Mark Levison, The Levison Group
As 2014 rolls in I am looking forward to a new year of interesting cases and good things. Lawyers begin every year knowing some cases will end, some will continue throughout the year, and believing new work will be generated from both new and existing clients. After a number of years of law practice, we get a general idea of what is likely to develop, and the absolute certainty that things will happen that we cannot possibly predict.
Last Thursday the first African American president of our state bar telephoned me during a break in the deposition I was taking. I immediately sensed a problem in his voice. He asked if I had heard about a member of the Board of Governors of our state bar who had nominated me for the state bar presidency. I said, “No, what’s wrong?” Charlie said, “He killed himself this morning.”
I knew something was amiss because I had called Wallace dozens of times over the last couple of years and received only a solitary voicemail with a promise to call me the next morning—which never happened. Charlie’s call was too much to process in the middle of a high stakes deposition. I went back to work.
The next morning I awoke with the sickening remembrance of Charlie’s call. That morning, in court, I ran into a lawyer who had served on the Board of Governors with Wallace and me. During my first day as president of our local bar, Bruce was the hero who ushered a judge into his chambers, amidst a courthouse shooting that critically wounded lawyers and killed the shooter’s wife. Bruce is a big, athletic guy, kind of like Wallace (Wallace had been the captain of his college football and baseball teams). I told Bruce what had happened and we both started to cry in the halls of the courthouse.
Four days later I received a 4:30 a.m. call from one of our state supreme court judges. He needed a ride to the funeral, about a 3-hour drive from our homes. The talk during the drive turned to Wallace. He had not only been a leader in college, but a civic and bar leader. When I got to the funeral, there were more surprises. I learned that apparently Wallace had not been opening his mail at work, and had not been returning anybody else’s calls either. There had been a client complaint.
Trial lawyers know that it’s often hard to get the facts right in the simplest of circumstances. In a time of confusion, it becomes even harder. Here, there is an allegation that Wallace had not disbursed money due a client. A contempt of court order and a body attachment had been issued by a judge. When the sheriff showed up at his house Thursday morning, Wallace reportedly said he needed to put on his shoes. He walked into his bedroom and shot himself. Wallace was the father of two young boys, and a husband to a lawyer wife.
At the standing room only funeral, four days after this terrible thing, the assembled lawyers, judges, friends and family seemed dazed and puzzled over how this had happened to someone for whom we had, and still have, so much respect. We were asking ourselves what we could have done to change these events.
In life, lawyers make mistakes, just like clergymen, doctors and dock workers. When a lawyer gets into a bad spot, he may have more fear of judgment from his peers than others. That’s probably natural. Lawyers are held to a high ethical standard, and because of what we do, we should be. Still, as humans, we will make bad mistakes. The things contributing to those mistakes are sometimes obvious and other times subtle. Wallace had recently suffered from a serious health ailment, and although I am not a doctor, it appears to me he was also suffering from depression. He may not have been able to see some of the options that were open to him.
Most of us tell ourselves that our friends can count on us if they need us — that may or may not be true. In Wallace’s case, at least from what I’ve heard, the problems presented by the money he supposedly owed was not that overwhelming compared to the path he chose. In theory, his friends would have helped. Of course one never knows how “friends” will react. No doubt some people would point fingers, others would run; neither of those reactions would be unusual, particularly if they didn’t understand the underlying facts that led to the problem.
A few things are clear. My friend left a wife and two young sons that will never be able to fully recover from the choice he felt forced to make a few days ago. As I walked out of the church, a judge and I saw two waiting black hearses. She said to me, “It just doesn’t seem like the problems were so great that they couldn’t have been resolved.” She then pointed to the hearse and said, “This one, however, can’t be.”
The new year is here with all of its promise and excitement. My new year’s resolution is to try to be more aware of the people around me that may be struggling. This year, like in every other, some good and bad things are sure to happen. As we look forward to 2014, the best course is to put the past bad things behind us and to work towards the good. That will be tougher for some of us than others.
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Under Analysis is a nationally syndicated column. Mark Levison is a member of the law firm Lashly & Baer. You can reach the Levison Group in care of this paper or by e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.
© 2014 Under Analysis L.L.C.
