Answer the Phone - It's an Adventure

It was 30 years ago today that I graduated from law school as a member of the charter class of the Brigham Young University School of Law. Thirty years – you can put that over in the “I don’t believe it” column.

It’s a little revealing that when I wrote my blog profile I made no mention of being a practicing attorney other than to check “Law” in the drop down “Work” section. That wasn’t an intentional omission; I didn’t realize it at the time. But it’s a revealing omission. While my career has been meaningful and productive and has supported my family well, I don’t particularly identify with being a lawyer. It’s what I do; it’s not who I am.

I accepted a commission from the U. S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps in October 1974 during my second year of law school, which committed me to three years of active duty after graduation. At the time of my commission I was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve, having served as a finance specialist for the previous 5+ years. I had wanted to be an officer since the first time I put on a military uniform and law school unexpectedly opened a door to that possibility. I knew nothing about the JAG Corps when I started law school but it wasn’t long before I developed an interest in becoming a trial lawyer and that interest led to looking for opportunities to get immediate trial experience. The JAG Corps presented that opportunity.

The summer after being commissioned I headed off for four months of active duty, first attending Officer Indoctrination School in Newport, Rhode Island. One of the interesting aspects of that experience was living in a co-ed dorm with women next door and across the hall. That wasn’t common in 1975. It took about three days to put it in the “no big deal” category. After finishing OIS I went to the Naval Legal Services Office at the San Diego Naval Station where I served as an intern Trial Counsel (i.e., prosecutor). I tried 14 special courts martial and got convictions in all of them. I was on the way to a trial practice and began seeking orders to a trial center as a permanent duty station.

Those orders arrived early in my third year of law school. I was going the Navy trial center in Charleston, South Carolina. Two other law school students at BYU had also joined the JAG program. When their orders came one was headed to the trial center in Guam and one to the trial center at Subic Bay in the Republic of the Philippines. Overseas service had not crossed my mind but as soon as I learned where my colleagues were going I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I called JAG HQ. They said nothing was available, but they’d keep me in mind.

Several months later, the phone rang – there were no slots open in any overseas trial center but there was an independent duty slot available – the Staff Judge Advocate for the U.S. Naval Communications Station in the Philippines. The Navy recruiting slogan was, “It’s not a job; it’s an adventure.” So, after a quick family consultation, I gave up the trial center job in Charleston and accepted the adventure in the Philippines.

After graduating from law school and passing the Utah State bar exam we headed back to Newport where I attended Naval Justice School for three months. From there, it was off the Philippines. As the end of that very rewarding two-year assignment approached it was time to finally get orders to a trial center. No problem – I was going to be sent back to San Diego for the third and final year of my commitment. Then the phone rang.

It was JAG HQ saying that I’d been nominated to serve as the Assistant Staff Judge Advocate at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, another option that had never crossed my mind. If I wanted this assignment I had to extend my commitment so I could stay there at least two years. It sounded like an adventure; so, after a quick family consultation, I tossed in the trial center job, again. It was a great choice.

At the end of my active duty service in September 1980 I accepted an offer from a law firm in Salt Lake City. I was going to work in their litigation section, where I would finally begin to develop the trial practice I’d set out to develop five years before. Then the phone rang.

After being in the firm only four months I learned that it was merging with another firm in town. The other firm had a national reputation in natural resources law – mining, oil and gas, and water law, with a specialty in developing resources on Native American land. It sounded like an adventure; so, I tossed in the trial practice for the third and last time. Truth be told, the four months in the litigation section were incredibly tedious and well short of an adventure. I was mired in pre-trial discovery work and had already realized how few lawsuits actually make it to the courtroom.

Off I went into the world of oil, gas and mining law. I never looked back. I quickly developed a decent level of expertise in these areas and I enjoyed the work and the corporate clients I served. When an economic downturn in late 1984 caused my clients to cutback on their use of outside counsel I decided that it was time to look for opportunities “in house”. That led to an outstanding offer from Shell Oil, which, after a quick family consultation, I accepted. In July 1985, we moved to Houston.

The work in Houston was OK, but it felt limited. I’d heard that the work in our California office was very challenging. That sounded more like an adventure. Once again I volunteered for an unexpected duty station; once again the phone rang. We were offered a transfer to Bakersfield. Because we had two kids in junior high at this point, the family consultation was a little more involved. But, we soon learned that if we promised to buy a California home with palm trees and a swimming pool, then we were cleared for takeoff. Apparently, our kids thought California sounded like an adventure.

The move to Bakersfield in July 1987 eventually produced everything that I wanted to accomplish in my corporate practice. The job has been very good to me and very good for me. There are no unachieved goals. I will hang up my attorney spurs in the not-too-distant future fully satisfied with my career; no regrets. I’m a fortunate man.

That’s the thumbnail career path. More could be said about each stop along the way, and I may drop some career references into my postings from time to time. But the fact remains – my job is what I do; it’s not who I am. My life has been an adventure, but the adventure has almost always been about “answering the call” and heading out to an unexpected horizon for new and different challenges. A few of those have been work related, but most of them have been about people, places, and experiences in the other dimensions of my life.

Like I said, I’m a fortunate man.