April 1, 2009 – If he could do it all over again, Tom Drought would still be a lawyer.

“I can’t think of another job more rewarding,” Drought said after 50 years of practice.

On May 6, the State Bar of Wisconsin will honor Tom Drought among the 107 members who have passed the half-century mark in the legal profession at the State Bar Annual Convention in Milwaukee.

Upon graduation from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1959, Drought went to work for the firm built by his father and grandfather. That firm changed names over the years (now Cook & Franks, S.C.), but Drought has remained, becoming a noted expert on estate planning and probate and trust administration.

What does it mean to be a lawyer? 

“Being a lawyer means meeting a terrific number of clients through the years and being able to help them,” Drought said.

Indeed, Drought said that the importance of the client relationship has not changed over the last 50 years. “You have to do what you can to help them,” he said. “You have to be responsive to what clients want; you need to be efficient and cost-effective serving their needs.”

While the client relationship endures as the focus of a law practice, Drought noted the other great changes in the profession. Drought said he could hardly describe the significance of the revolutionary technological breakthroughs in photocopying, telecommunications, faxes and computers. “I don’t even want to tell you what it was like to get a copy of something in 1959,” he said.

The law itself has also changed dramatically in the last 50 years, he said. In his field of practice alone, the law underwent tremendous upheaval when Wisconsin became a marital property state in 1986. “A lawyer needs to keep going to school,” Drought said. “You cannot just apply 1959 law to today’s practice.”

Advice for new lawyers

Lawyers who are just beginning their careers must be responsive to the client, Drought said. “Return the client’s phone calls even when you don’t want to talk to the client,” he said. “It’s not going to get easier by waiting.”

Drought also urged new lawyers to put a premium on communications skills. The ability to write and speak effectively is essential to any occupation, but it is especially crucial for a lawyer, he said. “A lawyer has been to college and has been to law school, and yet some do not know how to speak the English language,” he said. “If you can’t communicate, you won’t be successful.”

A new lawyer needs to be involved in the advancement of the profession. Drought recommends lawyers engage with the State Bar and similar groups to ensure the vitality of the profession. For his own part, Drought has served on the State Bar Board of Governors and as president of the Milwaukee Bar Association.

Drought noted that associations such as these can be mutually beneficial as attorneys who favorably impress colleagues by their contributions to the profession can be rewarded with client referrals from other lawyers.

But just as importantly, Drought encouraged lawyers to become involved in the communities in which they live. “Lawyers have so much talent and education,” he said. “They have an obligation to give something back.”

 A leader in his field 

Drought has served as chair of both the Milwaukee Bar Association’s Probate and Real Estate sections as well as chair and director of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. He has served as a director and then as president of the Milwaukee Estate Planning Council. In 1979, he was elected as a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council, serving five years as the Wisconsin chair of the Council. The Best Lawyers in America has listed Drought in its category for Trusts and Estates attorneys.

Aside from these and other professional accolades, Drought attached special significance to his 32-year tenure as village attorney for the Village of Bayside. From 1969 to 2001, Drought gave legal guidance to the village through its growing pains which included the development of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and the introduction of apartment development.

“The Village of Bayside was incorporated in 1953 and until the 1970s, it never had apartments,” Drought recalled. “There was a real fight when they came along.”