Bench & Bar January/February 2026

FEATURE: SENIOR LAWYER ADVICE

Well: Wisdom from the What Old Lawyers Know That Young Lawyers Should Hear BY MARK A. OGLE

H ow did this happen? In April 1986, when I passed the bar and was sworn in, I had no idea what to expect. I know you are thinking “not another article by an older (I prefer the word experienced) lawyer trying to tell younger lawyers what they should know.” Nevertheless, my almost 40 years of legal experience has imparted a certain amount of wisdom to me along the way, and while it might be a little presumptuous of me to think that I can teach the young lawyers anything, here it goes. When I started practicing law, I thought I knew it all. I had served as a law clerk

whose civility often spoke louder than their advocacy, and by clients who revealed the human cost behind every legal principle. I realized that wisdom is not taught to you in law school – it seeps into you over time, from the people who have already walked the path, and it comes from those moments when we learn from those who have drawn longer and deeper from the well. What I came to understand is that no lawyer achieves wisdom alone. Every case and even every court appearance, deposition, discov ery response and client encounter tells a story and provides a lesson, adding to our shared wisdom and experience. The “well”

for one of the best litigators in the state. I thought I knew what mattered: great research, good arguments, sharp brief writ ing and winning. I believed that if I read enough cases, memorized enough statutes and prepared enough arguments, I’d find the key to becoming a good lawyer. But as time moved on and I developed my prac tice, I started to realize that it wasn’t just the things I learned in law school, but I began to draw from a deeper source—the well of experience that surrounded me. It’s a “well” filled by mentors who shared their time and mistakes freely, by judges who taught lessons in patience and prepara tion from the bench, by opposing counsel

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