by Lei Lei Wang Ekvall

One of my passions is wine, especially old world red wines. My motto is “life is too short for cheap wine, bad food, and grumpy friends.” I wasn’t always a “wine snob” (my nickname given by office mates who are wine neophytes). My favorite wine when I was young was Boone’s Farm Country Kwencher. I then progressed to the big buttery California chardonnay (which I can no longer stomach). About 10 years ago, I went to a wine tasting and tried a red burgundy from the ’80s. It rocked my world. Since then, I have been collecting wine like others collect Beanie Babies. (My husband’s words, not mine.) One of the best things about wine is the story it tells—about the place and time where it is from (plus, it tastes so darn good). Cellaring a wine makes the story more profound and complex. In fact, many old world wines are not ready to drink upon release. To get the full flavor profile, you have to cellar it for at least a few years.

So that you don’t think you have stumbled upon an issue of Wine Spectator, this column is not all about wine but about something else that improves with age—lawyers. It so happens that I was drinking some wine with a bit of age when I thought about some of our more seasoned attorneys and what an untapped resource they are to the OCBA and its members.

Many law firms have mandatory retirement policies, although the American Bar Association opposes such policies, urging firms to individually evaluate partners using performance-based measures. Some law firms have followed the ABA’s recommendation. Even without a mandatory retirement policy, however, it is reasonable to expect older lawyers to scale back their practice in order to take the long-promised family vacations, enjoy the fruits of their labor, and do all the things that were put off in order to put 2000 plus billable hours a year on the scoreboard.

As the oldest individuals in the baby boomer generation are beginning to reach the retirement age of 65 (which seems younger and younger every year), we can expect a substantial number of practitioners and judges who may be retiring or looking to scale back in the next 15 years. By the time of retirement, some of the most prominent members of our legal community would have had an active and thriving legal career for over four decades. It would be a real loss to our legal community to have their experiences, knowledge, and skills ride off into the sunset. It is also hard to imagine that anyone who’s been active in the legal profession is capable of going from 2000 billable hours a year to just playing golf. Even traveling can’t be a full-time job. It’s expensive and flying in coach hurts your tail bone when that tail bone is over 35 years old. Finally, there is anecdotal evidence that it is not healthy to go cold turkey from an active career to a life of leisure. Thus, it is realistic that in the coming years, a number of judges and practitioners in our legal community will soon have at least 20 hours a week to spare.

The experience, knowledge, skills, and spare time of those who will soon be heading into retirement can make significant inroads in the demand for mentors, pro bono services, and volunteerism. One excellent example is Richard Herr. I had the good fortune of meeting Richard several years ago through the bankruptcy pro bono clinic co-sponsored by the OCBA. Richard was, for many years, an in-house attorney (maybe the in-house attorney) at Bank of America. After he retired, he logged numerous volunteer hours counseling hundreds of debtors on whether to enter into reaffirmation agreements (those pesky agreements that creditors want debtors to sign in order to remain liable on debts that would otherwise be discharged by the bankruptcy). The State Bar of California has a program to encourage retired attorneys and judges to provide pro bono services. The program was previously entitled the Emeritus Attorney Pro Bono Program but was recently renamed the Pro Bono Practice Program. The OCBA, with the goal of encouraging pro bono services, waives membership dues for attorneys who qualify for the State Bar’s Pro Bono Practice Program.

Providing pro bono services is a great way for retired attorneys to remain active. The skills, knowledge, and experience of our seasoned attorneys also make them ideal candidates to serve as mentors. There are also a whole host of committees that can use some voices of experience.

These days, a great deal of attention is being paid to Generation Y (generally, those born in the 1980s through the ’90s) and how the attorneys from this generation will affect the practice of law. But let’s not forget those on the other end of the spectrum. Frankly, I always find the young wines to be a little too harsh, edgy, and fruit-forward. I prefer the delicate balance, nuance, and complexity of a more aged wine. Please feel free to share ideas for how to encourage retired attorneys and judges to stay involved in the OCBA. The OCBA is presently exploring the possibility of launching a Senior Lawyers Division. There may be other ideas. With all the years of experience and knowledge at our disposal, we should be able to come up with something interesting.

Lei Lei Wang Ekvall is the 2010 President of the Orange County Bar Association and a partner of Weiland, Golden, Smiley, Wang Ekvall & Strok, LLP, where she specializes in representing debtors, creditors, and litigants in business reorganizations and workouts.