Page 23 - Priorities #49 2011-April/May

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SMB: How did your experiences at the Priory help shape your passions in your career and personal life?
LD: Having the good fortune to be surrounded by the founding community of the Priory (Fathers Egon, Christopher, Leopold, Charles, and Pius to name a few), along with some of the lay faculty, who were also pioneers at the time (Mr. Goode, Mr. Omlor, and Mr. O’Neill) have been the greatest influences in my life as
I have lived it. I attribute all the good I have ever done to these mentors and the not so good to myself.
SMB: What advice would you give for current students interested in a career in law?
LD: Go into the law to do some good for society not for the money that could be made in my generation and, if you have the talent to be a great lawyer, find a field where you can contribute something more meaningful to society.
SMB: What did you enjoy most about your experience at the Priory and do you have a favorite memory you can share?
LD: I don’t know whether you can describe it as “enjoyment”, however, looking back, my Priory years were years I cherish every day. There is not a day that goes by that they do not emerge in my mind.
SMB: What do you believe is the most serious issue facing the human race today?
LD: Survival!
SMB: What are some of your personal goals in life?
LD: I have found that my personal goals are forever changing. From 2000 through 2004, they were to pass law school and then the California Bar Exam. Now they are to use my talents as a lawyer to help others. When I left graduate school in 1967, they were to have fun and embark on a successful business career. Mixed in with all this are the goals wrapped around family and children. This is a long-winded answer to get across the idea that my goals are not extremely focused and change daily.
SMB: Outside of your work in law, what do you enjoy doing?
LD: Aside from family and the law and serving on some civic and school boards, there is not much else that I do. As I have been involved in the law for only the last six years, it remains new and exciting to me and provides the “hobby” that others might enjoy.
SMB: Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
LD: The biggest influence in my life has been the founding Priory monastic community. These men came to a foreign country with nothing, did not speak the language, bought land in an area of which they had no knowledge, and began educating young men, many of whom might not have wanted to learn what these men had to teach. This experience introduced me to “risk taking”, and provided the foundation upon which I have built my own life since. I consider this experience to be the most significant life gift I have been given, with the exception of my children.
Larry with his wife, Beverly