Can A Disappointment Be Positive?

While a student in law school, I had a part time job after school in law office located on John Street in Manhattan. It was a small firm that specialized in handling cases involving insurance companies and litigation. I was accepted in the law firm as a employee after I concluded law school and took and passed the Bar examination. At some point the two members  of the firm had a disagreement and separated. I remained in the firm believing at some point I may become a partner. It turned out it was I who handled most of the insurance and litigation cases. One year my employer had a heart attack. It was not severe, but he was required to have bed rest at his home for about a week. In his absence I ran the firm without any problems,. He  did not live far from where I lived, and at the end of the day I would stop at his home advising him  how well the office was being handled in his absence. One day recognizing I had been with him for close to ten years, I raised the question of a partnership for me, without suggesting to what the extent should be. I was given an affirmative answer and told  he would give thought and work it out the near future.

     In the near future I was given a negative answer. It turned out he did not want to have any partner, just an employee. It became the time for me to consider a change. John Street was the local for a number of law firms dealing with insurance matters. I knew all those other lawyers and knew if I wanted a job with any of them, I would be given one. I did not want just a another job and since I was known in the field, I decided the time had come for me to pursue my own practice.

     It was risky, particularly since I had a wife who at the time was on leave from her school teaching job to care for our two small children. But off I went and for the full year, it was difficult.

Shortly thereafter, it took off without stopping for close to fifty years. I became  well known in my field for insurance and litigation law. My fifty year experience was a legal and financial success,

far greater than anything I would have had in the other law firm even as a partner.  

      I look back to the time I had been told by my then employer a partnership was a possibility, some thing that did not occur. Was it a disappointment?  In view of my success in my own legal practice, the disappointment in not becoming a partner turned out to be a BONUS. 

Ben Haber