4.2.12 WC: 191694
Conclusion—Closing Argument:
Looking back at my 50 year career and forward to the laws next 50 years.
As I begin my second half century of law practice and teaching, I look back with fondness, nostalgia and a heavy dose of surprise on my interesting life and career, as I look forward to my remaining years. Since I try to prepare my students to be lawyers over their entire careers, and since the career of a lawyer now extends to a full half century, I must always think ahead to what our legal system will look like when my current students end their careers.
I could not have asked more or better from my first half century. I have accomplished far more than I could ever have anticipated, especially in light of my undistinguished elementary and high school performance, and I have lived a more interesting life than I could ever have dreamed. I have surely lived the passion of my times and I’ve been very lucky, at least so far. (I don’t want to give myself a “kneina hura.”!’) Like the fictional Zelig in Woody Allen’s great film of that name, I was privileged to have been present—literally or virtually—at many of the most important legal and political events that transpired during my adult life. For some I volunteered, for others I was solicited. Sometimes I was a direct participant, other times an active observer and reporter. In this “closing argument” I will try to summarize my role in the important legal and political developments in which I participated. I will also speculate about what the future may hold for our system of laws and justice.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. viewed the role of the lawyer as a predictor of future legal decisions and trends.’’” But the Talmud cautioned that prophecy ended with the destruction of the second temple and that he/she who tries to prophecy the future is either a fool or a naive. Or asa contemporary sage—Y ogi Berra—put it: “Prediction is very hard, especially about the future.” I certainly agree that prognosticating the future is a daunting challenge, but lawyers and law professors must confront that challenge, because one of the most important jobs we have is to identify trends and to anticipate significant developments, I will try, therefore, with these cautions in mind, to extrapolate about what a lawyer writing an autobiography 50 years from now might look back at and write about.
Before I summarize my past and speculate about the future, let me say a word about my present life. I remain extremely active in every phase of my career. Here is a summary of the week during which I wrote these words. The week of November 13 through November 20, 2011 was fairly typical of my life during my 74" year.!"!
On Sunday morning I was picked up by limo and taken to Bedford airport where I boarded a private 747 jet owned by Sheldon Adelson, reputed to be the richest Jew in history and among the handful of wealthiest Americans. The son of a Boston cab driver, Adelson has accumulated billions of dollars by building and running casinos in Las Vegas, Micow and Singapore. His jet,
' Yiddish corruption of the Hebrew for “evil eye.” 110 [CITE] "! More typical of spring than fall, when I teach.
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