SUCCESSFULLY SERVING AGRICULTURAL CLIENTS
Patrick K. Costello
Attorney at Law
COSTELLO, CARLSON, BUTZON & SCHMIT, LLP
310 Main
Street, P.O. Box 929
Lakefield, Minnesota
56150
patrickkcostello@msn.com
(507) 662-6621 (phone)
(507) 662-6623 (fax)
Presented at the 22nd
Annual Educational Symposium
of the American Agricultural
Law Association
October 12, 2001
Colorado
Springs, Colorado
This is America-a town of a few thousand,
in a region of wheat and corn and dairies and little groves.
The
town is, in our tale, called “Gopher Prairie, Minnesota.”
But its Main Street
is the continuation of Main Streets everywhere.
The story would be the same in Ohio or Montana, in Kansas or Kentucky or Illinois,
and not very differently would it be told Up York
State or in the Carolina
hills.
Main Street is the climax of
civilization. That this Ford car might
stand in front of the Bon Ton Store, Hannibal
invaded Rome and Erasmus wrote in Oxford cloisters. What Ole Jenson the grocer says to Ezra
Stowbody the banker is the new law for London, Prague, and the
unprofitable isles of the sea; whatsoever Ezra does not know and sanction, that
thing is heresy, worthless for knowing and wicked to consider.
Our
railway station is the final aspiration of architecture. Sam Clark’s annual hardware turnover is the
envy of the four counties which constitute God’s Country. In the sensitive art of the Rosebud Movie
Palace there is a
Message, and humor strictly moral.
Such
is our comfortable tradition and sure faith.
Would he not betray himself an alien cynic who should otherwise portray Main Street, or
distress the citizens by speculating whether there may not be other faiths?
SINCLAIR
LEWIS, MAIN STREET (1920)
I learned this at least by my experiment; that if
one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live
that life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in
common hours. He will put some things
behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws
will begin to establish themselves around and within him. If you have built castles in the air, your
work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
HENRY
THOREAU, WALDEN (1854)
INTRODUCTION
What sharper contrast can there be to Thoreau’s
idealism than Sinclair Lewis’s barbed portrait of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota? Main
Street shattered the myth of the American
Middle West as God’s Country and became a symbol of the cultural
narrow-mindedness and smug complacency of small towns everywhere. I offer these literary passages because I
believe they are relevant to the topic at hand. I will cover the subject,
“Successfully Serving Agricultural Clients: Managing a Financially Sound
Practice” broadly, concentrating on how a rural law practice operates and how
country lawyers get paid.
The reader should know that this paper is a lot more
personal than that typically presented for CLE. It is filled with my
observations from the only perspective I have to offer on the topic. By
describing the place where I am, you, the reader, may judge for yourself what
works for me within the context of the clients and area served by our law firm
for 105 years.
LAND
TO BUILD A DREAM ON
I was born and raised in Lakefield, Minnesota,
and except for college, have spent my entire life here. Lakefield is located in
the geographic center of Jackson County, which is on the border of Iowa
and seventy-five miles east of the South
Dakota border. Jackson County’s
11,655 inhabitants occupy six small towns and twenty townships with thirty-six
sections of land in each, 449,280 acres or 702 square miles. Within its
boundaries are 850 farms. Over eighty-seven percent of its surface area is
under cultivation. Our land is remote, rural, declining in population and
aging.
Formerly covered with tall grass prairie, the land
is flat to gently rolling; potholes and sloughs have been drained into the
rivers and lakes. The soil is rich and fertile. Early settlers left the area
during Indian attacks; settlement resumed in 1865. The pioneers, in their order
of arrival, were Scandinavians (mostly Norwegians), a few English and Irish,
more Germans than all others, and a significant number of Bohemians, Czechs,
and Slovaks.
The towns provide farm services and market outlets.
The three largest towns are: Jackson,
pop. 3,501; Lakefield, pop. 1,721 and Heron Lake,
pop. 768. Today, many descendants of the
original settlers farm this land. The principal crops are corn and soybeans.
Corn yields are in excess of 170 bushels per acre and beans average fifty
bushels per acre. Hogs in confinement buildings are the major livestock
operations.
When I was a youngster a typical farm was 80 or 160
acres; today the average is more than a section. In 1940, one in four Americans
lived on farms. In the dominant culture of the United States today, few are farm
dwellers; however, where I practice, forty percent of the people live on farms
and population density is sixteen people per square mile.
CASTLES
IN THE AIR
I wanted to be a lawyer since I was in grade school.
I dreamed of practicing law on Main
Street, Lakefield, Minnesota.
A neighbor, Judge Harvey A. Holtan, encouraged me even though he thought
a person needed a fairly thick skin to practice law in one's own small
hometown. Each year of success, he warned, brought as many foes as friends.
From his office above the Farmers State Bank on Main Street he met with people who came
to him seeking advice. He told his clients what they needed to do, he
accomplished what they sought done, and he charged for his services. This was
something I wanted to do. This was something that Abraham Lincoln did. Law was
to me a noble profession, a service and a calling.
While I was planning my future, some of my
classmates from the country were planning theirs in 4-H and Future Farmers of
America. There was never a time in their
lives when they doubted that they would farm. Today these friends, former
classmates and neighbors are living out their life’s dream, doing the only
thing they ever wanted to do—farming.
A
FOUNDATION UNDER A DREAM
Twenty-four years ago, at age twenty-four, I started
practicing law in the firm of Muir, Lundblad, Meyer, Storey, Stier and
Simons. Twelve years later I was the
senior partner. The law firm, now Muir, Costello & Carlson LLP, was founded
in 1896, during Lakefield’s second decade. Since 1912 it has had an office in Jackson, Minnesota.
Between 1952 and 1981, it grew from a two lawyer firm to nine lawyers. Today, I
am one of three partners in this law firm with offices in Lakefield, Jackson
and, more recently, Heron Lake, Minnesota.
FARMING
TODAY
Agriculture is changing rapidly. Biotechnology,
precision-farming that involves on-board computer monitoring guided by global
positioning systems, information technology and the changing structure of
production have collectively altered farming. Farmers must deal with
environmental issues such as erosion, water, pests, and the use of organic and
inorganic fertilizer. As profit margins tighten, the scale of operations must
grow to remain the main source of family income. One interpretation of this
“technology treadmill” holds that farmers must adopt the new cost-saving and
yield-enhancing technologies just to stay even. Those that fail to keep up with
technology will be run off the treadmill as neighbors, the farmers in the next
state, or competitors around the world keep running. These profound changes
seem as assaults upon the traditional values associated with the occupation of
farming.
THINGS AS THEY
SHOULD BE: JEFFERSONIAN IDEALISM,
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN AND PAARLBERG’S AGRICULTURAL CREED
Jeffersonian Democracy is based on the belief that “Those
who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.” The farmer was the basis
of all wealth and the bastion of democratic ideals. Jefferson
wrote that independent, self-sufficient, tolerant and educated landholders
provided the best protection for liberty and had “substantial and genuine
virtue.” Jefferson
excoriated urbanization, likening the “mobs of great cities” to “sores” on the
human body.
“Burn
down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will
spring
up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and grass
will
grow in the streets of every city in the country”
WILLIAM JENNINGS
BRYAN
Professor Donald Paarlberg, in 1980 (after 100 years of
industrialization in the agricultural sector, after the loss of the large
number of farms in the mid-1950’s and just prior to the great farm credit
disaster and resulting deflation in agricultural asset values causing major
contraction in the number of farmers), provides us with his wonderful
Agricultural Creed:
Farmers are good citizens and a high
percentage of our population should be on farms.
Farming is not only a business, but also a
way of life.
Farming should be a family enterprise.
The land should be owned by the man who
tills it.
It is good to “make two blades of grass grow
where only one grew before.”
Anyone who wants to farm should be free to
do so.
A farmer should be his own boss.
It is within anthithical competing societal truths;
i.e., traditional concepts of an agrarian society and profound technological
change, that I practice law. With the very structure of agriculture being
tested, my community believes in Jefferson’s
ideas. But we are not Luddites. Law and agriculture have experienced extraordinary fast technological changes
to which we must accommodate. It is a difficult balancing act. Upholding traditional ethics of stewardship,
community and professionalism are challenges on another level. We are left to ponder whether the
traditional values of rural America
can resist the onslaught of globalized agricultural production. However, I maintain that making a living in
these vocations can best be enjoyed by those whose fondness for the values of
the past surpasses their urge to join the rest of those who are plunging into
the future not knowing if such a life can satisfy the spirit and soul.
THE
RURAL LAW PRACTICE
Our Firm
I am surprised how interested people are when I tell them
I am the only lawyer in a small rural community. They have little concept of
the relatively small number of people in Jackson County
served by relatively few lawyers. They
wonder what kind of law we practice and whether we make a good living. They want to know: what my office is like;
how we recruit and retain talent; how the firm is organized; who are our
clients; how we bill and how we determine fees; and how we avoid
conflicts. I may try to keep this type
of practice a secret but, typically, they ask for a full description.
The Office
My office, barely a city block from my home, is in a
25-foot wide and 100-foot deep converted storefront on Main Street. The space easily
accommodates two lawyers and a staff of four.
All of the public areas of the office are uncluttered, bright and
decorated with local artifacts. My own office is full of framed certificates,
Italian car parts, old German radios, travel souvenirs, pictures of ancestors,
traditional children’s toys, and various things that I bring from home. It is
designed as an intimate setting with a thick area rug over a light oak hardwood
floor. The formal office is walnut paneled and looks more like a Senate hearing
room than an office. It is big enough for large meetings but it is too
intimidating for meeting a single client.
Both offices have fireplaces and a garden atrium beyond sets of bay
windows.
Associates
Hiring professionals to a rural area has proven
difficult. We recruit from highly
regarded Midwest law schools. After two years
an associate may be awarded a partnership share without having to buy into the
firm. Thereafter their fortune will rise and fall with ours. This arrangement
has proven attractive to the type of person who is entrepreneurial and
confident they will be able to practice law in league with the partners.
Associates are expected to consult with partners in an ongoing fashion about
what they are doing and the progress of their work. Any lawyer working for the
firm should give their client substantially the same advice that a senior
partner would give. Of the last seven associates hired, one became a partner, another
is "of counsel" and two remain associates. In my opinion, the other three failed to take
to the demands of rigorous training and excellence. They graduated at the top
of their classes, had rural backgrounds and talent to spare. Pay and benefits
were not issues in their departures.
Secretaries
Our support staff is of extraordinary value. Recently
seven past and current employees of the law firm counted 225 years of combined
length of employment with us. Their institutional knowledge is incredible. I
have two secretaries. One serves as
receptionist and the other as the probate assistant. When we do hire, we hire for intelligence,
academic achievement and then experience. I have asked the employees why they
are so kind, forgiving and loyal to me in spite of all that I have put them
through—in a word, they reply, “appreciation”. I tell them frequently that I am
thankful for all they do for me. On Friday as they leave for their two days
away from the office, they are thanked for what they did in the past week that
was particularly good. Then I say, “thank you” a few more times. Recognition of
fine work is extremely important to everyone. The staff keeps me well informed
of illnesses, deaths, births, and events in the community of importance to my
practice. I encourage them to have initiative and I am quite comfortable
delegating tasks that need only to be reviewed and not supervised. Their
training and experience permit me to get more done in a day than would
otherwise be possible.
Technology in our Law Office
We have PC desktops that are connected to printers,
scanners and to our law firm server. We use Amicus, Word, HotDocs, PC Law Jr.
and some proprietary legal forms with satisfaction. We subscribe to
Westlaw. Access to legal research
sources has never been better. We are no longer adding twenty thousand dollars
of law books to our library shelves each year as we did in the past. The use of new office equipment has increased
the quality of legal research, the efficiency of document preparation and the
skills of our staff.
Partners
Decisions for the firm are made by consensus. Each
partner holds a veto power. Subject to year-end adjustments, the partnership
percentage shares are set for two-year periods. Unanimity can from time to time
be difficult to achieve, but on balance, it works for us. The partners talk to one another frequently. The
financial status of the firm is reviewed annually and each month a financial
report is prepared and circulated. We do not prepare an annual budget. We feel,
given our size, one is unnecessary, and that the annual and monthly reports
provide us with sufficient information and flexibility. Our firm’s focus is on
generating revenue, rather than cutting expenses. While we monitor and review expenses, our
experience has shown expenses to be relatively fixed. A number of times I have
personally decided there is something about the way the office is being run
that should be changed. As often as not
I am reminded that changes in process will do little or nothing to change those
things that we need to do for the client and accomplish the results.
My two partners try cases and one handles
appeals. Formerly I did the major work
for our bank clients. We all practice in the areas of real estate and
probate. We serve as City Attorney for
some area towns. As part of the general practice, we serve as appointed counsel
for the indigents, volunteer for legal aid and hold leadership positions with
the bar association. We have not
obtained certification in any of the recognized specialties. Each partner has areas of greater
concentration.
We are deliberative and tradition bound, mainly
dealing with routine legal work that is somewhat repetitive. New matters can be
accepted in formerly unfamiliar and unknown areas of law because of the vast
research capacity now available. Our experience, when aided by consultation
among us, produces fairly good judgment in most matters.
The current partners have not had a malpractice
claim made against them. The inherited values passed down in the law firm have
been our best protection against complaints, claims, and problems with clients.
Serving Our Clients
Farmers, as place-bound people, have provided our
client base. Farming accounts for the
extended family of uncles, aunts, and cousins, with parents, grandparents and
siblings living close by. Our clients are often related to one another. Knowing generations of families and becoming
involved in their conflicts throughout the years is inevitable. Sometimes, I am
meeting the fourth and fifth generations and know a great deal about their
ancestors. Given this generational intimacy, I often know what will work and
what will not, what advice will be well received and what will not. Knowing the ethnicity or religion of a client
may provide some of the same advantage. Seeing old school mates upon the death
of their parents is commonplace. Being with clients at their deathbed is
sometimes required. These are my neighbors, fellow church members, old friends,
and even old enemies. I try to take into account, be sensitive to or merely accept
views on diverse topics of religion, education, politics, and so forth.
Our clients are adherents to the traditions of the
community and all the virtues that farming represents. The country lawyer must
be cognizant of these values while being professionally competent to advise a
client in the realities of the present day. The last forty years have seen the
price of prime Jackson
County farmland increase
ten fold and most of the increase has come within the last twenty-five
years. In addition, it is noteworthy to
mention that longevity is very high among our population. What with depression
era spending and savings habits, the magic of compound interest doubling
savings over the decades and the fact that the major form of wealth is
immovable, the law firm handles a disproportionately high number of taxable
estates. Such developments require competence on the part of the farmers’
lawyer in areas formerly the domain of the lawyer who advised the wealthy. Examples of this are estate planning, choice
of business entity, transfer of farm assets to the next generation and the
myriad problems of finance and others. These are complicated, highly technical areas that
are ever changing. If one is to advise the farmer client well, one must master
the subjects and their considerable progeny. The farmer client is bound by a
plethora of laws and regulations complex and confusing. Competent
representation requires legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and
preparation.
The role of the lawyer as an advisor is of much
greater importance in the daily rural practice. Typical of transactional
practices, we are frequently acting as the client’s advisor and less frequently
as an intermediary or advocate. The
importance and relevance of both parts of the rule on “counselor as advisor”
make the rule worth quoting:
Rule
2.1 Counselor as Advisor
In
representing a client, a lawyer shall exercise independent professional
judgment and render candid advice. In
rendering advice, a lawyer may refer not only to law but to the other
considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors, that may
be relevant to the client's situation.
Occasionally, a client comes in with a legitimate
grievance against a neighbor or relative. I tell them they have every right to
legal recourse and I will champion their cause, if they so choose. In such a
battle I may be bullet proof but they possibly are not. I am obligated to counsel on the likely
outcome of their decision. It could
result, at the very least, in this person never speaking to them again. This can be extremely uncomfortable and
hurtful since we all see one another again and again on the street, picking up
mail at the post office, shopping in stores and attending churches and community
events.
In simple transactions and many family transactions,
clients routinely waive confidentiality and consent to multiple party
representation in the interests of cost and expediency. Potential conflicts of interest are disclosed
and clients are told if we can no longer represent their interests. Because of the high level of trust among
those involved in a transaction, warnings to unrepresented parties to seek
independent advice are often ignored.
Managing A Sound Practice
The occasions for the farmer to consult his lawyer
are frequent. Answers and solutions are
needed. It will cost some money. If our advice is relevant to the situation or
our solution to problems effective, the client will pay the fee and will
return; if to the contrary, the client will go elsewhere.
Here,
I will review how I am hired, garner repeat business and referrals, and the
manner in which I bill clients. I think
this will give you some insight into how a rural law practice operates and how
country lawyers get paid.
Getting hired
One of the earliest and most valuable things I was taught
by a senior partner was that you could fire your clients. Retaining the service
of a lawyer is a two-way decision. The client, considering various factors,
offers employment to the lawyer as a knowledgeable servant who can accept or
decline the offer of employment. The lawyer may usually quit at any time there
is a reason, such as nonpayment or incompatibility, or any time, so long as the
loss of services would not harm or threaten the client. The client can dismiss
the lawyer at any time. Serving the
client is easiest when the goals the client wishes to achieve are acceptable to
the lawyer and the parties value one another. All people are seeking respect
and understanding. Not all are equally
deserving of respect and understanding.
I help these to find another lawyer. Only those who value a lawyer’s
advice should become clients.
Getting repeat business and referrals
A surgeon said that his patients rated him by what they
could most easily know about him: availability, affability and ability. A
lawyer’s clients surely use the same ranking and order. Do not underestimate their contribution to
loyalty.
I am an impatient person who does not like to wait for an
appointment, does not like being put on hold and does not like having calls
screened. For me, being punctual is
simply doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. Taking all telephone calls, returning all
telephone calls right away, and being in the office at all times during regular
office hours are how lawyers can best meet their clients’ expectations and
needs. Clients want to be able to consult with their lawyer when advice is
needed. I also want to be easily
approachable and available to those who are not clients but may need my
services.
I generally like most of my
clients and am genuinely interested in them.
If you have never been one who ignored or avoided a client and if you
performed tasks for the client with reasonable promptness you can be reasonably
sure your clients will be pleased. Be prompt and be courteous – try to treat
all people equally well. Clients will know you care. Do not be condescending in words, tone or
attitude but do show confidence. Demonstrate you are reliable. A client needs that
assurance.
Stay on top of your game.
Complacency in your continuing education will certainly lead to trouble. Tailor
your CLE to fill in the gaps and get up to speed on areas where you may be
getting rusty. Increase your ability to handle new issues. A partner who was
demanding and an excellent mentor hired me – he was competitive and wanted us
to be our best. He was nearly driven mad
by an old partner who asked about the “new law on chattel mortgages” some 20
years after the enactment of Article 9 of the UCC. For your sake, as your duty
to your clients and as an honor to our profession, learning must continue
if we are to be
responsible in giving advice to clients.
I don’t deny
that keeping up a good reputation can be self-serving. Out of town friends and relatives of various
public officials were becoming my clients.
I have also found that I receive referrals from other lawyers in our
area. I know these matters are referred,
for the most part because of our reputation, but amicability does no harm.
Getting Paid
I have found the way to get paid is to tell the
client their bill will be “fair and reasonable” but if they do not think that
it is, they should not pay it. Instead of paying and grumbling, they should
come in and discuss the fee charged or any other dissatisfaction.
I tell clients we charge competitive rates for the
type and quality of services we provide. In many instances I can provide
specific price quotes or a fairly accurate estimation of the range.
In determining the reasonableness of attorney fees,
consideration is given to all the following factors:
1. The time and labor required.
2. The experience and knowledge
of the attorney
3. The complexity and novelty
of the problems involved
4. The extent of the
responsibility assumed and the results obtained; and
5. The sufficiency of the
assets properly available to pay for the services.
Clients are very accepting of this type of
arrangement particularly when the maximum amount to be charged is stated.
This method is only slightly different than the more
involved traditional factors: (1) the time and labor required, the novelty and
difficulty of the questions involved and the skill requisite to perform the
legal service properly; (2) the likelihood, if apparent to the client, that the
acceptance of the particular employment will preclude other employment by the
lawyer; (3) the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar legal
services, (4) the amount involved and the results obtained, (5) the time
limitations imposed by the client or by the circumstances, (6) the nature and
length of the professional relationship with the client, (7) the experience,
reputation and ability of the lawyer performing the services; and (8) whether
the fee is fixed or contingent.
The billable hourly rate is still used for some matters,
but not many. The hourly rate is not
useful in determining the value of most legal services our firm provides.
Secondly and more importantly, a quote of an hourly rate is upsetting to the
client. It is hard for a farmer to believe that anyone is worth my hourly rate,
which is the hourly rate prevailing for lawyers of my experience in the
area. The hourly rate means that the
faster I work on a matter, the less I get paid. The hourly rate ignores
efficiency and experience. It does not always cover the overhead since our
trained secretaries accomplish so many things.
Secretaries do not use timesheets to record their time spent and
consequently we do not bill for staff time. Further, we do not itemize nor bill for
long distance telephone calls, faxes, copies or postage. If I have an idea of
how much work will be necessary, I normally quote a flat fee. Very, very seldom
have I had any complaints.
There have been times I have asked a client to pay
an amount in excess of a previously agreed upon amount. However, I make it very clear I am merely
asking the client to consider paying an additional amount that is fair and I
will not require additional payment. This works.
In other instances, I have not pursued payment. Once a client did not pay for a promissory
note and mortgage we prepared because his daughter-in-law refused to sign the
documents. I thought his actions were like being excused from paying for food
ordered but not eaten. My partners said
I should forget it. Except for that incident, this man has been a good client
since.
At the conclusion of the task the client will be called
upon to pay my fee. The client does this
much more easily when they have been given an idea of the substantial services
performed. The client should know one
does not get from here to the desired result by some act of legerdemain. Whenever appropriate, I explain, insofar as I
can, in non-technical language, what it is I will be doing. Much of what we do is technical and
arcane. However when stripped of legal
cant and Latin expressions it can be understood by the uninitiated.
A Secure Future
It is enjoyable and rewarding to serve the legal
needs of our clients. It will continue
to be so for me, my partners and future partners, for many years to come. These lawyers will be preparing wills and
trusts; forming partnerships, corporations, LLCs, LLPs, and limited
partnerships; placing minors and adults under conservatorships and
guardianships; probating decedents’ estates and administering trusts; filing
federal estate and gift tax returns; preparing farm leases, deeds, mortgages
and contracts for deed; examining abstracts of title and rendering title
opinions; advising boards, fiduciaries, and public officials; prosecuting and
defending misdemeanors; handling divorces; preparing prenuptial agreements;
petitioning for adoptions; handling farm and residential real estate closings;
drafting drainage easements; enforcing security agreements; foreclosing
mortgages; collateralizing loans and preparing promissory notes; handling
administrative appeals; writing legal briefs; trying lawsuits; filing mechanic
liens; applying for extraordinary writs; attending arbitration and mediation
sessions; and further serving the good people of Jackson County, Minnesota.
THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH WE LIVE
Community Service
The law firm does not have any expectations of what
partners should do outside the office. We join the corn and soybean growers,
pork producers, lamb and wool, and cattle organizations. We join commercial
clubs, service organizations, veterans’ clubs, bowling or golf leagues,
community and environmental improvement associations and the like. We volunteer
at schools, give speeches at commemorations, teach adult extension classes, and
generally perform our civic duties. We are active in our churches, we attend
local sporting and cultural events, we contribute to charities and fund drives,
and we serve on local government boards.
We understand, by virtue of our education and economic status, we are
leaders in the community. Our opinions
are sought on many topics. At the same
time demands are made upon us to volunteer leadership, we must avoid saying and
doing things that might be perceived as acting superior to others. With such a
small population each person is important and makes a difference in making
things happen. This can be busy, wearing and demanding; few are required to do
much.
It is expected that we take time for friendships, family
activities and community participation. These needs are met and obligations reciprocated,
yet it can be hard, being in possession of so many accurate details,
confidences and secrets concerning our neighbors. A lawyer in a small town must
avoid certain places where gossip is prevalent.
Relationships with Peers and Public Servants
I recognized early the real secret of success was to
behave in the same manner as those members of the profession I most
admired. No one heard of incivility or a
lack of professionalism among these lawyers. They were respected if they were
competent and did not procrastinate. They were often helpful and easy to deal
with. Collegiality within this profession has been replaced with envy and
malice in too many instances. Although lawyers new to the area are a
rare event, I
telephone them soon after their arrival to welcome them and find out things
about them. I help judges, elected public officials and government workers look
good at what they do, prod them to make better decisions and recognize their
service to the community. We need to work with these people and our paths cross
many times.
“Our Comfortable Tradition and Sure Faith”
This is a land that is self-conscious about its values
and readily embraces an ideology of specialness to justify its existence to the
dominant culture of America. No one here would disagree with William
Jennings Bryan. We feed America.
Furthermore, we produce safe food for the whole world at the lowest cost. We do
this in our own Eden.
This is a place where your life is not your own.
There is no anonymity and little privacy. Social and political skills are at a premium
to balance the interests of those who depend on each other over a
lifetime. It is a community that is
self-conscious and feels vulnerable to judgments, gossip, and public opinion as
people judge their own worth by their neighbor and their neighbor’s opinions.
Here social harmony and peace are kept despite the personal costs involved.
This does not mean we are afraid to speak out
against the status quo, indeed we do, but we must weigh each occasion and
choose our battles wisely. A great amount of time is spent reflecting on
experience or in dialogue with others. Individuality and competitive striving
that pushes us toward excellence in our careers can and must be consistent with
our sense of social responsibility. It
is not necessary, or warranted, for the talented to leave the small town for
success as Sinclair Lewis would have us believe. Herein lies Walden Pond
in the midst of Gopher Prairie, and she is better for it.
In closing, I paraphrase Carol Kennicott, the
central figure of the novel, Main Street:
“But I have won this: I’ve
never excused my failures by sneering at my aspirations, by pretending to have
gone beyond them. I do not admit that Main Street is as
beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairies is greater or
more generous than Europe! I do
not admit that a rural law practice is enough to satisfy all lawyers! I may not have fought the
good fight, but I have kept the faith.”
