Tom Guilfoil was the driving force in the law firm that first hired me. He once told me that when a new client walked into his office, the first thing he wanted the client to think to himself was “Boy, this is going to cost me a lot of money”.
That was about 30 years ago, and when I interviewed with Tom Guilfoil, I thought he was very old. Now, I don’t think he was old at all then.
Two weeks ago, I went to visit Tom. He was 93 and he was dying. He had asked to see some of the “old crew”, so Bob Wallace (who got his start with Tom before serving as legal and General Counsel to several NFL teams) and I dropped by Tom’s house. As always, Tom was interesting and funny. He wondered out loud what important things attorneys from our old law firm had to do that kept them from coming by to visit him. Tom had been Chairman of the State Democratic Party, and I remember him saying the fact he was willing to serve in that capacity would greatly enhance the importance of that job in the future. That was Tom Guilfoil. He was never short on confidence or bravado, yet oftentimes he would also exhibit self-effacing humor. He smiled, and said, “Obama will be sorry he didn’t stop by.”
In whatever state you practice law, lawyers learn from other lawyers. We can often identify one or two people that served as role models or mentors – either intentionally or unintentionally. It was virtually impossible for any lawyer to be around my first boss without learning something. He taught me that in the beginning of a matter, a lawyer needs to determine where he wants to be at the end of the matter, and to take as straight a route to get there as possible. Obvious enough, so why haven’t more lawyers learned that lesson?
I was the first lawyer Tom ever hired straight from law school. Later, I was placed in charge of hiring. Our firm gathered a very impressive group of lawyers that are now among our town’s A-List. One of the lawyers is now our mayor. He spoke eloquently at Tom’s funeral, claiming he never had a conversation with Tom, about any legal subject, where he didn’t walk away with a new perspective.
There weren’t many senior lawyers at Tom’s funeral. At 93, he had outlived most of his contemporaries. Tom was one of the smartest people any of us knew, but he was not the most cordial person we had ever met. He did not suffer fools gracefully and undoubtedly offended a fair number of people along the way.
As an example of his acerbic insights, he once described one of his important clients to me as “possessing an incredibly deep intelligence in an infinitely narrow spectrum of human endeavor, while being hopelessly lost in all other arenas of life”. He helped that client make millions of dollars.
All of us lawyers can point to individuals that have shaped our careers in one form or another. The careers and backgrounds of these mentor lawyers are probably as diverse as the law itself. In Tom’s case, he sprang from humble roots. When he was young and his dressmaker mother was ill, Tom’s father kissed his mother, told her he loved her, and they never saw him again.
Tom became a bombardier in World War II, then ran various political campaigns, and eventually attracted an elite clientele which included owners of sports teams and some of America’s largest corporations. Clients he welcomed to his fancy office, adorned with original artwork, quickly grasped the message: “This isn’t going to be cheap.” He had a reputation for being a friend to minorities. He earned praise for helping to clean up a festering situation for inmates in the city jail, and the disdain of thousands for helping his client move an NFL team out of town.
During my last visit with Tom, he was still teaching and coaching at 93 years old. He emphasized the value of tactics and observed “[I]’ve found most lawyers don’t do very well when they’re surprised”. When I worked for his firm, there were times he claimed his victories were “triumphs of advocacy over reason”. That’s a goal to which many lawyers aspire and few achieve.
As he surveyed those he had known during his legal career, Tom mused it was impossible to predict which lawyers were going to be successful and which were not. He told me that despite every indication to the contrary, some lawyers succeeded, while with every benefit bestowed upon them, some failed. Exposure to the wisdom and legal insightfulness of Tom Guilfoil helped all of the young lawyers around him and made us proud to be lawyers. In fact, in every city, in every state, there are lawyers that make us all proud.
Now, as the years have passed, there are some of us young lawyers, that, even though we refuse to believe it, seem to be getting older. Many of the lawyers that we looked up to when we started out are gone. Knowing he was going to die, as I was leaving, Tom said to me, “You know it’s been a long life and very good one. I’m going to hate to leave”. He then added with his signature smile, “but at least I got to help some people, and to tick off some very rich individuals along the way”.
©2012 Under Analysis LLC Mark Levison is a member of the law firm Lathrop & Gage LLP. You can reach Under Analysis LLP in care of this paper or by e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.©2012 Under Analysis LLC Mark Levison is a member of the law firm Lathrop & Gage LLP. You can reach Under Analysis LLP in care of this paper or by e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.