Another aspect that Lenczner thinks has changed over the years is the prevailing, but shifting, attitude that trials should be avoided at all costs.

"In the '70s and the '80s, litigation was quite promising," he muses. "Today, the corporate area drives most of the larger law firms and litigation is in a secondary position, and most of the litigation is assisting clients with corporate-securities matters.

"So the type of litigation has changed from trial work to application work, and application work relies more on your written skills, presentation of legal points, whereas trial work is more of your advocacy skills.

"It's changing back now, but for a while there was an attitude in our courts, because they were backlogged, that trials should be discouraged. The parties should settle or they should go to arbitration. So there was, sort of, a demoralizing factor. Now this has changed; the courts have caught up, there's more capacity today, so we're seeing a trend towards more trial work."

When asked how he feels about Lenczner receiving the OBA award, Griffin says he's "delighted in no small measure, because he's not someone who looks for accolades."

Indeed, when contacted by Canadian Lawyer for an interview request, Lenczner wondered, "Why the heck would anybody want to read about me?" He also admitted he was a bit shy and embarrassed being the subject of a profile.

Griffin says that, although Lenczner is a very good lawyer, wonderful in court, and has all of the persona of a really good litigator, he's not a showman in the sense of looking for anyone else's approval for what he does.

"Someone like that who really is modest in his own way being recognized is a delight, because it's well deserved."

For Lenczner, almost every day is as fresh as when he started practising law. When asked if he intends to

slow down, he says he'll take things as they come.

"I keep saying I'm going to slow down, but I keep getting such nice briefs. I've actually worked a lot harder in last year and a half than I have in the previous two years. As long as my health and energy are there, I'm fine.

"I just love going into a courtroom and watching the whole drama unfold."

Michael Barrack, president of the Advocates' Society and a lawyer at McCarthys, had the pleasure of working with Lenczner for about 15 years and says he admires Lenczner's great passion for advocacy and "his love of the sport of advocacy. And he would see it that way"

"I think that, for Alan, advocacy is definitional. It's what he is to his core and what he enjoys.

"I think he's a highly energetic guy who approaches everything with a high degree of enthusiasm."

Barrack recalls when they were involved in Waxman v. Waxman several years ago, one of the most extensive, factually complex, and widely  reported cases in Ontario, involving issues of oppression and fiduciary duties.

"I remember Robert Harrison (of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP) in the middle of the Waxman trial, which Alan ended up losing at the end of the day. But Bob Harrison's a different personality type, and we were walking to toward our cars one day and he said to me in the middle of that trial, 'You know, for Alan, every day is fresh meat.' I think that's a great expression," Barrack says.

"Whether he's in the courtroom or out of the courtroom or cutting the grass on his farm or getting enthused about speaking Italian, anything of that kind, he approaches every day as fresh meat."

Besides working on three upcoming appeals, the remainder of Lenczner's summer will be spent working on his farm. With the help of his trusty Ferguson 35 tractor, Lenczner will be sure to find a tree that needs to be transplanted or a rock that has to be transported to one of his several rock gardens, to get the grounds in prime shape for entertaining family, colleagues, and friends.

The simple life truly isn't that simple, but with Lenczner, it sure is a lot of fun.