Humbleness: Key to Success

Blake Nichols
English 1001
Lei Lani Michel
16 October 2007

Last year, I was given the opportunity to intern at the law firm of Usry, Weeks, and Matthews for a few days. During this internship, I was able to observe the everyday operation of a law firm and the tasks of its lawyers. While I was soaking in all that went on at the firm, one person caught my interest the most. It was one of the partners in the firm, Mr. Freeman Matthews. I noticed that he had a serious work ethic that seemed to inspire the entire firm to work hard and do their best. However, the thing that struck me as most impressive about this man was his humble nature and what seemed like a blue collar attitude to such a white collar job.
When I contacted Mr. Matthews about doing this online interview for my freshman writing at LSU, he was more than happy to do it and told me to meet him at his home in old Metairie. I arrived at his white, three story, antebellum style home and knocked on the door. His wife answered and told me that I could find him working in the side yard. I politely thanked her and proceeded to the side yard. I found Mr. Matthews, shovel in hand, digging up some plants in his garden. He turned around and saw me approaching and walked toward me with a big smile on his face. As he greeted me, I could not help but notice his dirt stained clothes and the sweat protruding all over his body. He looked like a landscaper rather than a great attorney. After the greeting, he brought me to his wine cellar to conduct our interview.
We sat down in a chilled room with what I’m sure is a fortune of wine surrounding us and began the interview. I started with a very general question about what made him want to pursue law. He gave me a quick smirk and said, “My mother thought it would be a good idea.” He then laughed and told me that while that was true, he found that law was something that just came natural to him. He said he always wanted to be somewhere in the criminal justice system and studied accordingly while working on his degree at Loyola university. I then asked where his first job was. “I worked for the New Orleans District Attorneys office for a number of years after college.” He replied. I inquired about the kinds of cases he handled as a district attorney. He began telling me stories of murders, arson, theft, and all of the normal criminal activities of a large city. He had one story that really stuck out to me about a pornography distributor that was distributing bizarre and at the time thought to be material that was criminal, and he and few other district attorneys had to watch all of the videos and decide which to put in as evidence.
After a few big cases, he and two other district attorneys he worked with decided they would start there own firm. Usry, Weeks, Matthews was born, and they began to take on private clients in everything from lawsuits to writing up contracts and everything in between. He then explained that after a few years his firm got a contract through some contacts they made as district attorneys to represent all the sheriffs in the state. I had to ask what kind of cases they had to take on with this contract. He rolled his eyes behind his glasses and said, “Gees you name it. Every time a deputy has to use force or breathes in a way that someone finds offensive, you better believe there is a suit against them.”
I then moved the interview away from his law practices and into where he found his work ethic. I wanted this line of questioning to come about with him answering my questions without me actually asking directly about his work ethic. So I asked, “Mr. Matthews do you do all of your yard work yourself?” He told me that he does, but rarely will he hire someone to help him. Now you would have to see this man’s yard to appreciate this answer to the degree as I did. He has a second lot next door to his home with a perfectly cut green lawn, a court yard style fountain in the middle, a vegetable garden in the back, and two huge beautiful oak trees that give shade to a large iron butterfly bench. I asked him why he finds it necessary to do everything himself. He responded with, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” I had to ask if he had always been this self-reliant or if it had come later in life. He told me stories of how his mother and father always had work for him and his two brothers to do. He said that after a few years of his parents housework regime, any other jobs just seemed easy to him because he was used to finishing jobs all the way through. He told me that he had been working jobs ever since he was thirteen.
In his office, Mr. Matthews has a montage of pictures of what I assumed was his family. It seemed to me that they must be important to him if he had so many pictures of them. So my next inquiry was about his family life. He answered my question by first telling me of his family structure when he was a child. His mother was a full blooded Italian and family is very important to them. Every Sunday, they would eat dinner at his grandmother’s house with his entire family. He said that no one ever missed a Sunday because, “everyone knew that the family came first.” He then concluded by saying that the love he feels for his family only comes natural because of his background. I asked if all those pictures in his office were his immediate family or if they were extended. He said that a few are extended but most are his immediate family. He told me that he has four children, eight grandchildren, and another grandchild on the way.
The subject of hurricane Katrina came up in the end of my interview. I asked how it had affected him, his family, and his practice. “Well you know that was just another challenge in life that we had to face. I just accepted that challenge and did all that I could do to help as many people as return to normalcy as possible.” This was perhaps the answer that set me back the most in this interview, no matter what comes before this man he just keeps an up beat attitude and takes on whatever is ahead of him no matter how difficult the task. The family home had about a foot of water and some roof damage, but he considered himself very fortunate because he saw it as a small task to handle. Mr. Matthews and his family moved to a friend’s house in Lafayette where he and his law partners kept their practice alive. A few weeks later, he moved his daughter to Baton Rouge and his son to Houston so they could continue their schooling; while he went back to New Orleans to reopen his firm’s office and repair his home.
Throughout my interview with Mr. Matthews, I could not keep but silently admiring the answers that he gave to my questions. At no point did I feel as if he was being insincere or un truthful with me, nor did he ever seem as if he would rather be somewhere else. I garnered a whole new respect for him and admire his traits of a good work ethic, humbleness over his accomplishments, and the undying devotion he has to his family. I hope that one day, when I am old in age that I can look at myself and say that I have brought out most of these traits in myself.