(This blog post is dedicated to Ruth Schneider, my mother who died seven years ago today)

Len Marks With The Dalai Lama

One of my best clients at HWH PR used to say “Don’t postpone your joy” on his home and office voice mail recordings. That was way before anyone ever heard of Facebook and Twitter.  I am sure that would have been his mantra as well in social media. Len Marks was a very well known litigator in the entertainment business. He was the rainmaker (the guy who got all the new business) at his law firm, Gold, Farrell & Marks. Clients included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eddie Murphy, Billy Joel, and Leiber and Stoller. Yes I met all of them during  their ugly litigation cases. 

Len warned me about two things that I want to share with all of you. While I worked for his law firm for 12 years (we were one of the first PR agencies to represent a law firm — it is now commonplace) my last months with him were really at the beginning of email phenomenon. He made me promise that I would never put any details of the cases we worked on together in an email  to the press or even to his law firm. Nothing ever was to be put in writing. It didn’t matter how innocent I thought the copy was. I was never to refer to anything in writing, anywhere, any place. I abided by his rules and if he were alive today we would still probably be working together. 

The Real Len Marks When He Was Not Successfully Fighting For His Clients

Len recently died at the age of 69 after a 10 year battle with dementia. It is difficult to believe that this legal maverick who won every argument for his clients was reduced to years of silence. He was a total free spirit and led his life in forward-thinking ways that left the rest of us aghast. He was also one of the most generous human beings on earth who donated much of his earnings to charities that supported interfaith religious beliefs as well as international medical groups dedicated to reconstruction of those who were disfigured and harmed during war time.  

I think of Len everyday when I see someone make a politically incorrect boo-boo on email. I have had my share, too, which is why I am so sensitive to them. One of the golden rules of email is not to copy everyone’s email address in your message for all to see. Use the BCC line. Many people do not want to share their email addresses with others. I was startled to learn recently that an increasing number of people have social email addresses and private ones. They rarely check their social ones so don’t expect to hear back from them on a daily basis. Another no-no is not to “reply-to-all” to those who still expose all of the email addresses in the To: line. It is very unnerving to get 25 “Congrats!” messages that were intended for the perpetrator, not you. What are people thinking? (Hint: they’re not thinking at all.) 

The other lesson Len taught me was to make the most of each day. It may not be so easy to do but I am trying. I think of this glorious man in all of his wildness and wish there were more like him in my life today.