On this date in 1985, I started my second year as an attorney in Lancaster, Ohio. I still remember that first day, a year before. I had four early morning hearings with Judge John Martin. Quite a start to a new job.
I started practicing law in northern Ohio, but I fell in love with Lancaster when I received an offer to head a branch office there for a Columbus law firm and to visit Lancaster. Although I grew up in a small town of about 1,000, Lancaster seemed like a bigger version of my hometown. Plus, my mentor at the time, one of the best attorneys in northeast Ohio, when asked what he thought, quoted a Bible verse to me that convinced me the change would be a good one. He turned out to be right.
The biggest thing I had to do on the first day in court was pronounce Lancaster the way people here do. Today, Lang-ster rolls out easily when talking. Back then, it didn’t, so I practiced to sound like I had lived there all my life. Sure enough, in my first hearing, I screwed it up when I asked my client if she resided in Land-cas-ster.
Over the years, I’ve been honored to have represented thousands of people in various legal matters. I’ve worked with great people in the office over the years. Starting in 2000, I began working with Margie, and one couldn’t ask for a better person to assist. Without her, nothing would get done. Just as important, over the years, I’ve hired attorneys. One in particular, Holly, is still around and doing well. Another became my boss in a sense, becoming a magistrate in the domestic court. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Barb and others who worked with me. I’m pretty sure I had nine or ten people working with me at one point.
Moving here was one of the best things I’ve done in my life. My daughter moved here reluctantly but is doing exceptionally well. I remember people would ask her whether her father was Lee Thompson. Now, people ask me if Krystal Thompson is my daughter. That was really cool. I’m also blessed to have a fantastic wife, Dawn. We grew up together in that tiny little town in northern Ohio and reunited later in life. She has two daughters, Anna and Arianna (I call her Ari), and a son, Alex.
Anna, her youngest daughter, is an RN, like her mom before her, and her oldest daughter, Ari, is an excellent attorney with a Columbus-based firm she co-owns with her husband, Jesse, and a second office in northern Ohio.
Outside the courtroom, I’ve had a chance to be on television news, co-host a radio show for a short time, do a couple of training tapes on legal issues for Hospice, and give a presentation at OU-Lancaster broadcast to other branches, be in the newspapers and on radio news, and be a guest on a radio show and on television news, all fun.
In late November 2022, my wife and I, with our cats, Charlie and Flossie, moved back home to Mantua (Man-a-way). Krystal and her husband, David, remain in Lancaster. Krystal has always worked in a medical related field and in a sense, still does. David has been a trucker for years. ,Anna lives in Columbus, and Ari splits time between Columbus and the area where we live. Alex lives in Cleveland employed with Sherwin-Williams. Alex shares his life with a wonderful gal, Trish, an RN-noticing a trend here.
My sincere thanks to the folks in Lancaster and Fairfield County. You made my move here 41 years ago one of the best experiences of my life. The evening before I started, my drive down was quite a story, but another time. I had a wonderful time being part of the Lancaster community for a little over 38 years.
But the other thing is, it was a win-win, so to speak. In the first contested case, a visitation case, I won. My last contested case was a visitation. We won that one too. It was a great way to start and finish. Even better, though, was making a trip last December to accept, with an extraordinarily long speech, the George Martin Professionalism Award, what some call the Fairfield County Bar Association’s highest honor. Given to one attorney per year, the award is named for George D. Martin, a legendary Lancaster lawyer whose integrity set the standard for the legal community. Recipients are chosen for careers marked by civility, steadiness, and principled advocacy, qualities I’m still not sure I’ve lived up to.
