THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 4 | SEPTEMBER 2025 More Serious Decline Decreasing accuracy, often along with slowing; Memory decline that is noticeable by others; Difficulty with learning new things in general; Forgetting how to do familiar activities, use appliances or electronics, etc.; Lack of insight into changes and the impact they are having on yourself and others; or Changes in personality Why is all this significant? For several years, OBA leaders have been concerned that Oklahoma attorneys have been headed for a severe drop in population (the cliff) as a result of the baby boomer generation aging out. The number of older attorneys still practicing has also been a topic of discussion. By my rough analysis, the mean age of active members in good standing is 55. At the 2025 Judicial Conference, recently held contemporaneously with the very successful OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference, I was honored to report to Oklahoma’s judges on the “State of the OBA.” One of the observations I provided was that, according to OBA records as of Jan. 1, 2025, more of our active members in good standing are over the age of 80 than under the age of 30. Let that sink in for a moment, and it becomes obvious that Oklahoma is not replacing our aging active members with new members. This is not a new topic. In 2014, then-OBA President Renee DeMoss initiated the OBA Attorney Contingency Plans and Transitions “I CAME INTO THIS ROOM FOR A REASON” is a comment we have all made to ourselves from time to time (go ahead, admit it; you know you have!). You leave one room on a mission and find yourself in another room with no clue about the original mission – until you go back to your starting point and the memory of the mission is triggered, or you still cannot remember why. And no, this is not a sign that your faculties are failing. According to a 2011 University of Notre Dame study, “Walking Through Doorways Causes Forgetting,” it is the act of walking through the doorway into a different venue that “purges” our memory, as if our brain interprets the change of venue as completion of an event, rendering the old memory irrelevant. At least that is the conclusion of that study. But just imagine if this happened to you constantly and randomly throughout your day, which is just one of the many signs of dementia or other neurocognitive impairment. And no, I am not suggesting that you are suffering from either just because you forgot why you came into the room! What I am referring to is the challenging task of distinguishing between signs of normal aging and signs of more serious cognitive decline. The following are just a few examples. Normal Aging Accurate but slower than typical; Memory lapses the individual notices; Difficulty remembering names and familiar words; Forgetting what you are looking for in the other room; Awareness of changing capacity and ability to use adaptive strategies to compensate; or A tendency to become less flexible ‘I Came Into This Room for a Reason ...’ From the President By D. Kenyon “Ken” Williams Jr. D. Kenyon “Ken” Williams Jr. is a shareholder and director at Hall Estill in Tulsa. 918-594-0519 kwilliams@hallestill.com (continued on page 83)
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