Harold ‘Hal’ Friedman | 87 | Partner, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
Why not retire? I love my work and I especially enjoy mentoring younger lawyers. It is important to keep using your mind. As long as I can be helpful to clients and colleagues, I want to keep doing so.
Does your wife want you to retire? My wife told me that she had married me for life, but not for lunch.
Best part of working past 80? Time sheets are less important.
The worst? Still have to keep time sheets.
Are you up to date on technology? E-mail and cell phone, but I am not as up to date as the younger lawyers. I appreciate the assistance given to me by our help desk and our information technology department. I am not a part of Facebook or any of the similar formal networks. However, I make it a practice to telephone and e-mail real friends and clients almost daily. Most of my clients have become friends in the real sense over the years.
Best advice you ever got? First: keep learning the law, beyond what you learned in law school. If you do not know what you are doing, you cannot take full advantage of opportunities that come your way. Next: Do not work with clients or partners whom you do not respect. Next: If you are not happy practicing law, find something else to do. In addition: As lawyers, we have a duty to help people. Finally: Do unto others what you would have them do unto you, not necessarily what they do unto you.
What’s the secret to staying healthy and active? Although I cannot say I enjoy physical exercise, I enjoy and appreciate the result. Therefore, I work out every day. Be sure you have a competent doctor who cares about you as a person. Have a family that loves you and that you love in return.
What do you miss the most from when you were young? Nothing that I can discuss in a family periodical. However, I assure you that it was legal.
Anything else you’d like to add? It is even better to be lucky than to be smart. My father told me that no one gets out of this world alive; therefore, he advised me to try to enjoy every day.
