February 2026 eBulletin Now Available

Dear Fellows:

This President’s Message was written while I was on vacation with my wife Joy and youngest daughter Kate in Vienna. I mention that only because Kate expressed the desire to listen to Billy Joel’s “Vienna” in Vienna. We did. And that inspired this President’s Message. You remember the song and, if you do not, click on the link right now to listen to it. Then come back, if you choose.

Joel begins the ballad by giving advice to those much younger than any Fellow:

Slow down, you crazy child

You’re so ambitious for a juvenile

But then if you’re so smart

Tell me why are you still so afraid?

Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about?

You’d better cool it off before you burn it out

You’ve got so much to do

And only so many hours in a day, hey

But you know that when the truth is told

That you can get what you want or you can just get old

You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through.

When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

Joel gave this advice in 1977, when a 21-year-old me was working full-time-plus running a bar while enrolled full-time in college. The song, on The Stranger album, was hidden on the “B” side of “Just the Way You Are.” I was unaware it existed.

Not that I would have paid attention. I was in a hurry. And, like many of you, I’ve been in a hurry ever since.

Remember when you finally realized how much you did not know about the law? I remember. That realization became the source of great anxiety, because realizing how much I didn’t know made me wonder what I didn’t know I didn’t know. As a result, I saw risk everywhere – I saw things that weren’t there or, if there, the risk of my adversary seeing and being able to exploit them was extremely small. I should have listened to the second verse:

Slow down, you’re doin’ fine

You can’t be everything you wanna be before your time

Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight

Too bad, but it’s the life you lead

You’re so ahead of yourself, that you forgot what you need

Though you can see when you’re wrong

You know you can’t always see when you’re right

You’re right.

Perhaps the last four lines of Vienna would have given me peace.

But, of course, I was in a hurry.

Now, in my forty-fifth year of law practice, at the age of 69, with our two oldest children successfully launched and our youngest daughter off at college, the rest of the song speaks pretty clearly:

You’ve got your passion, you’ve got your pride.

But don’t you know that only fools are satisfied?

Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true,

When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

🎶

Slow down, you crazy child

And take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

It’s all right, you can afford to lose a day or two,

When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

And you know that when the truth is told

That you can get what you want or you could just get old

You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through,

Why don’t you realize Vienna waits for you?

When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

We have a chalkboard in our garage, and Joy selects messages that appear on it. When I pull into my spot in the garage at the end of what is often a 12-hour workday, it is the first thing I see. Since our daughter left for college last September, the chalkboard has but two words: What now?

So, I am taking a little time during the holidays to explore Vienna. The city. And the true meaning of Joel’s song.

Through action or yielding to inertia, each of us defines what gives our lives meaning. One of Joel’s messages is that the decision should be a deliberate one, made after reflection, and not necessarily tethered to our life to date.

To you, Vienna may be continuing to fully embrace our beloved profession on its present path, following the “die at your desk” model. It may mean doing pro bono work against slumlords. Or it may mean throwing pots, learning a new language, or registering people to vote.

You may find your Vienna in a cabin on a lake in Northern Ontario. Or in a flat in the center of Madrid. On a mountain in North Carolina. Or a beach in Oregon. On a ranch in Colorado. Or in the vegetable garden behind your current home.

May each of you find your Vienna.

And may I find mine.

Before we get old.

 

John A. Day
President

To read the full February eBulletin, click here