Page 1 Solutions Blog

I met Norton about sixteen years ago. I was a senior associate attorney with Fairfield and Woods, P.C. of Denver. I was not seriously looking for another position, but I was open to other options.

Network Affiliates posted an ad for an attorney with experience in securities offerings to serve as their General Counsel. I fixed up my resume and sent it in. (Later, I found out that more than seventy attorneys - some of them much senior to me - applied for the position.) A week or two later, I was asked to schedule an interview with Norton.

I didn't know Norton until the day I came in for the interview. I remember thinking that he was extremely sharp for an old guy. He spent some time asking me about my legal experience as I expected. He gave me some information about Network Affiliates and his plans to take the company public - also expected. But that didn't last long. He spent most of the interview asking about my family including my parents and my wife and children (I had two young children at that point). Then the interview ended rather abruptly.

I didn't know what to think. As I thought back on the interview and discussed it with my wife (Diane), I realized that Norton was unlike almost every other attorney I had known to that point. He was not pretentious in the slightest. It was obvious to me that the person I met was the real Norton. Take it or leave it.

Fortunately, Norton called a couple of days later and asked me to come back for a second interview. He said he wanted to meet Diane. This one threw me for a loop. But I came back with Diane. The interesting thing about that meeting - it wasn't really an interview - was that he spent more time talking to Diane than me. I wasn't even sure I wanted the job, but he charmed her and I followed along. Norton knew what he was doing....

Over the next eight to ten years - I had many experiences with Norton - NF, as I grew to know him. I worked with him on the transfer of his Denver law firm to his daughter, Janet. I dealt with some litigation against one of his former associates. I went to Jamaica with him to negotiate a deal with an offshore gambling company, which, fortunately, disintegrated in an angry encounter in which I questioned my sanity for being there. I drove to Kansas with NF for a deposition. (Getting there was exciting. NF had a lead foot.... Getting back was even more fun.... We drove through a driving rainstorm with a broken windshield wiper - fortunately, I had convinced him to let me drive his Caddy by that point, but he refused to wait for the storm to pass....)

Through it all, NF stayed true to the impression I had formed in my first meeting. No pretense. What you see is what you get.

NF was the ultimate entrepreneur. He proved that by founding Network Affiliates, Inc. as the first syndicated advertising agency for lawyers in the country. His next success was Crosspoint, which became the preeminent post-production facility in the region. But he always liked oil. He dabbled in oil wells and drilling over the years. In the late 90s he jumped in with both feet. I couldn't understand why he would risk so much money on oil wells when the price of oil at the time seemed to make significant profits unlikely for all except for the big oil companies. Once again, NF found a way to succeed - big time.

He made his fair share of mistakes. Russia and Jamaica come to mind. But he never let the setbacks stop him from trying. And, even in his eighties, he kept trying.

NF's decision to hire me as General Counsel for Network Affiliates changed the course of my career - and my life. Page 1 would not exist, but for that decision. But, more importantly, I would not have had the pleasure of getting to know NF.

I learned a lot from him.

I will miss him.