A Look Back at a Decade Without a Name

Trying to recap the first decade of the new millennium is as daunting as putting my music collection on my iPod. But 10 years ago, I could not carry thousands of songs — or my Rolodex (remember them?), telephone, computer and calendar — in my pocket and all on the same device. The evolution of how we listen to music, how we communicate, how we socialize and how we get information were not the only changes in the last 10 years.

Ten years ago, I started chronicling law firm living with a monthly column about what it was like to be a young lawyer. I was so much younger then; we all were. Bill Clinton was leaving the White House and George W. Bush was getting ready to move in for what ended up being most of the decade. William Rehnquist was chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Tom Ridge was governor of Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum were our two Republican senators, John Street was mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille was Philadelphia’s district attorney and Barack Obama was a state senator in Illinois.

Crashes and Burns