No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

GETTING SMART LAWYERS ON YOUR SIDE

Unfortunately, you'll need a variety of lawyers in your life. But, you'll have to find one who can be the quarterback, your key legal person. He or she can direct you to the various other specialists in their fields who can help you and your family. An older lawyer, who was a client for years before he died, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. “If someone had offered me a job paying $10,000 a year for life,” he told me, “I would have signed a contract in blood. That's how bad things were.” He would tell me tales of hard times and good times. But he also stressed that there were always people who prospered in difficult business climates and that I would be well served by never following the crowd.

“Read George Orwell's novel Animal Farm,” he told me. “In the beginning of the book, Orwell says, ‘All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.”’ Remember these lines as you think about yourselves (which you do, all the time). How do you get to be one of those pigs that are more equal than others?

I learn a lot from the people who are Machiavellian, who don't think about the world in conventional ways. They think about getting the edge. They can help you to get the edge as well. My main lawyer handles my estate and trust issues. I describe him as quirky. But he may even be a shade darker than that. He wrote an unpublished novel years ago and sent it off to half a dozen publishers. ...