A young, newly-appointed College President was referred to us for legal representation, and had an initial telephone conversation with me. I could tell that the pressing question on his mind, although never directly expressed, was “I have just been offered an executive position at a much higher salary than I would ever earn as a faculty member, and meaningfully higher than even an acting Senior Dean or Provost. Why do I need a lawyer? Why don’t I just sign whatever piece of paper they put in front of me and worry about the details later?”
Behind this question were a number of fears: the fear of coming off as “too aggressive” or “too demanding” to the Board or search committee of the school; the fear of lawyers as “deal killers” who would make demands which might cause the College to re-think the appointment; the fear of unknown but perhaps large and maybe unnecessary legal fees; and no doubt other fears.
And even after learning that our fees were reasonable (and more likely than not would be paid or reimbursed by the hiring institution), and, further, that we have never lost a deal which our client wanted, I could hear by his voice that he still had hesitations. “Did he really need legal assistance? Would we overcomplicate a straightforward and attractive job offer?”
In this instance, even a first review of the draft contract offered by the College allowed me, rather quickly, to persuade him that he needed a lawyer: the contract was barren of any of the necessary indemnification protections; it said nothing about the carryover of his tenure rights from the previous institution or his so-called “retreat rights” if his presidency did not work out as planned for him or for the school; the clause allowing him and his family to live in the traditional President’s house was not properly written so as to minimize the possibility that he would be taxed on the value of that residence; and so on. When I pointed out these things, this young man decided that the possibility that things “might work out” was not sufficient protection, and that he needed an executive employment attorney experienced in higher education contracts.
Expertise should not be under-valued. At my recent law school reunion, I was pleased to see a classmate who has combined a private real estate law practice with his own real estate development business. I reminded him, that several decades ago, I had hired him to be the attorney who represented us in the purchase of the house where we still live. Could I have represented myself? Probably. Would it have been a stupid thing to do? Absolutely.
And unlike medical assistance, which the majority of people use on a regular, if hopefully routine, basis, most individuals need legal representation only at particular and infrequent times in their lives: buying property, making their wills, matrimonial difficulties, and taking, losing or changing jobs.
These are inflection points in what Erik Erikson called the Human Life Cycle. To handle them without expert professional counsel signifies not only naivete, but a meaningful lack of self-care.
One final memory from law school. In my last year I was privileged to take a course on the origins and growth of the common law in Medieval England from S.F.C. Milsom, a famed British academic who was a visiting professor. Milsom, according to classroom rumor, started with a certain aura of glamor; although he was an ordinary looking older man, he supposedly had persuaded the wife of the great Cambridge University criminologist, Leon Radzinowicz, to run away with him. Primarily, however, I came to learn that he was a wonderful scholar and teacher.
By showing us that the common law grew, however slowly, in response to the creativity of attorneys trying to solve their clients’ particular and often unique individual problems, he convinced us that lawyers could help their clients through changing and confusing times.
Given today’s pressures on the heads of educational institutions – Colleges, Universities and Independent Schools – the leaders of these institutions both need and deserve knowledgeable and thoughtful legal counsel who can protect their employment entitlements during a time when the stresses and challenges of their jobs are at an all-time high.
