Second Chances
ABA President Bill Bay. (Photo courtesy of Thompson Coburn)
It’s a call you never want to receive. I was out of town. My wife called to say my father had been hospitalized with an emergency. It didn’t look good.
My father had an outpatient procedure a week or so before. He hadn’t informed me. It was not a big deal, and it wasn’t his way to report every little thing. But there had been a complication. And to make it worse, he was out of town. He had lost a lot of blood, been rushed to one hospital, but they couldn’t handle it. They sent him to a hospital able to care for the crisis. A team of doctors and nurses awaited his arrival and handled a heart attack that ensued. Blockage. Bleeding. Heart attack. It was a lethal combination. But he had been sent to the right place and treated by the right people. He was sent home and scheduled to see a heart surgeon at home immediately. The quadruple bypass surgery was done a day later.
The doctor came by to check on him just a few hours after surgery. My mother talked to him. He told her the surgery had gone well. He expected a full recovery. He said my father was fortunate—he had received excellent attention at just the right time. “You were at a special cardiac care facility. I have been impressed by their work,” he related. “It could have been much worse. They gave him a second chance,” he finished. My mother told him how caring the doctors and nurses were there. “They really made a difference. Thanks to them and to you for your work here. It takes special people to do the things you do.” He smiled. “It’s our job.” The conversation was over. The afternoon flowed into night. I left to go home.
I thought about the words of each—the surgeon and my mother. The heartfelt gratitude she had for the work of each professional and the role they played in giving my father a second chance. And the surgeon’s simple reply. Yes, he is paid well for his specialty. But there was more to his words—just a quiet recognition of the role he plays in patients’ lives.
There are days I play a “what if” game. What if I had chosen another career instead of law? Accounting, or becoming a professor or teacher. There are days these careers have their own special fascination and allure. It’s idle speculation and passes quickly.
But that moment has stuck with me. It confirmed I made the right choice because it reminded me of the importance of lawyers and the profession we serve. Clients come to our offices seeking solutions to problems. Issues they have not been able to resolve. Disputes they cannot solve—personal, marital, probate, corporate. They’re looking for a second chance.
It may not be a life-and-death situation at the hospital, but it is very real. And it requires the best of our collective talents in the legal emergency rooms where we meet. Being available. Bringing in the appropriate people and tools to help. Treating the legal bleeding, blockage and heart attacks that we see every day. The goal is to provide grateful clients a second chance. There are a lot of reasons we do it, but I like best the one the surgeon told my mother. “It’s our job.”
My mother was right about the doctors and nurses. It does take special people to do the things they do. Just like the lawyers, legal assistants and staff who serve a wide variety of clients in their times of crisis and need. In the best tradition of our profession, we do it simply because it’s our job. Providing clients a second chance.
My father made the best of his for 20 more years. It is our job to deliver those kinds of second chances for our clients. Never doubt that you made the right choice to be part of a profession that serves our clients and the communities where we live and practice, and also one that defends the rule of law. In these challenging times, all of that matters. There is no time like the present to choose to make a difference. Second chances matter.
Follow President Bay on X @ABAPresident or email [email protected].
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