Good Old Law Firm Days (Minus The Technology)

THE “GOOD OLD DAYS” Without the Advantages of Modern Technology
(Reprinted with permission of Law Practice Management)

By: Robert James Henderson ©

I began the practice of law in 1958. Back then, we didn’t have all of the wonderful advantages of modern technology. For instance, if we wanted to make copies of documents, we simply inserted more sheets of carbon in the typewriter.

Our telephones were the good old-fashioned black variety pro­vided free of charge by Ma Bell. Our offices were in the local bank building. I think the phones were installed when the building was built around the turn of the cen­tury and hadn’t required service since.

There was no such thing as a car phone.

Our dictating machines re­sembled Thomas Edison’s original recording device. Dictation was re­corded by a needle on a round plastic cylinder.
Summers and winters could be uncomfortable. When it got hot, we loosened our ties and sometimes removed our suit coats. We tried putting a fan in the window once but it blew all the papers off the desks.

In the winter, if we got cold, we had an old crescent wrench that we banged on the radiators. Someone down in the bowels of the building would then send up a blast of steam in the pipes. The office would then get too hot and we would have to open the windows to cool off.

Typewriters were operated man­ually and had no “memory”.

To mail letters, we had a large roll of stamps. All you had to do was tear one off and lick it.

Advantages of Modern Technology
Today, we have all of the advan­tages of modern technology.

Photostat Machines
If we want to make copies of documents, we don’t even use car­bon paper; we have a wonderful photostat machine that even en­larges or reduces the size of copies at the push of a button.

Of course, the machine has a mind of its own. The manufacturer (which advertises that it makes nothing but photostat machines) has a large staff of service people. One of them has made his home at our office. When something goes wrong, his explanation is that it’s not the machine—we just use it too much.

New Telephones & Car Phones
When we moved into our new office building in 1980, we couldn’t get the old black phones supplied by Ma Bell. We had to purchase our own telephone system. It has all kinds of features the old black phones didn’t have, including auto­matic dialing of up to 25 numbers, automatic redial, hands-free use, etc.

Of course, whenever we have a lightning storm, or if we have what’s called a “power surge,” the phones go out, disconnecting all calls in process. Someone then has to run down to the basement and press the reset button.

Car phones are another great advancement in telephone service. When they first came out, they were status symbols, like a Mer­cedes. Now, the price has come down so that just about anyone can afford them and they’re no longer status symbols (car phones, that is, not Mercedes).

New Dictation Machines
Our dictating machines are now hand-held tape recorders. This makes it convenient to do dictation wherever one happens to be. One of my partners, for instance, has a rare combination of talents; he can drive his car while shaving, dictat­ing, talking on the phone and eating breakfast, all at the same time.

Today, typewriters have been re­placed by computers which are networked and can communicate with one another. When I come into the office these days, I half expect to hear the computers carrying on a conversation – in computerese, of course. Since I’m a relic of the pre­computer age, I tread very lightly when I’m near the computers for fear of getting them “mad” at me.

Central Heating/Cooling
The building is heated and cooled by high-efficiency heating and cool­ing units. We have four zones on the main floor. The heat and air conditioning are turned up and down in the morning and evening, without the aid of a crescent wrench. It’s all automatic.

For three months in the spring and fall, according to our employ­ees, the building is too cold in the morning and too hot during the day, or too hot in the morning and too cold during the day, depending on the season. Also, although all zones are set at the same tem­perature, there is a variance of three to four degrees from one side to the other. But as I said, it’s all automatic.

New Mailing Technology
To mail letters, in place of the old-fashioned roll of stamps that had to be licked, we now have a modern, automatic electronic mail­ing machine.

Of course, the machine isn’t as easy to operate as licking a stamp. It has a control panel comparable to a Boeing 737’s. I haven’t learned to operate it yet, and I may not have enough years left to do so. Fortunately, however, we did pur­chase a convenience option with it – a glass container with a roll of stamps that says “In case of emer­gency, break glass.”

Life was a lot less complicated in the “good old days.” But as I said, we didn’t have all of the wonderful advantages of modern technology.

LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT JULY/AUGUST 1990
Copyright 1990 by Robert James Henderson