Early Experiences Make for Lasting Impressions

By Dianne Molvig

Leonard Loeb's first impressions of the law profession date back more than six decades, when he was about six years old. His father, an immigrant who eventually started a scrap yard business in Columbus, Wis., regularly sought legal help in running his business. "I remember my dad had a tremendous respect for his lawyer, a guy by the name of Cal Callahan," Loeb recalls. "I always thought lawyers were 10 feet tall from the way my dad talked about them."

That image stuck with Loeb all through his youth, plus he was enchanted by stories he read about Abraham Lincoln's prowess as a lawyer. By the time Loeb reached high school, he was certain he wanted to pursue a law career. He graduated from the U.W. Law School and served a stint of active duty with the Judge Advocates General Division of the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Then he returned to his home state to take his first private practice job in the firm of Milwaukee attorney Ray McCann, whom Loeb describes as "my foster father in the practice of law." McCann also happened to be an old friend of Callahan, Loeb's father's lawyer.

Life Planning Week

Now that he's State Bar president, one of Loeb's top priorities is to inspire the general public to view attorneys in a positive way - not as the superhumans they were in the eyes of a 6-year-old boy, but as professionals garnering respect.

"Lawyers today don't have the greatest public image," he notes, "as a result of newspaper articles, some sensational trials, some terrible jokes, and maybe a little envy. Yet survey after survey shows that although the public views lawyers as a group as a little less than admirable, people will say, 'But my lawyer is a good lawyer and a good individual.' But the vast majority of people do not have lawyers. They only come across lawyers in the media. So I thought, in what way could people meet and get to know an individual lawyer?"

Pondering that question led Loeb to develop one of the key initiatives he'll enact during his tenure as president - an idea that has evolved, through consultation with other attorneys and the State Bar staff, into an event called Life Planning Week, to be publicized and held in conjunction with Law Day in May 2000.

"I thought, what is it that every human being in Wisconsin over the age of 18 should have that a lawyer can provide? The idea struck me: Everyone over 18 should have a living will and a medical power of attorney. And these should be done when it's not a crisis," Loeb explains. Thus, during Life Planning Week, the State Bar, with help from the State Medical Society, will educate citizens across the state about preparing necessary documents. As Loeb sees it, this activity will serve dual purposes. "It's a public service," he notes. "And it's a massive effort to show lawyers in their best light."

Rules of Negotiation

Not only can the public's image of lawyers stand some polishing, but relations among lawyers themselves could improve, Loeb says. Another of his presidential initiatives will address one aspect of that issue, by developing rules for negotiation. "Everybody has his or her own style of negotiation," Loeb points out, "but there are no rules." He feels there should be, just as there are rules of evidence, for instance, that apply to trying a case. Rules for negotiation could help avert the games lawyers sometimes play with each other, he contends.

"Unfortunately, a lot of lawyers don't want to negotiate," Loeb says. "Some give ultimatums. They'll say they have to have an answer by 5 p.m. on Friday or an offer will be withdrawn. Well, my nature doesn't do well with ultimatums. So I'll say, 'Gee, can I have till 5:30?' An ultimatum is the first sign of insecurity. Giving good lawyers ultimatums is counterproductive."

Drawing up rules for negotiation could be a first step in eliminating such counterproductive behaviors, Loeb believes. The rules would spell out certain expectations. For example, "You don't sandbag," he says. "If you present an offer, it has to be a solid offer. When you make a recommendation, you have something to back it up; it isn't just an exercise. Other rules could call for fair disclosures. That doesn't mean you educate the opposition, but it means you're fair."

Not only could rules of negotiation enhance lawyers' relations with one another, but they could help clients, too. "Why should we have the reputation of being 'hired guns,'" Loeb asks, "as compared to being hired to be problem solvers? Our best function is to solve problems. That's what we're best suited and equipped to do."

Bar Leadership Education

Yet another of Loeb's presidential initiatives stems from his many years' experience in leadership positions in local, state, and national bar organizations. Just a few of those out of a long list include serving on the American Bar Association's Board of Governors, as a member of the ABA House of Delegates, as chair of the ABA Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Committee (after active duty with JAG, he was in the reserves until 1976, when he retired as a colonel), and as a founding president of two state chapters of the American Inns of Court.

He remembers his early days on the ABA Board of Governors and House of Delegates as being on-the-job training. "I didn't know where the bones were buried for about three years," Loeb says. "It was well into my second term before I understood the modus operandi." And while his various prior experiences allowed him to hit the road running when he became State Bar president-elect, he realizes not all Bar officers and committee chairs have such advantages. "We have to educate our leadership on how things can be accomplished," he says, which is why leadership education will be the prime focus of his "leadership orientation/training" presidential initiative.

"It's been my experience," Loeb adds, "all throughout my career, in all the organizations I've worked with, that lawyers - if you can get them to think positively and away from their turf - will find the best solutions to the toughest problems. They're remarkably good people with good solutions to problems. The challenge is to get them to think positively and away from their turf." He's had a modicum of success in doing that in the past in the national organizations he's been involved in. Now he hopes to do the same close to home, in the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Senior Lawyers Forum

Loeb also plans to call for creation of a new group for older Bar members, in the form of a Bar division, section, or forum aimed specifically at senior lawyers. The idea is to "provide them the means to give back" to the profession, Loeb explains. "Most all of them want to give back. They need a vehicle to do that." He envisions senior lawyers involved in such activities as assisting in dispute resolution, handling pro bono work, and mentoring younger lawyers.

As for Loeb himself, the desire to give back was a chief motivation behind seeking the State Bar presidency. He feels professionals have an obligation to "pass back whatever talent we have," he says. "And the truth of the matter is, there is a great deal of psychic income in doing that."

Looking at Loeb's long list of involvement in professional activities in his 47-year law career, some might suggest he's already done his share. In fact, some may even wonder why, after years of leadership positions at the national level, he'd even want to serve as State Bar president, especially at a stage of his life when many lawyers want only to kick back, scale down, and bask in the memories of a well-spent career.

Not so for Loeb. Besides his desire to give back, another factor that led him to run for president-elect last year was to be able to follow in the footsteps of Susan Steingass. "Knowing her capabilities, I was encouraged to run to succeed her, because I knew she would set a good pace," Loeb says. Earlier this year he looked toward his two possible successors, Gary Bakke (who was later elected) and Kathleen Grant. "I knew who would be the winner of that election," he says, "and that would be the State Bar of Wisconsin, because either candidate would have been great. So I feel I'm in a good 'sandwich' position: a good person ahead of me, and a good person behind me."

He also was inspired to run, he says, because of his high regard for the State Bar staff. In his ABA activities, he's had dealings with nearly all 50 state bars, "and Wisconsin has, as far as I'm concerned, the best professional staff in the country," Loeb says. "There may be others as good, but nobody is better. If we didn't have that talent, I don't know that I would have run."

When he's not wrapped up in presidential duties or his family law practice, Loeb hopes to continue to do what he's done for years: spend a lot of time on his four farm properties, one each near Lodi, Sullivan, Juneau, and Oconomowoc. "I have a tremendous fondness for the land," he says, "and for the feeling of accomplishment of putting in a crop, or harvesting, or baling hay. I can't do it all as well as I used to, and I hire people to do the hard work. But I'm there supervising, lifting a bale here and there. It's an important part of my relaxation."

Other sources of relaxation include travel and something else he's sure to get plenty of during his year as president. "I like being with people," Loeb says. "People are my best form of relaxation."

Wisconsin Lawyer