A Cruise to Die For

By Anthony Rathe

Jonathon Derekaged twenty-seven, a graduate from Fordham Law Schoolis presently a junior associate in the prestigious law firm McKenzie, Dillon, and Reeves, LLC with offices at 250 Broadway, New York; 15 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut; and 4-14 New Hyde Park Place, London, England. Jonathon is assigned to maritime matters, which include shipping contracts, demurrage claims, and form registry of ships with Bahamian registry as well as representing crew members with personal injury claims suffered in the course of their employment. He is engaged to Sandra Thompson, a twenty-three-year-old blond beauty who graduated from fashionable Sullins College in West Virginia. Her father, Tom Thompson, owns Mercedes dealerships in Paramus, New Jersey; Westchester; and Ridgefield, Connecticut. They reside in tony Alpine, New Jersey.

Stephan Kirklandaged twenty-eight, a graduate of New York Law School, high school classmate and best friend to Jonathonis also a junior associate of McKenzie, Dillon, and Reeves. He is assigned to handling jury trials in complex contract cases as well as a member of the American Arbitration Association.

McKenzie, Dillon, and Reeves is composed of 250 lawyers and thirty-two partners, including ten junior partners. McKenzie, seventy-nine years old, is a well-respected trial lawyer who started the firm sixty years ago in an abandoned garage in Hackensack, New Jerseywhich his brother Earle, a contractor, constructed into a designer building with Doric columns with a bronze statue of Justice prominent over the entrance arch. He graduated from Harvard, class of 1961, along with classmates Bob Dillon and Charles Reeves, whose families were investment brokers as well as owners of real estate along Edgewater and Weehawken waterfront, which eventually became the Golden Mile with multiple high-rise condo and town houses that permeated the costal line from the George Washington Bridge, south to the Lincoln Tunnel. The firm prospered through the representation of developers, bankers, and prospective buyers of realty and handled multiple applications for variances and permits on behalf of developers who became the moneyed clients for the fledgling firm.

The firm leased office space at 250 Broadway in Manhattan to cover clients who were in the concrete business as well as structural components needed for the development along the Jersey side of Hudson, which seemed to mirror the New York skyline. McKenzie hired young Yale and Harvard graduates direct from law school, many of whom came from wealthy families who in turn transferred their legal work to the firm which more than paid for their childrens salaries. He always took the position that a firm could have a million lawyers as long as they put in at least 1,800 hours a year at a $350 rate. McKensie also saw fit to hire law students from Fordham, Brooklyn Law School, and Pace whose duties were confined to trial preparation, handling depositions, and landlord and tenant complaints to avoid the ultraelitist mantel that would discourage and perhaps intimidate prospective blue-collar contractors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493122011

Anthony Rathe

I am eighty-five years old and still actively engaged in my profession, limited presently to estate and commercial matters. I was a partner in a large firm in Bergen County specializing in criminal trial work and was recently mentioned in Charmer, a new publication. Written by Charles Buckley, the story was about Robert Reldan, who was indicted for the murders of two women and for planning the assassination of his wealthy aunt and companion via hit man. I have just completed handling a $260-million estate, reputed to be one of the largest in the state. I received a certificate of achievement from Eber and Wein Publishing in recognition of the poem “If I Were God for Just One Day.” My greatest passion is skiing, having skied all over the world—St. Moritz, Davos, the Canadian and US Rockies, and last year at Belleayre. I was married to the same lady for sixty-one years. We have a daughter, Cindy (a teacher), and a grandson who is married.

Book preview

Chapter 1

KEYMAN

Charles Rudd, agent and vice president from Lloyd’s of London and Paramount Financial Insurers, was invited by the firm and conducted a meeting with the partners and junior partners of the firm to discuss keyman insurance, which covers the costs of replacement of key providers to the firm who may have died or have become incapacitated and allows for monetary payments to avoid an economic crisis where the firm is asked to finance the payout of a deceased or incapacitated partner.

After the meeting, lunch was ordered in the conference room where questions continued to be asked informally by the junior members and responded to by Charles Rudd in a simple but articulate manner to the satisfaction of all in attendance, and potential source of clients.

Jonathon inquired if his company handled life insurance since he was planning on getting married and needed to consider life insurance to protect his wife and children.

Mr. Rudd, how much insurance should I take out at this time and be economically feasible?

You are? Rudd says, pointing to Jonothon.

I’m sorry, Mr. Rudd. Jonathan Derek, a junior partner with the firm.

It depends on your present income level as well as projected future earnings. You should consider an initial policy that covers your life in case of accidental death, which is the basic life term without built-in annuity or equity. This is the cheapest—excuse me—less expensive policy you should consider at this stage of your early professional career.

"If I wanted to buy a $1 million policy naming my wife as beneficiary, what numbers are we talking