The ghost of law practices past, present, and future.

• Author: Greer, Alan G.

I am The Ghost of Law Practices Past, Present, and Future, and I come to "rattle my chains in your face."

Conjure up the image of Ebenezer Scrooge hunched over his counting desk on Christmas Eve grumbling bitterly because Bob Cratchett wants to take Christmas Day off instead of doing what Scrooge would do--work, work, work!

We all reject that image, don't we? We would never engage in such mean-hearted and miserly conduct in our modern day practice of law--would we?

I beg to differ. Today, too many of us have become Scrooges, driving those around us like they were poor Bob Cratchetts. We look on our practices as NHL hockey games, played in suits and ties or in high heel shoes, except our games are in perpetual overtime.

Lawyers regularly used to be legislators, pillars of the community, scout masters, lay leaders in their churches and synagogues and paragons of family support. But no more. Now, by and large, we don't do those things. We are too busy making money. Doing good deeds costs us too much time taken away from our practices.

To make my point, I'd like to share with you the story of George (not his real name, by the way), a lawyer I know from Orlando. George was married with two kids and the head of a very prosperous law practice to which he devoted every waking moment. Then one day, his law partners told him they were departing and taking the firm's practice with them, leaving him with only the expensive lease on their space. Soon thereafter, his wife declared she wanted a divorce to marry her personal trainer. Following them, George's daughter called to say she had been admitted to the most expensive medical school in the country. Finally, he got a letter from his son's psychiatrist telling him it would cost about $150,000 in therapy to cure the boy's anxiety complex and lack of self-esteem. It seems that George always, always arrived at Little League games during the final inning to see his son strike out because the lad was anxiously looking over his shoulder to see if dad had finally shown up.

As you can imagine, George was stunned. He had never contemplated being alone. So, he went to his church sanctuary the next morning to pray. "Lord, I have always followed your commandments," George lamented. "I have never killed anyone, never stolen and don't over-bill a minute (I think his fingers were crossed on that one). I honor my father and mother and I've never committed adultery, Quite frankly, I've never had the time. Lord, I need...