Coffee Talk – Business Succession Planning

Coffee Talk is a regular feature of the Contra Costa Lawyer magazine. We ask a short question related to an upcoming theme and responses are then published in the Contra Costa Lawyer magazine.

This month we ask:

If you weren’t practicing law, what would you be doing?

Writing novels!

– Helen Peters, Attorney Mediator


An Architect. Nothing is higher than an Architect (No joke, I was planning on going to Cal Poly to study architecture)

– Joseph Doherty, Attorney at Law


I’d be perfect at it if I didn’t still need to practice it (law)… We used to go on lots of road trips when I was a kid. I remember being quite infatuated with the endless stream of long-haul trucks on the road.  Some of them are quite obviously the pride and joy of their owner. The smoothness with which they command total control of the road, plus the prospect of seeing the world while being paid for the pleasure, were and still are magnetic. At the time (25-30 years ago), it was not unheard-of for a trucker to bring in $200k annually, which isn’t bad even in today’s dollars. Then, as I grew older and learned how to cook, I discovered the amazing world of meat processing. Or rather the slowly dying practice of the neighborhood butcher. You know, the person down the street who knows absolutely everything about the meats he sells, who takes pride in every knife cut that goes into dressing a side of beef or a hog. The fella who’s constantly tinkering with his sausage recipes. So my Plan B and Plan C, by the time I was studying for the bar, was either to buy my own big-rig or open up my own butcher shop. Come to think of it, I haven’t yet ruled out either one…

– Gary Vadim Dubrovsky


I would devote my time to writing about California history.

– Phyl van Ammers


If not practicing law, I would like to be a teacher, as I have also been for many years.

– John Díaz Coker


When I retire there are two alternatives. One, is to go into teaching history because what is being taught today is nothing but propaganda.  We can’t forget or rewrite history.  Second, full time grandfather.  Being there for them down the block instead of two states away.

– Dan G. Ryan, the crazyirishgrandpa


Be a kept man.

– David S. Pearson, Law Offices of David S. Pearson