Be a 50-year lawyer
'Clients want a lawyer that truly cares and wants to help them. Clients also want lawyers that take pride in what they do, work hard at keeping their competitive edge, and don’t lose sight of why they became lawyers'
Jim Vickaryous
When you reach 50 years as a Bar member, The Florida Bar gives you a free lunch at the Annual Convention. I was at this year’s annual convention, wanted to get some lunch, and wandered into the event honoring the 300 recent 50-year members of the Bar. They in good nature outed me as not being a 50-year member of the Bar and charged me for lunch.
I picked the right place to make some new friends, and learned a thing or two from that room full of 50-year lawyers. I was impressed with how many had taken the Bar up on the offer of a free lunch. Every one of the lawyers that I spoke to were proud to be lawyers. Many had generations of their family eating lunch with them in honor of their longtime service and commitment to the practice of law.
There was a common theme about which they were happy. Each 50-year lawyer I spoke to was most proud of helping people for half a century. I was struck by this, as all the lawyers present practiced in many different areas of the law. Over and over, they told me they simply enjoyed helping others. Perhaps the secret to making it to the 50-year watermark (and getting a free lunch from The Florida Bar), is keeping a place in your heart for helping people.
Whether you are closing in on 50-years of practicing law, or you just got sworn in and took the Oath of Attorney (or at the midway mark like me), helping people should be our goal as lawyers. Being of service to others makes us all feel significant and adds purpose to our lives. It also keeps us gainfully employed. Clients want a lawyer that truly cares and wants to help them. Clients also want lawyers that take pride in what they do, work hard at keeping their competitive edge, and don’t lose sight of why they became lawyers.
It was nice to eat lunch with 50-year lawyers that have the same heart to help people as when they started five decades ago. In addition to lunch, the Bar gives a 50-year lapel pin to mark the occasion. I saw each pin being worn proudly on many lapels. After a lifetime of service, these lawyers were very proud of what they had achieved throughout their careers. Many spoke to me about the people that they had helped and whose lives they made better.
We should all be so fortunate to have such rewarding careers helping people. I thanked them all for setting a great example of how to be a lawyer. Remember, we can all be 50-year lawyers. Practicing law is not a sprint, but a marathon. It is not the age, not the years of experience, it’s what’s in your heart. Let us all resolve to be 50-year lawyers in our heart, no matter our years.
Jim Vickaryous is the managing partner of the Vickaryous Law Firm in Lake Mary and represents the 18th Circuit on The Florida Bar Board of Governors.
