JD Bliss (JDB): You have a highly regarded appellate and media litigation practice. And you’ve gained tongue-in-cheek fame as “The JD of Jazz” and “The Solicitor of Swing” with “The Billable Hour Blues”, a successful CD of song parodies about a life in the law. Given the fact that, as your CD notes say, “it’s not easy being a lawyer,” what led you to seek a career in the law?
Klau: For me, going to law school wasn’t a simple decision. I knew a lot about being an attorney: there were lawyers in both my father’s and mother’s families, and my grandfather, who was a Superior Court judge in Connecticut, used to take me to court with him when I was a child. Even so, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a lawyer myself. After I got my Bachelor’s degree I took three years to try a variety of career alternatives – everything from running a fast food delivery service for my alma mater, the University of California-San Diego, to doing research for the Connecticut Department of Education. I really liked the research position and thought that being a lawyer would be similar in many ways. I also took some career tests that indicated I’d enjoy the law. So I took the plunge and enrolled in the Boston University School of Law, and knew within days that it was the right decision. I lived, breathed and ate law school for three years and loved the experience. It was even better after I got my JD degree in 1990, when I clerked with Chief Justice Ellen Peters of the Connecticut Supreme Court. I never enjoyed anything more.
JDB: Did you maintain your enthusiasm after you entered active practice?
Klau: Let’s say I quickly discovered the realities of the law. I spent my first five years at Ropes & Gray in Boston, and while it was a good experience I soon realized how tough it would be to establish client relationships and make partner in a 300-lawyer firm. Only two people from my starting class of 44 are still there. I decided in 1996 to return to my home in Connecticut and joined Wiggin & Dana, a 150-lawyer firm in New Haven. I was there for seven years, the last two as a partner.
JDB: Did you find more satisfaction by practicing at a smaller firm?
Klau: I had the good fortune of taking my first assignment from Mark Kravitz, the partner who became my mentor. At Ropes & Gray I had just done general litigation, but Mark was head of both the appellate and the media law practices at Wiggin & Dana, and working with him gave me a substantive focus. He also recommended me to succeed him as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut, teaching a class in privacy law. Mark is now a federal judge and I was able to make the most of the wonderful opportunity to have him as a mentor. Whether such a relationship happens naturally or whether you seek it out, I think it’s a vital part of any attorney’s career development. That kind of preparation helped me decide in 2003 to join my current firm, Pepe & Hazard in Hartford, where I’ve had the opportunity to grow appellate and a media relations practices from scratch.
JDB: Your legal career sounds like a most fulfilling one. So why did you develop “the billable hour blues?”
Klau: I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do than the substantive side of the law: learning the details of a new matter, crafting a case, convincing a court to accept my argument. What I find much less enjoyable is the business side of the law that hits you once you become a partner. Documenting billable time, doing business development, handling administrative tasks all take me away from the research and writing that I love. Firms do a poor job, in my opinion, at preparing new partners to deal emotionally with these things. It’s a frustration that I put this way in “The Billable Hour Blues”:
My life is a time sheet
Filled with six-minute slots
I know I make good money
But my stomach’s tied in knots.
Those “six-minute slots” completely transform how lawyers perceive life, in what I believe is an unhealthy and troubling way.
JDB: Many attorneys can empathize with that, but putting those feelings to music is something unique. Why did you express yourself that way?
Klau: Music comes naturally to me. I’d played the piano since I was seven years old, and sang in a variety of gigs to earn money during college. I had the phrase “billable hour blues” in my mind for several years. In the middle of one night in April of 2003 I woke up, went downstairs to the piano, and in about two hours all the words and music to the song just came out. Over the next several months other songs started popping into my head. I enjoy old show tunes – Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart – and some of the songs were parodies of those originals: “That’s Entertainment!” became “That’s Litigation!” and “(You’d Be) So Easy to Sue” was my version of “(You’d Be) So Easy to Love.” On other songs I developed my own melodies to go with my lyrics. It became almost like a compulsion: I’d wake up at 2:00 a.m. with a new song in my head, and had to get it down as quickly as possible.
JDB: The work of many aspiring singers never sees the light of day, yet you’ve successfully marketed your music as a CD through American Lawyer Media. How did you achieve that milestone?
Klau: I write a monthly column on appellate practice for The Connecticut Law Tribune, which is an American Lawyer Media publication. Every November the Law Tribune has a black-tie award ceremony honoring the state’s best young lawyers, and once I had some songs under my belt I asked Vince Valvo, the editor and publisher, if he’d consider some entertainment for the 2003 event. Vince listened to my songs and liked them, so I ended up doing a 20-minute performance in front of 300 of the top lawyers in Connecticut. The songs went over well – everybody laughed and got them. Vince was so pleased that he suggested I do a CD, and after writing several more songs I took him up on the offer.
JDB: Was that a time-consuming undertaking?
Klau: Not at all. In April of 2004 it took a day and a half to do the recording at a Hartford studio. The entire CD is just me singing and playing the piano. The art director of the Law Tribune did the CD artwork, and Vince was kind enough to write album notes in which he said, “Cross Mel Torme with The Capitol Steps, add a dash of Atticus Finch, and you come up with Dan Klau.” The CD came out in June of 2004, and American Lawyer Media marketed it with ads in the Law Tribune and with a web site, www.billablehourblues.com.
JDB: So what effect has being a recording artist had on your life and career?
Klau: It’s gotten me about four or five performing dates a year before events of the New England Bar Association and other professional organizations, which I like a lot. The ideas behind the songs really resonate with many lawyers. What’s most important to me is the personal satisfaction I get from performing – as the web site says, it’s been truly cathartic for me “to figure out that the best way to deal with the Sturm and Drang of the law was to find the humor in it.” One of the most interesting things to me is that the CD has given me a noticeable business development boost. I’ve been practicing for so long that people already know me as a serious lawyer, so the CD has actually served to humanize me in a way that has made me more approachable for appellate and media clients. I’ve written about a half dozen more songs since the CD came out; often I’ll go several months without any songwriting, then suddenly a phrase pops into my head and the song almost writes itself. At this point I don’t plan any more CDs, but that could change.
JDB: Most lawyers don’t have the ability to express their frustrations exactly in the way you did, yet many certainly long for some kind of emotional outlet. Based on your experience, what advice would you give attorneys who are dissatisfied with their practices but reluctant to do anything about it?
Klau: You need the confidence to take a leap of faith. In my own case I never could have done the CD if I didn’t feel confident in the work environment at my firm, and it’s a tribute to my colleagues that they understand the need for outlets and enjoyment outside of the law. The larger issue, I think, is that life is too short to go through it without ever sticking your neck out. If you have a skill or interest you want to pursue while remaining in practice, you owe it to yourself to do what you can. I spent 14 years as a lawyer suppressing my music because the kind of performing I did during college didn’t fit with the image I thought I should convey. When I recorded the CD it was a huge weight off my shoulders. Whatever your own interest is, take a chance on it. Otherwise, your frustration over the profession will eat you alive.
