Reflections of a Boston Lawyer

The legal profession is going through dramatic change. What no one knows right now is whether the change is lasting or fleeting, and just how far reaching it will be, but there is no denying that it is occurring. Law firms are laying off lawyers and staff in record numbers across the country. More law school graduates cannot find jobs, or are told they must wait months or even years before reporting for work. Corporate clients' legal budgets are squeezed, prompting more of them to demand "value" and to request alternative billing arrangements. State courts are also squeezed, having to lay off personnel, close courthouses and function without law clerks. Organizations that provide legal services to the poor have lost funding, forcing them also to lay off legal and non-legal staff, just as the need for legal services has grown. More litigants are appearing in court pro se, which also places a greater strain on the court system. In these difficult times, lawyers canno

It is mid-October, and that means that it's time for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, that great crew race on the Charles River. Thirteen years ago this weekend, the Regatta was cancelled (I think for the first time ever) because of extremely heavy rainfall. The rainfall overwhelmed Boston's high-level sewer system, causing raw sewage to gush out of manholes and flood the basements and backyards of a low-lying area in Roslindale, Massachusetts, damaging real estate and destroying many people's personal belongings. The affected residents in the Archdale Road neighborhood of Roslindale contacted the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Network, which put them in touch with a sole practitioner/environmental lawyer named Jamy Buchanan. Jamy approached an environmental lawyer in my firm for help in resolving the residents' claims against the the two agencies responsible for the sewer system, and that lawyer put her in touch with me. Because the neighborhood was

When I first came to Boston in 1979, I stayed with my friends Gregg and Terri at the Brookhaus in Brookline Village while I looked for an apartment. Gregg was a good friend from high school (and earlier). We shared a love of music (the folk/rock variety), and were in math and other classes together throughout our school years. When I was in law school, Gregg was in graduate school at Buffalo State University, studying statistics, but he transferred to Harvard when his adviser left Buffalo to join the Harvard faculty. Gregg's adviser was Stephen Lagakos. A few short years later, while at Hale and Dorr, I was assigned to work with J erry Facher on the case about a leukemia cluster in Woburn, Massachusetts later made famous in the book and movie, "A Civil Action." Although initially I worked on all aspects of the case, about a year before the trial I was asked to take responsibility for preparing the defense to the medical causation claims in the case. The principal

When I was a second year student on Law Review, one of the third year editors told me that the reward for doing good work was more work. Because we were performing a volunteer service, without compensation, the comment was meant to be ironic, as the "more work" more closely resembled punishment than reward. Of course, in the real world of law practice, where lawyers usually are paid for their services, getting "more work" is the goal, and many turn to marketing as the means to achieve it. Law firms today employ professional marketing staff, some lawyers participate in marketing committees, and some lawyers and firms hire outside marketing consultants. Legal marketing seminars abound, and the twitterverse and blogosphere are awash with legal marketing advice. (I suppose this entry may even fall into that category.) With so much time and attention being paid to marketing, it may be too easy to forget the wisdom of my senior editor's comment that more work is