Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronald Fox.
Ronald is Jewish and 79 years old. He was born in Lynn, MA, left for college and law school, spent three years in the US Army JAG and has lived in Marblehead since 1968 where he and his wife raised their two children. In his professional life, he advises unhappy lawyers on how to find satisfaction in the practice of law. He has been involved with the Jewish community nearly all his life, serving on the boards or committees of local Jewish temples, a JCC and a federation. In 1971, he and his wife, with six other couples, established a Havurah, celebrating Jewish holidays in their homes and other venues, such as a sunrise Rosh Hashanah service at Plum Island. About this time he became aware of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians and, since 1972, for the last 45 years he has been a constant observer, speaker and writer/blogger on the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, primarily as a critic of Israel’s actions and: signed a June 12, 1980 New York Times ad titled “End Middle East Bloodshed” reading in part, “We are deeply saddened by the failure of the leadership of the Government of Israel to end its settlement policy and to restrain Jews from hostile actions in the territories”; put on a debate on “Israel in Lebanon – Invasion or Self-Defense” (1982); formed a sister-community relationship with a Bedouin village in Israel whose homes were being demolished; and publishes a blog “Judaism and Israel”. He also supports these peace with justice groups: Jewish Voice for Peace; B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; Rabbis for Human Rights; and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
Ron is the principal of Career Planning for Lawyers. He has, for the last thirty years, worked with dissatisfied lawyers, lawyers in transition and law students providing them with advice and guidance on how to find positions consistent with their professional goals and personal values. Much of his practice involves helping dissatisfied corporate litigators learn they are not trapped, have options and can overcome the lack of self-worth and self-confidence caused by the failings of legal education His goal is to help lawyers take control over their careers …. And their lives and to gain autonomy, a sense of meaning, integrity, satisfaction and self-respect.
In addition to the entries here in his ALPS411 blog, other posts can be found on his Lawyer Satisfaction Blog, on Twitter @ronfox and at Solo Practice University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1963 and serving in the USArmy JAG, he took a position with a corporate law firm and immediately realized that he was in the wrong place. This was his first encounter, a personal one, with the issue of career planning.
Over the next 15 years he practiced law in an insurance company, with a solo practitioner, and in a firm he founded that represented low and middle-income people. He also became one of the first lawyers in the country to offer divorce mediation, served on the board of legal services programs, created lawyer referral programs and started an association of legal clinics.
Because of his experience with small firms and public interest organizations, he was hired in 1984 to be an adviser to those students at Harvard Law School not interested in working for large corporate law firms. For the next five years he provided individual guidance to hundreds of intelligent, creative, self-sufficient students sadly watching most of them being funneled by the law school to large law firms because the law school did not prepare them to practice law, did not make them aware of their options and focused on on-campus interviewing.
Since leaving that position in 1989, in addition to providing individual advice, he has consulted to and presented workshops for over 25 law schools and bar associations such as the ABA Public Service Division’s “Town Meeting”; co-facilitated a retreat for law school deans on Legal Education Reform at the Fetzer Institute; authored “Lawful Pursuit: Careers in Public Interest Law” published by the ABA; and contributed articles to LexisHub for new attorneys.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Legal Education: The failure of law schools to adopt the recommendations of the 1993 MacCrate Report and to correct the deficiencies I have written about obsessively in my blog: primarily, failing to have a mission, failing to teach the values of the legal profession, failure to teach the sills needed to practice law, failing to know how to teach, failing to teach how to practice law, failing to make students the wide range of options in the law, failing to each students that they should take positions consistent with their values, beliefs and goals, failing to teach the fundamentals of career planning, charging exorbitantly for the few services rendered, among others.
Israel’s brutal occupation: The total failure for 50 + years, because of undue pressure, threats and intimidation from wealthy Jewish and Evangelical organizations on Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in the White House, of the United States to demand that Israel end its ongoing violations of the human and civil rights of Palestinians. These include: the illegal 50 year occupation; the illegal 123 settlements; the killing and injuring of over 100,000 Palestinians; the ; Torturing of over 10,000 Palestinians; Stealing Palestinian land and control of over 40% of the West Bank; Demolishing over 48,000 Palestinian structures; Building a wall 85% inside the green line; Destroying over 800,000 olive trees; distributing water unequally; Imposing military law for Palestinians and civil for squatters (trespassers); Establishing hundreds of disruptive, humiliating checkpoints and barriers; Holding thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention without trial; The deaths and destruction from 4 Gaza invasions since 2006 (killing 2000 in 2014); and, finally and even more horrendous, the unjustified killing of over 100 and the wounding of over 14000 Palestinians protesting their imprisonment in the Gaza Strip..
Longtime Critic of Legal Education and the Israeli Occupation – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I have devoted most of the last 25 years to working with unhappy lawyers guiding them as they apply their interests and values to the search for satisfaction in the practice of law. My book, Lawful Pursuit: Careers in Public Interest Law ends: “Your professional life holds the possibility of autonomy, satisfaction, integrity, self-respect, and, most meaningful of all, the prospect of sleeping well after a long day on the job and waking up looking forward to going to work. And all you have to do is take control.” p.1, Lawful Pursuit, Ronald W. Fox, 1995
I have been continually involved, since 1972, with groups pursuing peace with justice, or writing or speaking out on my own. Most recently while the United States illegally moved its embassy to Jerusalem on orders of the temporary President of the United Sates while Israeli snipers were shooting Palestinians through a border fence, my response appeared in the Salem News:
“Marblehead resident Ronald Fox has long spoken out against what he sees as an illegal occupation and Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. He called what is going on in Gaza “inhumane.” “It’s an outdoor prison,” he said. He called the response to protests along the Gaza border by the Israel Defense Forces “overwhelmingly excessive,” with artillery and bullets going up against kites. Burning kites are being used to set brush fires in southern Israel, according to news reports. Fox called the embassy move “infuriating and escalating.” It means the Trump administration is working on the Israeli side, he said, and the United States can no longer be seen as a broker of peace. He said people need to be aware of what is going on in Gaza and on the West Bank, where the increase of Jewish settlements may make a two-state solution untenable. Fox said human and civil rights violations against the Palestinians need to end for the peace process to move forward”.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Continuing to protest (especially about Israel’s brutal occupation) despite having never felt the sweet smell of success.
The law schools continue to betray their students, the legal profession and the public.
Israel continues to violate the human and civil rights of Palestinians every single day.
Pricing:
- advice to unhappy lawyers is $150 an hour
- there is no charge for my rants against law schools and Israel’s brutal occupation
Contact Info:
- Address: 6 Sevinor Road
- Website: www.ronaldwfox.com
- Phone: 7816392322
- Email: admin@ronaldwfox.com
- Instagram: @ronfox twitter
- Facebook: Ronald W. Fox
- Twitter: Ron Fox.
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
