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Attorney
By
Attorney
Career Profiles of the Profession
Who?
Name:
Donald Lee Rome
donaldleerome@msn.com
What?
Primary Practice Area & Subspecialty Fields:
Present Area: Dispute Resolution (Arbitration, Mediation mainly)
Previous Areas: Commercial Finance, Uniform Commercial Code, Bankruptcy, Business
Workouts, Corporate Finance and Reorganization.
When?
In Practice Area:
Present Area: 1993-present.
Prior Area: 1954-1993.
In the Legal Profession:
Since 1954.
Where?
Employer:
Law firms:
1. Robinson & Cole 1983-2000;
2. Rosenberg & Rome (& successors) 1967-1983;
3.Ribicoff & Kotkin 1954-1967.
Size/Sector:
1. 180 lawyers in 2000;
2. 6 lawyers in 1983;
3. 15 lawyers in 1967.
City/State:
Hartford, Connecticut
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Law School:
Harvard Law School
Undergraduate School/Degree:
B.S. from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut
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Why?
Pluses/Challenges of Practice Area:
Problem solving for business and business related problems at times of
financial success and stress. The development of negotiation skills oriented
to the creation and preservation of relationships. On-going business and
professional relationships are a critical part of representing business
clients. All of the foregoing is relevant, albeit in different ways, to my work not only
as a practicing lawyer, but also in my work as a mediator and arbitrator of
business oriented disputes. The transition to becoming a mediator and an
arbitrator was not difficult, given the prior experience in my practice,
especially business workouts.
Core Skills/Key Knowledge Needed in Your Practice Area:
Knowledge of applicable law - corporate, commercial, surety, real estate,
trial practice, securities, bankruptcy and related areas. Also, the
negotiating skills referred to above and the techniques needed to give
advice in a credible manner to clients, especially advice that they may not
want to hear.
Advice to Lawyers and Law Students Interested in Your Practice Area:
Think of yourself: as a diagnostician who must have high level legal
knowledge and analytical skills in order to advise and counsel clients; as a
negotiator who can provide creative solutions to problems and show both
clients and others why the advocated result is necessary, and maybe even
good for all parties; as a partner with your client in attempting to attain
client goals; as someone who can be viewed by the client as bringing "value
added" to your involvement with the client in the matter being handled; as a
student of risk analysis, with the ability to outline legal and business
risks to the client and to explore risk management techniques that may be
available. After you think about these roles - consider how you will develop
the skills needed. What will be your resources? Who will be your models and
mentors? How will you learn to handle the need to move in uncharted waters
in order to advise clients of possible coarse of actions where risk may be involved?
How?
Career Path to Current Position:
Partly the accidents of what opportunities appeared at various times. The
willingness to stumble over an opportunity and not walk away. Partly taking
advice from people - like the lawyer in New York City who urged me in the
early 70's to join the Business Law Section and become active at the time in
the Business Bankruptcy Committee. I did, and my years of attending ABA
Spring and Annual Meetings of the Business Law Section, and now the Dispute
Resolution Section have been invaluable in career development in a variety
of ways. Heavily - hard work - learning the law, writing articles,
attending CLE programs and participating in them as a panelist. Developing a
sense of vision - for myself in practice, for law firms as times have
changed, for practice areas, and for relevant business conditions that
affect clients. Read The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and
Barron's - and your local newspaper - everyday (Barron's -weekly).
Influences and Mentors:
Parents and Grandparents - How to conduct yourself as a human being.
Irving S. Ribicoff, David Kotkin and Judge Norris L. O'Neill - how to be a capable and honorable lawyer;
Carroll Moore, Esq. - Become active in ABA;
Stanley Pollack, Esq. - What the corporate client requires; willingness to
have confidence in a little two man firm in 1967; proof that a high standard
of excellence can produce client satisfaction and loyalty.
Suggested Reading About Your Practice Area:
Business sections of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and
Barron's.
The Business Lawyer - ABA Business Law Section and Business Law Today - Business Law Section.
Program books from ABA Business Law Section Spring and Annual Meetings.
Job Search Techniques Used in Finding Your Position(s):
Develop an outstanding reputation among your peers and with clients - then
its easy. Look for practice groups that suit you, that will want you as a
part of their team, and that see something in you that they want.
Bar Affiliations and Activities:
Connecticut Bar Association (former Chair, Commercial Law & Bankruptcy
Section); American Bar Association (Chair, Dispute Resolution Committee of
Business Law Section); Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, American
College of Commercial Finance Lawyers (Former chair of Dispute Resolution
Committee, Recipient of Homer Kripke Lifetime Achievement Award); Elected
member of American Law Institute.
Recent Professional Publications:
Articles in Business Law Today (ABA Business Law Section),
Dispute Resolution Magazine (Dispute Resolution Section of ABA);
Dispute Resolution Journal ( American Arbitration Association);
Alternative (CPR Center for Dispute Resolution) 2000 Supplement to Business Loan Workouts ( West Publishing), first ed. 1985; 2nd edition 1992, Donald Lee Rome, editor and principal author.
Recent Professional Presentations:
Many, too numerous to detail, for Commercial Financial Services Committee
and Dispute Resolution Committee of ABA Business Law Section, for Dispute
Resolution ABA Section, for American Arbitration Association; for several
Sections of Connecticut Bar Association; for CPR Center for Dispute
Resolution.
Memorable Career Moment:
Having represented commercial lenders for many years in dealing with
business entities in financial stress, it was especially nice for me to be
told some years after a successful workout that involved a principal who
had been in a state of depression when the workout started, that "You may
not realize it, but you saved my life by your words of encouragement to me
when I was so down...." He was not my client - he was the owner of the
borrower company.
Intriguing Interests:
The major demographic shrift taking place in the US and other countries, and
the issue of not only Social Security, but whether private investment can
support a major portion of our society who will not be working. I wrote a
full page article on this that was published in June of 1998 in Barron's. I
have been involved with an insurance company and a university on this
subject since 1998.
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