CBA Record July-August 2022

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Proactive Worldwide, Inc.

Secret to a Fulfilled Life Originally published in the September 2001 issue of The CBA Record.

SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter Howard and Howard Attorneys PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Theodore Kontopoulos FORVIS Nikki Marcotte Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Illinois Attorney General’s Office Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Lynn Semptimphelter Kopon Kopon LLC John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Hoffenberg & Block LLC Pamela S. Menaker Clifford Law Offices Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alexander Passo Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins DiMonte, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson

C irculating on the internet is a wry little story about a professor’s celebrated lecture. I found the apocryphal tale powerful, with an unmistakable message many lawyers unwisely wink at. Transformed and embellished from the original version, here’s my retelling: The white-bearded senior partner sat restlessly in the conference room to bid a bittersweet goodbye to the firm on his oft-delayed retirement. Following the usual congratulatory speeches, the firm’s last surviving founder rose to respond, remembering long-ago wastes of effort and of time – elusive, irrecoverable yesterdays. He placed a brown grocery bag on the antique oak table, and pulled out a tall, clear, wide-mouthed flower vase. One by one, he took five good-sized rocks from the bag and put them in the vase. He asked everyone whether the vase was full. Puzzled by the display but attentive, the firm responded, “Yes.” The senior partner looked in the bag and removed a bucket of gravel. Shaking the vase, he poured in the gravel. Once again, he asked, “Is the vase full?” Now more cautious, the firm reacted with “No” and, in a lawyerly fashion, “Probably not.” “Bingo,” the retiring partner said, reaching again into the bag for a yellow plastic pail. Gently he tipped the pail into the vase so the sand would fall into the crevices. “Is the jar full now?” “No,” everybody sang out. “Gee, you’re smarter than I thought,” he said launching a roar of laughter. He turned around and moved to the refreshments. He grabbed an open bottle of Moet & Chandon and topped off the vase. Satisfied with himself, he looked around at the only family he had left. “What does all of this mean?” he said, motioning at the vase. One wise-cracking partner thought the old man was leaving the law to become a performance artist. A newly christened partner in estate planning suggested that the presentation symbolized his long career; as a young lawyer he performed “heavy labor” depicted by the rocks, and as he advanced, his work became finer, from gravel to sand, and now, finally at retiring, he saturated everything with a sweet embrace. With a slight grin, the old man shook his head, “As usual, you’ve showed creativity while com pletely missing the point.” An associate’s hand shot up. She said he had delivered a lesson on time management, that no matter how busy a lawyer gets, they can, and should, manage more. “Splendid, but that’s not it either.” His face lit up with a knowing smile as he took a sip from the Champagne bottle. He told them what he learned too late in life. “Unless you put your big rocks in first, you will never get them in at all,” he said. “You know the big rocks. Those things special to you. Your spouse or significant other. Your kids. The three ‘f ’s’ – family, friends, and faith. Continuing education. Good causes. Giving back by devoting yourself to pro bono service. Making time for yourself, exercising, and eating right. Your wild dreams and your not-so-wild dreams.” Taking from the grocery bag a white lily, he gently crowned the vase. “Don’t forget, put those big rocks in first,” the old man said with a sense of urgency. “And your life will be as exquisite as the Champagne and as full-bodied as the floating lily.” In our manic profession, we lawyers develop toxic habits or brush aside truly important things because of lack of time or lack of commitment or a thousand other excuses. When each of us retires, let it be said that we capably filled our vase with the big rocks and always left room for the beauty in life.

Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County

THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 July/August 2022