Reflections of a Boston Lawyer

My father was expert at things mechanical.  He could build a road, fix a car, maintain a house, and do them all well.  He had a reputation in his field for high quality work, because he had high standards and a great work ethic.  He would never dream of cutting corners or performing a second rate job.  And if he encountered unexpected difficulties in a project, he would keep at it until it was done right, no matter how long it took. My father owned his own business.  He was paid not by the hour, but by the job.  He paid his employees by the hour, and the more time he and his workers put into a project, the less he made.  Within the constraints of the deadlines for delivering a finished product, he always, always, made sure that enough time was put into a project to do the job right. Clients of large law firms expect and deserve the same attention to quality that drove people like my father.  A lawyer delivers quality when the lawyer returns a client's phone calls and emails pro

At the end of 2009, I took my family on a quick trip to New York City, in large measure to celebrate my daughter's birthday and treat her to a broadway show.  We packed a lot into a two-day trip, including a visit to the I nternational Center of Photography   and a tour of the United Nations.  The ICP included a photographic exhibit of people in different walks of life in Shanghai, as well as a fascinating video montage (four simultaneous projections on four walls of a room) of life in Mumbai.  What was striking about these and other exhibits was the abject poverty of some of the subjects, many of whom seemed to go about their daily routines unfazed by the difficulties they faced, often surrounded by family or friends.  While it is impossible to truly know what the people in the pictures were like, or to fully appreciate their circumstances, the exhibits were a reminder that what is "normal" is relative, and of the endurance and triumph of the human spirit in the most cha