Thoughts from the Board - Francis Kailey

I somewhat dreaded my assignment—having to write this message which a lot of Weld County attorneys might read—for a number of weeks. When I thought about why I felt this way, I realized it was because I’ve only had three years to develop the many virtues that I admire in so many Weld County attorneys who have been practicing for years and years before me. Being such a new attorney, I only feel qualified to say, first, what I’ve learned in the last few years here and, second, to send a message of appreciation for those who taught it to me.

Probably like a lot of newly minted lawyers, when I graduated law school, I was obsessed with what I would I accomplish as a lawyer. One way of thinking about my future accomplishments was to imagine that I was going to build a great monument to myself over the course of my career. Others could look back on my statue and remember me by it. It took only a little time for me to realize that the statue of my deeds would be miniscule compared to the virtual Colossus of Rhodes that my colleagues at my firm had been building through decades of service. And how much more inadequate would my memorial be compared to the works of those many others who went before them? Even if I were perfect, I couldn’t hope to surpass any one of them without allowing the substantial contributions of others. I couldn’t accomplish anything either, unless my clients wanted me to accomplish it.

I realize now that the why for career in law is not a list of accomplishments, as lifeless, cold, and forgettable as a statue. The why consists, at least in part, in the accomplishment of hundreds and thousands of individual goals, in a partnership with those with the will and the desire to accomplish them. It is a privilege that our career is a life of service that carries so many rewards. It entails the discovery of new ideas, new methods, and new ways of thinking, mixed with an occasional show of bravado, that can make lives better (and more just), most often, in small ways.

I am grateful to those that welcomed me as a Weld County attorney, because although I didn’t know it then, they gave me an opportunity to see that I could have a career and a life that was inspired not by vanity, but by service.

 -- Francis Kailey, Esq. 

Official Message Here