Outside Help

Gone in 48 Hours

It took major scrambling to cover for Barron County circuit court judge James Eaton in 1990, when he was called to active duty as a member of the Army Reserve. With only 48 hours to report to an Illinois base before being shipped to Saudi Arabia, Eaton had time to do little more than get a haircut and say goodbye to friends and family. The county and state court administrators had to figure out a way to cover the court docket in light of the rather sudden departure of one of the county's two judges.

Eaton's military involvement dates back to the late 1960s, when he joined the Army ROTC while at Marquette Law School. After graduation, he served stateside as an infantry officer and later an intelligence officer for a few years. When he left active duty, he returned to Rice Lake to take a job in a law firm. He also joined the Army Reserve, from which he retired in May 2000, after nearly 30 years of service. For about half that time, he was an intelligence officer, until he transferred in 1984 to the Army Reserve JAG, to which he belonged when he was deployed to Saudi Arabia.

There he was one of five lawyers attached to the 416th Engineer Command. "We'd get in our trucks, with our computers," Eaton says, "and go out to the units to take care of legal matters that ran from A to Z." He also was a member of the commanding general's special staff, which involved such duties as writing up "lessons learned" reports to help the Army avoid repeating mistakes in the future.

Now that he's retired from the Reserve, Eaton faces no more call-ups. No more having to use his vacation time to attend summer or one-weekend-a-month training sessions, as he did for 30 years. Why did he stay so long? "I loved the people," he says. "I thought I'd hate the Army, but I loved it."

Of Time and Money

In her 15 years total with the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, Wautoma attorney Robyn Blader has never been called up for active duty. But even the weekend and summer commitments - and she always does more than the minimum required - take a bite out of her practice, especially since hers is a two-lawyer firm. "I'd make more money if I sat in my office and worked all weekend," she says, "and I take another hit when I'm gone for training in the summer. But the Army gave me a great start in life. When I graduated from high school, I didn't have the financial means to pay for college. I feel I owe it back."

So far, Blader hasn't been called up for longer durations of duty, which she knows would have an enormous impact on her practice. She's done what she can to minimize the damage. She's hired an associate, who could keep the firm running, albeit with a smaller caseload and thus a reduced income. She'd turn many of her current cases over to her associate, plus "I have two or three attorneys who could handle the more complicated cases," Blader says. To keep up the business end of the practice, she has a trusted secretary who has authority to make deposits and write checks.

Blader figures she'll continue in the Guard for some years to come, despite the financial drain and the extra time demands. "When you get home late Sunday night," she says, "and you're back to work right away Monday morning, sometimes it is tiring."

"But it's a rewarding experience for me," she adds. "Especially in the JAG Corps, it's a very close-knit group of people. If anyone ever needs anything, whether it's on the military or the civilian side, everyone bends over backwards to help."

Closing Shop

Probably no Wisconsin lawyer knows better the trials and tribulations of balancing a civilian practice and military duties than Green Bay attorney Jim O'Neil. As a member of the Army Reserve, he spent seven months in Iraq and Kuwait in the early 1990s. Back then, less than three years out of law school, he was an associate with a five-attorney firm. Then in 1996, when he was a sole practitioner in a shared-office setting with five other solos, he was called to Bosnia for seven months. He had to shut down his practice.

O'Neil has learned a lot from these experiences, which may help other attorneys who face a call-up this time around. In both instances, he had to create a network of attorneys who could handle his cases. And both times, the network had to reach beyond the lawyers he worked for or amidst, who "were up to their eyeballs in their own work," O'Neil says.

Reassuring clients is equally critical. "Suddenly the small issues become big issues when clients get notice you're going to be gone," O'Neil observes. Besides conveying that news by letter, O'Neil recommends calling all clients and scheduling meetings with some. Meeting with everybody is impossible, he notes, so set priorities. Which cases have upcoming deadlines, court dates, or other urgent matters? "You also have to look at each client," O'Neil advises. "Oftentimes the clients who have been quiet and have simple, mundane cases are the ones who suddenly get very nervous." In communicating with clients, an attorney can suggest another lawyer but also must inform clients of their right to go elsewhere.

Jim O'Neil, Green Bay, a major in the Army Reserve, knows first-hand the difficulties of balancing a civilian practice and military duties. O'Neil was activiated twice: seven months in Iraq and Kuwait; and later, another seven months in Bosnia.

In his activations, O'Neil had 30 to 60 days' advance notice, during which he scrambled to tie up a myriad of loose ends, orient other attorneys to his cases, and, before the second activation, close his office. But professional concerns are only half the picture, he emphasizes. "You have only so much time," he says, "and there are competing factors. You want to spend time with your wife and children. Your clients need reassurance, so you're scheduling meetings on evenings and weekends. Your unit is gearing up for the call-up, so you're being assigned additional responsibilities there. No doubt about it, it's a stressful time."

After Bosnia, O'Neil relaunched his practice. He sent letters to former clients, many of whom migrated back to him. But it took several months to get his practice back to where it was. Will he be called now? Unlikely, he thinks, but it's a question he hears often. "My long-standing clients know I'm a major in the Army Reserve," he says. "Almost daily somebody's calling to ask me, 'Are you going to be called up?'"

Preparing to Mobilize