Florida Elder Law & Estate Planning Blog


Retirement Isn’t For Everyone – Just Ask These Lawyers!

Blue Water Vietnam Veterans Again Denied Agent Orange Benefits

Retirement isn’t for everyone. If health holds out, some people want to keep working.

Just ask Attorney Martin Katz, whose remarkable career was covered in a recent Associated Press article. At the age of 99, Katz works as a special public defender for the State of Connecticut, as well as serving as magistrate for small claims cases and providing free legal services for veterans. Hegraduated from the University of Connecticut Law School in 1951 after seeing action in North Africa and Europe during World War II.Omar Williams, Superior Court Judge, says of Katz: “Obviously, it’s amazing that there is someone who is 99 years old who is still working in this field. But to be putting out that type of work product, to be every bit a persuasive advocate — it’s absolutely incredible.”

Katz says he loves his work and has no intention of giving it up. He doesn’t know what he’d do with his time if he wasn’t working. When asked when he plans to retire, he quips, “When they carry me out of here.”

But Katz is practically a baby compared to Mordie Rochlin, age 106. Rochlin is a New York tax and estates lawyer who started at the Paul Weiss firm in 1938. Although he can no longer put in full days and must use a wheelchair, he is still of counsel to the firm. He goes to the office and spends about an hour and a half there, reading memos and making phone calls. He tells the New York Law Journal: “Paul Weiss was my life. The way I looked on the firm, it was not only a community of scholars but a community of friends.”

The current chairman of the firm, a summer associate when Rochlin gave up full-time work, says. “Mordie is a treasure.”