File under ‘comes around’

I wasn’t crazy about practicing piano, but I absolutely love practicing law. Each day I have the opportunity to help other people resolve conflicts, protect their financial or familial interests, and preserve their freedom and security.

Every so often, too, I find myself in situations that confirm certain of life’s principles, and that demonstrate how concepts and ideals we might otherwise dismiss as theoretical (or even imaginary are, in fact, rooted in reality.)

Thus we have this week’s case in point:

Thirty years ago I was a young Assistant District Attorney assigned to the elite Major Offense Bureau. On a particular day an office-wide (pre-email) written memo was distributed forbidding the removal of any case file to any location but the court, upon penalty of dismissal. That same day I was scheduled to take a guilty plea in a (major) manslaughter case immediately following the mid-day meal recess, and unwittingly took the (humongous) case file with me to lunch with the very same Bureau Chief who had issued the earlier memo. As we started to leave the restaurant (and I nearly reached the door) I was hailed by the chief who, apparently having forgotten or ignoring his rule and order, simply handed me the file I had obviously left behind, with nothing more than the wish that I do well in court. As I “nonchalantly” rushed shaking from the room, I thanked the Almighty for saving me from just-the-little-less-mighty, and instantly recognized how good it feels to learn from a mistake without the necessity of being punished for it. I truly appreciated the unique feeling of… relief.

Beyond that, “what’s the point,” you may ask.

Well, thirty years later, last Friday to be exact, I was racing across a busy commercial thoroughfare at a frenetic pace anxious about being late to court on behalf of a difficult (not case, but) client, when I stumbled over a bulging manila legal file spewing papers all over the roadway. I immediately recognized it as a District Attorney Case File. (I won’t reveal what DA’s office) and, stopping (actually, it was dodging) traffic, retrieved all the (obviously confidential) documents, and set about trying to identify and locate the Assistant D.A. who had lost them. On my way, I was confronted by a hysterical, panicked and distraught young prosecutor who, midst a thousand, teary thank yous, confided that had the file not been recovered, a career in law enforcement (and perhaps even in the law) would have immediately been terminated. In that instant, I could tell that this shaking youngster had learned from the mistake and was appreciating (and enjoying) the unique feeling of...relief, and, that together we had confirmed the principle of life that some call “karma,” that others say is “midah keneged midah” (“measure for measure”) and that all agree is …”that which goes around, comes around.”

I think it’s a great story, though in telling it, one friend suggested it would be more compelling if I added that the young D.A. turned out to be the child of my former Bureau Chief. Someone else thought it would make a better tale if I noted that the file I found was the file on the case I was racing to court to handle.

Interesting ideas, but three and a half decades as a practicing lawyer have taught me that the truth is just fine, and need not be embellished or enhanced or exaggerated.

It may not make a story as interesting, but telling the truth is the best and safest path since, as with lost files, so too with truth, what goes around, comes around.

© Copyright © 2011 Ron Goldman

Ron Goldman is an attorney in private practice with offices in Cedarhurst and can be reached @ 1-800-846-9013