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Early Experiences
Make for Lasting Impressions

Drawing up rules for negotiation could be a first step in eliminating such counterproductive behaviors, Loeb believes. The rules would spell out certain expectations. For example, "You don't sandbag," he says. "If you present an offer, it has to be a solid offer. When you make a recommendation, you have something to back it up; it isn't just an exercise. Other rules could call for fair disclosures. That doesn't mean you educate the opposition, but it means you're fair."

Not only could rules of negotiation enhance lawyers' relations with one another, but they could help clients, too. "Why should we have the reputation of being 'hired guns,'" Loeb asks, "as compared to being hired to be problem solvers? Our best function is to solve problems. That's what we're best suited and equipped to do."

Bar Leadership Education

He remembers his early days on the ABA Board of Governors and House of Delegates as being on-the-job training. "I didn't know where the bones were buried for about three years," Loeb says. "It was well into my second term before I understood the modus operandi." And while his various prior experiences allowed him to hit the road running when he became State Bar president-elect, he realizes not all Bar officers and committee chairs have such advantages. "We have to educate our leadership on how things can be accomplished," he says, which is why leadership education will be the prime focus of his "leadership orientation/training" presidential initiative.

"It's been my experience," Loeb adds, "all throughout my career, in all the organizations I've worked with, that lawyers - if you can get them to think positively and away from their turf - will find the best solutions to the toughest problems. They're remarkably good people with good solutions to problems. The challenge is to get them to think positively and away from their turf." He's had a modicum of success in doing that in the past in the national organizations he's been involved in. Now he hopes to do the same close to home, in the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Senior Lawyers Forum

Loeb also plans to call for creation of a new group for older Bar members, in the form of a Bar division, section, or forum aimed specifically at senior lawyers. The idea is to "provide them the means to give back" to the profession, Loeb explains. "Most all of them want to give back. They need a vehicle to do that." He envisions senior lawyers involved in such activities as assisting in dispute resolution, handling pro bono work, and mentoring younger lawyers.

As for Loeb himself, the desire to give back was a chief motivation behind seeking the State Bar presidency. He feels professionals have an obligation to "pass back whatever talent we have," he says. "And the truth of the matter is, there is a great deal of psychic income in doing that."

Looking at Loeb's long list of involvement in professional activities in his 47-year law career, some might suggest he's already done his share. In fact, some may even wonder why, after years of leadership positions at the national level, he'd even want to serve as State Bar president, especially at a stage of his life when many lawyers want only to kick back, scale down, and bask in the memories of a well-spent career.

Not so for Loeb. Besides his desire to give back, another factor that led him to run for president-elect last year was to be able to follow in the footsteps of Susan Steingass. "Knowing her capabilities, I was encouraged to run to succeed her, because I knew she would set a good pace," Loeb says. Earlier this year he looked toward his two possible successors, Gary Bakke (who was later elected) and Kathleen Grant. "I knew who would be the winner of that election," he says, "and that would be the State Bar of Wisconsin, because either candidate would have been great. So I feel I'm in a good 'sandwich' position: a good person ahead of me, and a good person behind me."

He also was inspired to run, he says, because of his high regard for the State Bar staff. In his ABA activities, he's had dealings with nearly all 50 state bars, "and Wisconsin has, as far as I'm concerned, the best professional staff in the country," Loeb says. "There may be others as good, but nobody is better. If we didn't have that talent, I don't know that I would have run."

When he's not wrapped up in presidential duties or his family law practice, Loeb hopes to continue to do what he's done for years: spend a lot of time on his four farm properties, one each near Lodi, Sullivan, Juneau, and Oconomowoc. "I have a tremendous fondness for the land," he says, "and for the feeling of accomplishment of putting in a crop, or harvesting, or baling hay. I can't do it all as well as I used to, and I hire people to do the hard work. But I'm there supervising, lifting a bale here and there. It's an important part of my relaxation."

Other sources of relaxation include travel and something else he's sure to get plenty of during his year as president. "I like being with people," Loeb says. "People are my best form of relaxation."

Dianne Molvig operates Access Information Service, a Madison research, writing, and editing service. She is a frequent contributor to area publications.