Jack Middleton has no plans to give up practicing law
Jennifer Parent raises a toast to Jack Middleton at the attorney’s 95th birthday party Jan. 11 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester. (Mike Cote/NH Business Review) Don’t ask Jack Middleton when he will retire. He doesn’t know how.
Middleton celebrated his 95th birthday Jan. 11 gathered with dozens of his co-workers from McLane Middleton, the law firm where he still works part-time and serves as president of the Litigation Department.
Seated on a chair on stage at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester, Middleton listened to lengthy accolades and anecdotes from colleagues who spoke about his mentorship, tenacity, intellect, integrity and sense of adventure.
When it was finally Middleton’s turn to speak, he thanked his colleagues for planning the party and acknowledged his family in the audience, including three of his grandchildren.
“From time to time, people have the temerity to say to me, ‘And when are you going to retire?’” Middleton said he usually responds with a wisecrack. But for this occasion, he was more sentimental.
“Truthfully, the reason I don’t retire, I haven’t retired, is I like the people at McLane. I like my partners, associates, I like the paralegals, the staff, I like everybody,” said Middleton, who has been practicing law for more than six decades. “It’s a great place to spend your time. Why would I want to go to any other place?” Middleton has served as a mentor to everyone who has worked at McLane, attorney Bob Wells said.
“He was someone who inspired us all to do what we do best. That didn’t matter whether you were a lawyer or a staff person,” Wells said. “We all knew what it was and how important it was to perform our job and do it in a manner which would bring a good reflection upon our law firm and all of us.”
Bruce Felmly, who joined the firm in 1972 just out of law school, said Middleton was one of the first partners at the firm he worked with and spent time with him almost daily for more than a decade.
“For whatever reason, he took me under his wing,” Felmly said. “Mostly what I learned is what a lawyer should do, what they should not do, how to deal with difficult clients, how to deal with great clients, how to deal with people who are clients that are going through the worst circumstances in their life.”
Middleton has a knack for challenging people to tackle things they might not otherwise aspire to do. He once recruited Felmly to run for vice president of the New Hampshire Bar Association by handing him paperwork that already had been signed by 25 people supporting his candidacy.
“’I pretty much looked into it. You will win this election,’” Felmly recalled Middleton telling him. “’But you need you sign it so we can get it in before 5 p.m.’” Retired New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Carol Ann Conboy, who worked for the firm for 13 years and rose to partner, joined Middleton on numerous cases.
“As Jack’s bag carrier, second chair and junior partner, I came to know what excellence looks like on the ground,” Conboy said. “Only after I left the firm to go on the bench did I come to truly appreciate Jack’s far-reaching influence both inside and outside the legal community.”
Middleton isn’t ready to give up that role just yet.
“I thank you all,” he told the group. “I would also like to say that … I really hope that you all plan to come back for my 100th birthday.”
Mike Cote is editor of NH Business Review and New Hampshire Magazine.
