Page 13 - MarchApril25 Report

Explore a regular feature that
highlights our experienced
attorneys and the unique
paths that lead them
to this chapter of their
legal career.
A Look Back
With Tom Cuni
When I was not paying attention one day, I got old. The
compression of time in our memories is a phenomenon that is
often expressed in the phrase, “It only seems like yesterday.” For
me, 1972 feels as if it is a place I will be revisiting any day now.
I started at the University Of Cincinnati College Of Law less
than a year after returning from the war in Vietnam. Because of
my then recent experiences, I entered school convinced I would
never again judge myself by the opinions of others. That partic-
ular belief survived for about a week in law school. As with most
everyone else, I went after the approval of the professors like a
big tuna hitting a baited hook. It took a semester to realize I was
probably not a fraud who might be discovered and
asked to leave law school. During the three years of
law school, I enjoyed an entertaining social life and I
made friendships which have lasted a lifetime. Also,
I learned a little bit about the law.
While in school, I worked for Paul McComas,
a general practitioner, who had his law office in
Sharonville. Paul’s unexpected death in May of the
year I graduated was a tragedy for his family and a
dilemma for me. Less than a year before his death,
Paul had hired Frank Osborne who was a relatively
new attorney with only a year or two of experience.
After the funeral service for Paul, Frank and I went to the office
and had a conversation about what in the hell we were going to
do. After deciding it was unlikely that anyone would want to hire
us, we decided to buy the furniture and equipment and lease the
office space from Paul’s widow. In 1975, a few mismatched desks
and chairs, two IBM Selectric Typewriters, a telephone, a copying
machine, and most importantly, an experienced secretary were
sufficient to start a law practice. We somehow got through the rest
of the year; I passed the bar, and my world began to spin in the
greased grooves of the life of a lawyer.
From the vantage point of 77 years of age, the nearly 50 years
of my life after law school looks and feels as if family, friends,
fun, sadness, and work had been thrown into a blender with the
Tom Cuni was born in West Virginia in 1947. He served in Vietnam with the 101st
Airborne Division. Cuni practiced law in the areas of business and tax representation
high-speed button pushed. At the beginning of the adventure
(including litigation) from 1975 to 2012. Cuni currently is a volunteer attorney with
which I call my life, there was much talk about an information
ProKids representing the interests of abused, neglected, and dependent children, and,
age supplanting the industrial age into which I had been born.
is of counsel to Thomas Downing Law Firm.
THE REPORT | March/April 2025 | CincyBar.org Tom Cuni circa 1975
Only late in my career did I begin to appreciate a profound shift
in the way lawyers worked had occurred
I spent 20 years accumulating a legal library only to see it
turn into nice decorations for my law offices. The little pink slips
on which the receptionist wrote telephone messages have disap-
peared, and in most offices so have the receptionists. Many of the
occasions for attorneys to interact in person with each other and
with their clients have been replaced by virtual interactions. The
budget for letterhead is now too tiny of a fraction of expenses to be
noticeable, while the number of emails and texts to read every day
is often overwhelming. Paper files are walking toward extinction.
In some instances, even an office outside the home
has gone away.
A small but, for me, important change in the prac-
tice of law was the eclipse of typed letters by emails
and texts. Dictating a letter and reviewing it in draft
form before it was typed on letterhead obviously is
inefficient when measured against preparing an email
and pressing send. However, something of value may
have been lost. For me, what was lost was the time for
reflection. More times than I would like to admit, I
have looked at a draft of a letter and asked myself if I
really should send it. The time for reflection is often
a causality of the quicker means of communication which tech-
nology has given us. As close as I will come to giving advice is to
suggest that developing a habit to intentionally not communicate
as efficiently as technology allows.
It seems that nearly all of the tools of the legal profession
have changed, but the essential element of our work remains
unchanged. Attorneys continue to solve problems and to help
people, businesses, and other institutions navigate their way
through a complex society with complex laws and regulations.
Your journey through your career will be different than mine, but
it will not differ in that essential role.
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