Retired Skadden Partner Now Operates Wine & Wedding Biz, Watches the Weather Channel
At one time, Michael Connery was the lead labor and employment attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
But he took a step back from law practice a decade or so ago, after finding a 108-acre property in Stonington, Conn., that appealed to him. Surrounded by tidal marshes, it also included an old airfield and an approximately 50-year-old airplane hangar and an old airfield. the Connecticut Law Tribune in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.) reports.
He bought the property without really knowing what he would do with it, but now operates a vineyard that has produced over 30,000 bottles of wine during the past two years and opened a tasting room this spring for sales to the public. Meanwhile, the weddings he hosts in the hangar—which has a high roof and an aluminum exterior—also help the bottom line.
Weather is key to both operations, and so Connery now looks to the Weather Channel to obtain key information for his work day rather than the Wall Street Journal.
“It was the opportunity to do something more tangible than practicing law, something more tactile,” he says of his new career, which offers an opportunity to combine manual labor with the intellectual challenges of running a business. “It’s really been a gratifying and liberating experience.”
