(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for BN)
No, that was not an earthquake that rocked Los Angeles, and the world this past Sunday, although it certainly felt like one. It was the news that Kobe Bryant, retired Laker superstar, lost his life in a helicopter crash. His 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died with him, along with seven other adults and children, whose lives may not have been as well known, but were of equal value.
What caused the deadly crash? To be determined; there could be multiple causes. It will be a while until we know.
There has already been a lot of conversation about Kobe’s legacy and that will continue in the days, weeks, months, and even years ahead. He was only in his early forties, and had already begun his post-Laker life, including winning an Oscar for his animated short film, Dear Basketball.
But his legacy is not untarnished. Would his Colorado sexual assault case have concluded in the same way now, in these #Me Too days? No way to know.
What does it mean to leave a legacy? Abraham Maslow said that once a person’s basic needs are met, he or she wants to feel that his or her life mattered. It’s a pyramid: physical, security, social, ego, and at the top, self-actualization. That’s one way to look at a legacy, that the person has made a difference, whether it makes a difference to one person or a group of people. It is placing a personal imprimatur on the future. It’s making a contribution in any number of ways. Kobe did so. He was devoted to basketball, but once he left that behind, his focus was on family and various business ventures. Family mattered to him, especially given the amount of time he had to devote to the game to the detriment of everyone and everything else.
What will be your legacy to our profession? I asked that question two years ago, and I ask it again now.
How do we want to be remembered by our peers, our clients, our colleagues, even opposing counsel? What matters to you in terms of a legacy? Lots of reported cases that have changed the law in a particular area? What if it was only one case, not reported, but it made a major difference to your client? A transaction that allowed your client to start or expand a business? A bankruptcy filing that allowed a client to get out from under and start fresh? (Yes, I know that there are some who think that bankruptcy screws creditors, but get over it.) Acquittal in a criminal case that allowed a client to keep her job?
How about mentoring? Helping younger lawyers navigate through the perils of practice. If anyone says there are no perils of practice, I say phooey. I don’t care whether younger lawyers say that they don’t need any guidance, they do. They’re not being candid with themselves and with the disciplinary system if they get into trouble because of incompetence in handling a matter.
What about pro bono work? Do lawyers still make time for it? As we dinosaurs retire, are pushed out, or take a hike, is pro bono a way to leave a legacy?
I hope people will remember Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, who has saved people from death row and prompted the United States Supreme Court to modify how juvenile defendants are punished. The Equal Justice Initiative also created the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. If you haven’t read Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy, or seen the movie of the same name, do so.
With rare exceptions, lawyers are not celebrities in any lasting way. Not like a sports icon such as Kobe Bryant. Even if a lawyer becomes a celebrity, it is usually in the context of a particular event, and once that event or case ends, it’s usually phffft for his celebrity. People remember cases, but rarely the lawyers.
A legacy can be good or evil — or both — at the same time. This week marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The concentration camp was the personification of Nazi evil. However, it was, and remains to this day, a legacy of how individuals can survive the worst of circumstances and tell their stories of survival to generations who have no clue about what happened and who need to know and understand.
In a world dominated by talking heads and nasty Twitter conversations, we forget how to feel. Lawyers are told to detach, to remain uninvolved. Unfortunately, that slips into personal lives as well.
Maybe Kobe’s legacy, at least a part of it, is one that we all would do well to acknowledge: life is fleeting, and tell people now, while they are alive, what they mean to you. A “celebration of life” for one who is gone is too late.
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.