INTERVIEW: PATRICIA HILL

IN TRANSITION

By Patricia Baldwin

Photography by Ed Daniels

Patricia Hill is about becoming something, not just being something.

For much of her life, Patricia Hill has been steeped in society’s standard measurements of success — with notable results. A longtime attorney, Hill probably is most publicly identified by her seven-year stint in the Texas Legislature where, among other accomplishments, she sponsored legislation to make Texas the first state to require insurance companies to pay for screening mammograms for women. The member of the University Club of Houston continues to pursue a solo civil litigation practice but now, instead of case law, she more often cites a Buddhist saying: Don’t just do something, sit there. She believes she is not alone. She believes there are “a lot of us who think that we should be measured by who we are, not by what we are doing.” Now in the midst of her sixth decade of life, Hill is seeking significance on her own terms. She readily shared her current journey with Private Clubs magazine.

You call yourself an “attorney in transition.” Explain the transition.

I’m an early baby boomer and I guess many of us who are now in our 50s are going through the “great American self-assessment.” We’re asking: Where am I going? What is the meaning of my life? I’m no exception. I’m 55 now. I’ve practiced law 30 years. And I’ve reached that second half of life when I’m looking more for significance. About a year or so ago, I started thinking about “What do I want to do? What is important to me to accomplish, for the next 30 years or for whatever I’m going to be around?” Now what I’m trying to do is phase out or at least phase down the law, in particular, litigation. My grandfather used to quote the old saying that the law is a jealous mistress. It’s very true. It tends to dominate most of your time. You don’t have a lot of spare time to think about other things.

Why did you pick the law in the first place?

My grandfather, my father, my great-uncle on my father’s side were all lawyers. But I did have a choice. When I got into law school, there weren’t that many women in the profession. I had been teaching school — English — and I wasn’t particularly happy with it for whatever reason. I thought there had to be more to life. In the late ’60s, I read a book by Martin Mayer called The Lawyers. It was about the interesting aspects and the inspirational aspects of the law, and I thought that I wanted to try that.

So you’ve been a lawyer for 30 years and now you think there’s something more?

I hope there’s something more.

What is it that you’re trying to do now?

I’m trying to spend time learning about the things that I really haven’t had time to do. You know, lawyers are called attorneys and counselors-at-law, but the counselor role has sort of disappeared. A long time ago, I wanted to be one of those wise women to whom people would come for advice. Sort of a mentor.

Also, I’m trying to learn, not necessarily in the law, but in other areas, how things really work, what makes people tick. For example, I’m reading a book called Guns, Germs, and Steel that just won a Pulitzer Prize. It’s about the history and evolution of world civilizations. It’s almost as if there were a race for civilization and those who got there first came to dominate. Something like that gives you an overview of what is happening in the world. I am trying to get an overview of what’s happening out there more than just the stuff we get on the radio and the TV. So that’s one aspect of it, looking outward.

But the more important aspect is looking inward. I think that a lot of expectations are put on us by society, parents, family, and friends. I’m no exception. I was expected to succeed in the law. I did it, but the question is “Is that really me?” What I’m trying to do is to find out what my interests really are and make myself the person truest to my interests that I can be. Instead of trying to cram myself into the lady-lawyer-politician mold, I should figure out who I really should be and try to accomplish that. It’s almost like a Socratic know thyself.

How are you doing that?

I’m doing that in a number of ways. I’m doing informal reading like I’ve talked about and I’ve joined some Great Books clubs, which are studying the most influential books from ancient times to the present. I’m getting into spirituality and am taking various courses both at church and outside of church. I’m taking a yoga instructor course. Yoga is a very interesting Eastern way of learning the mind-body connection.

Do you have a different view today of success and money?

Yes, I was just thinking about that. What is success? If you had asked me five years ago, my answer would have been something like “being the best woman litigator in the country.” Or “being chairman of the ABA section on litigation.” The trouble with that definition is that nobody ever is really that successful. Is being president of the United States enough? No, because then you have to be the best president. There’s always someplace else you can go that keeps you from reaching your goal.

I think now my view of success is using my talents to learn and to grow and to feel that I’m at least working toward doing things well. That is, not just being something but becoming something. I don’t think anyone is ever a completed work of art. We’re always just moving toward something else. I guess I would say that success is feeling like I am moving toward being better at whatever I’m trying.

Of what are you most proud?

I took on some battles but I have been thinking that, legislatively, what makes me most proud is not any particular bill. It’s the fact that, when I first got elected, I said to myself that although I knew people traded votes, I would call the bills as I saw them. That is, I would vote on them on their merit.

This had two advantages. Not only was it the right thing to do, but if somebody asked me five years later about the vote, I wouldn’t have to be scrambling around to explain some bad bill that I did or didn’t vote on. I’m really proud of calling the issues the way I saw them and sticking with the decision regardless of the consequences.

You’ve used the word “significance.” Would you rather use that word instead of success?

Yes. I think that for me, at this point, significance might be success. Significance would be something of more than transitory importance — something of permanent or lasting importance.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue “significance”?

Make sure every day that you do something you like. Make a list of what’s important to you. So at the end of your life, which we know passes quicker than we think, you don’t have any regrets or major regrets.

You can call it your mission statement. You can call it what you believe in. You can call it your goals. Call it whatever, but write them down and take a look at them periodically and make sure that every day you’re doing something to move toward those goals.

Maybe you can’t take off and go to Tibet, but you can decide if you want to gain more peace of mind, to meditate or do yoga or take a walk in the woods, to listen to music, or whatever you want to do to get away from people. Everybody can move in this direction a bit.

Is there a success story — or stories — that inspired you?

Bette Graham and her son, Michael Nesmith. I was very fortunate to represent Bette Graham as one of her attorneys in Dallas when I lived there. At that time, she already was a success. But to me, her success story is a tribute to tenacity as much as anything. Vision and tenacity. As you may know, Bette was really a secretary and apparently not a very good one because she needed “white out.” It wasn’t there and she invented Liquid Paper. That’s basically the story.

But inventing it was only half of the problem. Then she had to get it marketed, distributed, etc. She had a belief in herself.

Bette also was a very spiritual woman. She had the belief that you do things for the proper reason. I mean, her motive was not strictly capitalistic. Obviously, when we do something, we want to make money because that’s the way we live. But she very strongly believed that if you do things for the right purposes, in the right ways, the success will come. I think that’s true. And it certainly worked for her.

I feel very privileged to have known her personally because she went from a very small corporation to a very successful one that was sold to Gillette. [Editor’s note: Graham, now deceased, sold her company to the Gillette Company in 1979 for $47.5 million.]

You mentioned Michael Nesmith. I know you helped him organize the Council on Ideas. Please explain that.

The Council on Ideas is a unique opportunity for everybody and especially for those involved in the Council to learn from each other. Michael Nesmith and I were in a meeting one time and we started talking about how we didn’t feel that we were really being introduced to the best thought leaders. My frustration was particularly within the Legislature. If a bill would come up, we wouldn’t hear from the expert on, for example, air pollution. We’d get a lobbyist from a chemical company. Of course, Michael felt the same way in the entertainment business [as an original member of the pop band The Monkees].

So we hatched the idea of bringing people from different disciplines together to see if their composite wisdom might not be greater than its parts. We wanted to see if together they would come out with a different, better, and more profound result than if they were sitting in a room by themselves or talking to their peers.

The Council on Ideas started about 10 years ago. I think it has generally been very successful in bringing together people from journalism, science, the artistic world, architecture — from all sorts of endeavors. I have found it very inspiring and enlightening. For example, one of the councils focused on the loss of spirituality in the modern world. I think they were very prescient in saying that we needed to focus on the sacred again.

What effect does an idea have?

Ideas have consequences, obviously. When those consequences might occur, when they’ll be picked up, I can’t say. But I know that members of the Council have been profoundly affected by the experience. Several of them have said it changed their lives and their work. So I know we’ll have an effect there. All it takes is a few people to pick up on one of the ideas and run with it. It can change things. [For more informatiion on the Council on Ideas, an operating program of the Gihon Foundation, visit www.gihon.com.]

What do you think Bette would think of this effort today?

I think she’d approve. The Bette Clair McMurray Foundation [founded prior to the Council on Ideas] was started to make grants to women. This was done back in the mid-’70s when that was a revolutionary thing to do. We made seed grants and matching grants to women’s organizations. Bette, who was always a visionary, would be looking for something new to do. And I think she would have liked this idea.

You’re a member of the University Club of Houston. What does your membership mean to you?

We are very fond of the University Club. It’s a most convivial group of people. The people are wonderful, the staff is fabulous, and they have clubs within the club.

I’m president of the Investment Club. That helps with the sense of community. When there’s some idea I’m thinking about, there’s always somebody at the University Club who has been involved in that who’s willing to give me a hand and a contact.

Do you have any regrets?

I don’t think I do, except that I haven’t enjoyed myself along the way as much as I probably should have.

When you’ve got all these things you’re doing, you’re always thinking about the next thing instead of staying where you are. It’s the little things along the way that end up being most important.

What do you know that your mother didn’t know?

There are really no dead ends and there are no permanently lost chances. Life gives you lots of chances. It’s never too late.

PATRICIA HILL, J.D.
Occupation: Attorney “in transition.”
Membership: University Club of Houston.
Residence: Houston.
Family: Husband, Richard B. Austin Jr., Ph.D.; father; sister; brother.
Date, place of birth: Dec. 10, 1945, Lima, Ohio.
Education: J.D., University of Houston College of Law; B.A., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Career highlights: Patricia Hill & Associates, 1997 to present; O’Quinn & Laminack, Houston, 1990-96; Baker, Mills & Glast, Dallas, 1984-90; member, Texas House of Representatives, 1983-90.
Civic and charitable activities: Bette Clair McMurray and Gihon foundations; Houston Grand Opera Guild; Pachyderm Club, Downtown Houston.
Hobbies: Reading, opera, and performing arts.
Favorite book: Pride and Prejudice or “almost anything by Jane Austen. She is one of the most profound observers of human nature. She also writes a mean plot. I also like Tolstoy. They both focus on humanity and human relationships.”
Signature saying: “Life is a journey.”