivy League law school, and the instruction may actually assist you in passing the bar and becoming a successful attorney.
There have been some dramatic changes in the labor and employment practice area. Initially, labor and employment attorneys, at least in larger firms, were not litigators. But that changed, partly driven by cost—clients did not want both a labor and employment attorney and a general litigator to handle a single case. For me, the enjoyment surrounding handling an employment dispute was actually going to court and perhaps making applicable law at the trial and appellate levels. Simply being a legal advisor wasn’t enough.
Finally, having some smaller boutique firms dedicated to labor and employment work also unexpectedly lowered billing rates for that work.
I almost immediately joined the ABA and took advantage of its publications on employment law, labor law, the Railway Labor Act and employment discrimination litigation.
The ABA's legal resources were a huge advantage when I first worked with a smaller firm in St. Louis. Many times, I was the researcher and initial decisionmaker in employment cases. Without the aid of ABA publications and seminars, I could never have made the litigation judgments I did.
Because I enjoy writing, perhaps as a journalist. History or archeology may have been second choices, but those occupations didn’t provide the benefits or excitement of law practice.
