blog.cuyler.com

I started here as an 22 year old, fresh-faced college grad about to embark on law school, who thought it was time to drop my tennis racquet (my previous summer jobs involved teaching tennis and being a country club tennis pro) and enter the “real world” to work at a law firm to prepare for the rigors of a life in law. At least a million document reviews later (sadly not an exaggeration) I may not have had much of a summer lesson in the finer points of the law, but I did know that CB was a group of great people who treated even the lowest person on the totem pole (undoubtedly me) with respect and dignity.

We’ve changed offices, seen some old friends go and new friends come, had a party or two (and maybe the occasional drink), won many cases (and admittedly lost some cases), won a lot of softball games, had babies, got married, got divorced, and above all learned a lot. But, fifteen plus years later it is remarkable to note, especially in the intervening years of widespread nationwide law firm mergers, defections, closings and the like, that the core of the people at the Firm in 1992 are largely unchanged today. CB is still a place that trades on its people. Whether it is in the way it treats employees and their families, its fellow members of the bar, be it friend or foe, and of course its clients.

In this space, I will post my thoughts on things that touch CB or the profession in general, and provide links to interesting (mostly humorous!) stories about our profession. Hopefully, it will be an enjoyable read, not too serious, and something worth coming back for.

20 years. A pretty damn good accomplishment with a lot of promise for the future.

Since opening the Firm, I married, moved twice, and became the proud father of 3 children, whom I enjoy the pleasure of raising with Martha.

I am thankful for and proud of what we’ve built at CB. While I hear too many lawyers lamenting their experience over the last 20 years or so, what I have had, as the cliche goes, is that I have gotten from it what I have put into it. I have had a chance to explore ideas, learn some craft, create businesses, and earn a living, all in the company daily of brilliant caring people. How good is that?

20 years ago, I had helped start CB, was learning how to litigate (in the fast-paced classroom of the Owens-Illinois case and others) and beginning to fantasize about the business opportunities at the intersection where real estate development meets the financial aspects of environmental remediation. Over the last decade, my partners trusted my judgments on how to turn aspirations toward a viable part of the Firm’s practice and my personal business career. I have seen Jeff Knapp, Andrew Craig, Darin Winick, my clients, and so many others, move forward on successful pathways I’d like to think I helped them chart. In sum, at a relatively young age in this profession, I have enjoyed incredible chances to both give and to receive.

I am energized as Year 21 year commences. I am certain Cuyler Burk is poised at another major jumping off point in its evolution. The market says we’re pretty good at offering clients top-tier quality work, and all of our people deserve to earn a good living, upon which I will insist. But the business plan cannot be to have clients pay for new associates, so they, in turn, can pay off student loans while performing rudimentary document reviews and repackaging old legal research assignments. The reality is that top-notch legal services are in many cases overpriced. Thus, firms like Cuyler Burk will capture increasing market share as corrective action is demanded by the sophisticated legal consumer.

I don’t know where my practice will take me in the next 20 years, but I will work to make it as exciting as the last 20 have been. As long as I am around, which I hope is a long long time, tapping the limits of the Firm’s creativity and courage to express it will be my goals and reasons I wake up every day excited about my career and this Firm..

Thanks to all.

In September I celebrated 16 years as a Cuyler Burk employee, next to Marian our wonderful receptionist, I am proud to say, I am the most senior person on staff.

I started at Cuyler Burk in the summer of 1990 as a temp. I knew WordPerfect 5.1 and this firm in Florham Park (one town over from home, where I was living during summer break between my junior and senior years of college) needed someone who knew WordPerfect 4.2 to fill in. I can downgrade with the best of them…

So I jumped at the chance to make $12/hr — my earlier temp stint at an Asian clothing warehouse (”Preppy Boy!”) was only netting $8.50/hr, so this was a big bump up… and it allowed me to live my credo: no heavy lifting.

I worked for two attorneys, a senior associate and a junior associate that summer, and it was standard office work. I was told I was special since I could stand to work with this senior associate who had a reputation for being difficult; but she and I got along famously, and I learned all about clumsy Club Med vacationers who, once sobered by the mainland, filed slip-and-fall lawsuits hoping to subsidize their vacations. (Do I sound like a defense lawyer or what?)

Summer ended and it was back to college. I was a communications and theatre major with an emphasis on directing TV and Stage, so my senior year was spent directing a mainstage drama and an hour long TV comedy. Graduation came and went, and I was putting the finishing touches on my TV project when the temp agency called and asked if I wanted to go back to Cuyler Burk & Matthews. I said I was flattered they thought of me and I would love to return, but I couldn’t because I had to finish this project for Emmy submission and I was committed to do some semi-pro theatre construction work through the end of July. If they could wait, I’d be interested. They couldn’t wait, and so I missed the boat.

Or so I thought.
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On November 2, 1987, Cuyler Burk opened our doors with five lawyers who left their traditional firms to strike out on their own. Stephen Cuyler, Jo Ann Burk, Richard Crooker, Michael Jones and Peter Petrou (along with secretary Marian Kelly) hung their shingle at 44 Whippany Road in Morristown, and a dynasty law firm was born.

Over the next week or two we’ll be sharing some stories from those past twenty years. We hope you visit often, or sign up for our RSS feed (by clicking on that giant orange icon on the right, there) …