Emeritus--another rock for the pocket.

• Author: Burton, Daniel N.
• Position: Retired attorney

On January 31, 2002, after 36 years as a trial lawyer, I retired from the active practice of law. Some of us never retire. We keep trudging to the local courthouse with a file under our arm until the day we take the final elevator to the "big courtroom."

I'm not exactly sure what course the autumn of my career would have taken, but for the mandatory retirement policy of my firm. I always suspected that "retirement" for me would simply mean a change of direction. And so it has. I was sure I could live without another hearing or pumping adrenalin through another trial. That I could enjoy the day without attending a deposition, a client interview, or firm meeting seemed reasonable to me. So, I made plans to mediate a little, maintain my Bar membership, and stay in touch with friends and colleagues through Bar committees and the mediation practice. Everything was "lookin' good" until it was suggested that I might have to give up my board certification status. "Give it up"? "Give--it--up? Never!" I knew that Dawna Bicknell and the Bar staff had been working on an emeritus program for some time. If emeritus status was available, I had to go for it. "Why?" asked my rational friends and fiscally conservative wife. Has board certification been a great marketing tool for you? Can you trace back one earned dollar to your being board certified? Have you been feted publicly, received promotions, awards, or professional accolades? Do you need the costs, aggravation, and zillions of hours of CLE just to add a line or two to a business card? No, no, no, no, no, no, and yes, I reply. Hey, I've still got my Cub Scout knife from the fourth grade. Well, there is a little more to it than that. The reasons are personal to me.

Some of the most vivid memories of my youth are of the times spent with my grandfather. He was a geologist, a professor of mining engineering, and a surveyor of unexplored continents. He was a true academic adventurer who during his career traveled the world of lost civilizations and the uncharted trails of what was just over the next horizon. He literally hacked his way through the jungles of the Amazon and climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa searching out the geologic mysteries of this earth. Even after he retired he always carried in his pockets small rocks, unpolished semiprecious stones, and dirt that he had picked up during his travels, nothing of monetary value, but all intensely interesting to him and to me, a boy of eight. (Think about...