‘Forever Young’ epitomizes attorney’s outlook on life
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Attorney Spotlight
‘Forever Young’ epitomizes attorney’s outlook on life
By Brian Cox
A strong thread of tradition acting as a bond across generations in both his community and his family runs through Jim Rudolph’s life. The office wall behind the Boston attorney is covered in framed awards and honors – an impressive visual testament to his extensive involvement over the years in causes and organizations for which he has a passion.
Rudolph’s lifelong commitment to acting toward the betterment of his community and profession is rooted in his upbringing and education.
“Both my father and one of my uncles were a very strong influence in my life,” says Rudolph, the managing partner at Rudolph Friedmann LLP. “And my grandfathers, too. All of them were very involved in their community in one way or the other. I think it’s in my genes.”
Growing up in Beverly, Mass., a suburb of Boston, Rudolph learned at a young age to be proud of his Jewish heritage in a community that had relatively few Jews. His great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Jacob Askowith, designed the flag of Israel and his grandfather was the president of the Beverly synagogue for 14 years. His uncle was one of the founders of the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for the Aged of the North Shore. His father was on the local School Committee for many years and served several terms as a college trustee.
As a high school student, Rudolph attended Governor Dummer Academy (now The Governor’s Academy), which was founded in 1763 and is the oldest independent school in America. Sitting on an expansive 450-acre campus in Byfield, Mass., the school is steeped in tradition — John Quincy Adams once served as secretary on its board of trustees and Paul Revere created its first seal. The Academy’s motto is Non Sibi Sed Aliis, which is Latin for “not for self but for others.”
Rudolph took that motto to heart as a student and has spent his life embodying the philosophy as a lawyer.
He has now been a trustee of the Academy for some 25 years and currently serves as the board’s vice president. Most fittingly, he is a recipient of the school’s Non Sibi Sed Aliis Award, which is bestowed on an alumnus who has brought pride to the Academy through their fulfillment of the motto.
The degree of Rudolph’s fulfillment of the motto is evidenced by his current service on eight boards, including a $300 million charitable foundation (Eastern Bank Foundation) and two trade organizations. In 2017, he was appointed by the governor to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
He says he has tried to be involved in organizations that make a significant difference in the lives of other people.
For more than three decades he has worked to fight bigotry and hate through the Anti-Defamation League, serving as a member of its National Executive Committee, as a past chair of the New England Regional Board and now as chair of its Board of Overseers.
“I found that ADL was an organization that I could relate to both personally and professionally because it helps fight some of the problems inherent in our society,” says Rudolph, who first became involved with ADL in response to the discovery of racist graffiti on his Temple in Marblehead.
Rudolph has received several ADL awards in recognition of his regional leadership and his efforts to advance a mission that now is as necessary and important as ever.
“Throughout the country, unfortunately, anti-Semitism has continued to rise,” he says. “It’s a constant fight. Fortunately, we have organizations like ADL, which through education try to build bridges in the community and also help law enforcement identify potential sources of racism, hatred and bigotry.”
Rudolph has received awards from several organizations for his community involvement. Recently, he was named to the Academy of Distinguished Leaders on the North Shore. A few years ago, he received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Salem State University.
With the exception of his years at the University of Denver where he studied political science and pursued his love of skiing, Rudolph has lived in Boston his entire life, mostly on the North Shore, where his family has deep roots. His grandfather started an electrical contracting business there, which his uncle eventually took over.
In his element at the helm of “Forever Young,” Jim Rudolph has been an avid sailor and has owned a sailboat since he was eight years old.
Rudolph, in fact, recalls spending a couple of summers working as an electrician’s helper while attending college and credits the experience with contributing to his later interest in construction law. The electrician’s trade was so ingrained in the family that when he graduated from Boston College Law School, his grandfather urged him to get his electrician’s license in case “it didn’t work out for him as a lawyer.”
His grandfather needn’t have worried.
Rudolph, who grew up around boats and is passionate about sailing, briefly entertained the idea of practicing admiralty law while in law school, but after graduating in 1975 he joined a business law firm where he would quickly establish himself. Three years later, the firm’s name was changed to include Rudolph.
“I don’t think many lawyers know exactly what they want to do and their practice sort of evolves,” says Rudolph, who started out as a litigator before concluding after about 10 years that he was developing more of a practice as a business lawyer.In 2002, the firm became Rudolph Friedman and currently has 20 lawyers. The firm’s office is in Boston’s financial district about a hundred yards away from historic Faneuil Hall, which was built in 1742 and has hosted speakers from Oliver Wendell Holmes and Susan B. Anthony to Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy.
Rudolph’s law firm is a charter member of Primerus and he appreciates that most firms initially join because they see the society as a potential referral source, but he has found another benefit equally as important.
“It’s been an organization we feel comfortable referring our clients to outside of Massachusetts,” he says. “Without exception we’ve had pretty good luck on referrals from the firm for our clients.”
In addition to the referrals in and referrals out, Rudolph says he finds the programming at Primerus conferences relevant and valuable.
“They’re really up on marketing,” he says.
Rudolph has now been the firm’s managing partner for 35 years and as senior partner recognizes the importance of mentoring younger associates.
“I had mentors, but I really didn’t have legal mentors. I had business mentors,” he says. “You can be the best lawyer intellectually in your class or in a group that’s being considered to do work but you have to have the work to do it. You have to know how to market. You have to know how to establish relationships.”
He emphasizes to young lawyers that the business has changed and will continue to change.
“You have to keep competitive and learn,” he says.
After practicing law for 47 years, Rudolph says he continues to enjoy the variety of the work and the diverse interests of his clients. He handles a lot of construction and real estate issues and also manages business disputes, or what he likes to call “business divorces.”
“It’s a pretty broad practice I have at this point,” he says. “I’m doing all sorts of deals.”
He even indulges his lifelong love of boats by handling the purchase and sale of watercraft, warranty claims, insurance claims, and representing a well-known yacht dealer.
“I get a lot of calls for buying and selling boats, and it’s fun for me,” he says.
Rudolph’s current craft is a 48-foot sailboat called “Forever Young,” which captures his energetic outlook on life. Any first-timers invited aboard the boat are proudly presented with a custom hat emblazoned with the boat’s name and his yacht club’s flag. Rudolph says he used to race sailboats as a kid most Saturdays and Sundays, but after law school he began buying cruising boats. Every summer, he and his wife, and often other family members, go sailing for at least a week to Cape Cod or to Maine. He has cruised all around New England and has chartered boats several times in the Caribbean.
In the summer, when he isn’t sailing, Rudolph spends his free time golfing. He describes a perfect summer weekend as golfing in the morning and then heading off to Marblehead Harbor, which isn’t far away, for an afternoon on “Forever Young.”
In the winter, he pursues another passion he’s enjoyed since he was a youth: skiing. The family has a second home in New Hampshire near a ski resort called Loon Mountain and even his grandchildren are learning the sport. He has skied at more than 100 different locations around the world and returns to Vail, Colo., every year to ski with college friends.
He and his wife Susan raised their three children in Swampscott, where Rudolph served as a selectman and chaired the Zoning Board of Appeals. Both sons, Billy and Bobby, are lawyers, while their sister, Katie, is a physician assistant. Billy works for a real estate developer and Bobby works with his father at Rudolph Friedman, where he is a partner. Bobby has become active in Primerus.
“I don’t think either of them set out to be lawyers, but I encouraged them to go to law school because I thought it would be a good background for business,” says Rudolph.
The attorney is an avid Boston Red Sox fan and has been a season ticket holder for many years. His family also has had seats for the Boston Celtics since 1956 and Rudolph can remember going to the old Boston Garden where their seats were located right across the aisle from Red Auerbach, a revered former coach of the Celtics who guided the team to nine NBA titles before becoming the team’s president.
Rudolph’s love for the two teams he has followed all his life is just another example of him respecting his roots.
“I’m a Boston boy,” he says with a smile.
