I sat down to work on a new post two weeks ago. I was motivated because the past weekend I had prepared Luke’s 2016 tax returns. The last returns he will ever file. I thought back to a year ago when he was volunteering for the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Program at the Franklin County Public Library, preparing tax returns for people who needed assistance. As I have mentioned before Tax Law was one area of practice that Luke truly enjoyed. It was in his “blood.”
When my brother Bill graduated from UK College of Law, his first position was with the Internal Revenue Service. In fact it was there he met his bride to be, Lois Luke. For many years, as part of his practiced he prepared tax returns.
After my father, Pete, retired from the U.S. Post Office, he became a tax preparer, first for a local tax preparation service at 15th & Madison in Covington and later operating out of his home. He spent many years volunteering for VITA, first at the Covington Library and later in Gulfport, FL. A solid understanding of Mathematics has been a strong family trait for generations.
The premise comes back to the tenet that you should be doing work that you enjoy to make life worth living. I began my practice covering many areas of law, mainly because I needed the money. As I grew older I realized that the grief and stress from certain issues, particularly in the family law area, were keeping me from truly taking joy in the practice of law.
After I started writing this point in this post I got stuck and wondered where this was headed. Then as I was leaving Bankruptcy Court in Lexington last week, I learned that Chip Bowles, a well-known and well respected Bankruptcy attorney had chosen to end his life. I did not know Chip well but had heard him speak at numerous Bankruptcy seminars over the past 15 years. I was well aware of his fine reputation. I also know that he was one of those individuals who was usually “the smartest guy in the room.”
Why is it that we lose so many of them, the smart ones? What brings these individuals to the point where they lose their love of the practice of law or more importantly their love of life?
The same week that I learned of Chip’s death, I spoke to one of my best friends from law school. He is three years older than me. He had a very successful career and poured his passion into the defense of his clients as intensely as any one I have ever known. He retired last year and moved to warmer climes. He told me that he had lost that passion and he knew it was time to give it up. But more than that he understood that there is life after the practice of law.
I know many attorneys who continue practicing into their 80’s. Like my friend I will not be one of them. It is a profession that takes its toll on us. But it is a profession, not the only aspect of our life. We have to know the difference and we have to know that when one takes too much of a toll upon the other it is time to walk away and savor life.
The Trials of Luke 