Chief justice commends bar for loyalty, devotion to law
Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas of the Illinois Supreme Court addressed the opening of the ISBA Assembly meeting on Dec. 8 in Chicago. His remarks follow.
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Good morning. It is an honor to be here for the Midyear Meeting of the ISBA Assembly. As I say every year at this event, I always look forward to gatherings like this, a room full of professionals who share a common calling, a passion for justice, and a commitment to giving back.
As attorneys, you all have busy schedules, and you all work long hours. The fact you have chosen to be here today – to assume additional responsibilities with the ISBA – is a testament both to your devotion to the law and to your loyalty to the profession. All of you are to be commended.
And don’t doubt for a second that events such as this are important. They are occasions for policy discussion and planning, for continuing education, and for professional fellowship.
As all of you know, when you become a lawyer, you become a member of a community. This is true whether you are a litigator, an estate planner, a prosecutor, a public defender, a law clerk, a politician, a judge, or a law professor - you are a member of a discreet and close-knit community.
And it is this sense of community that offers the best hope for the profession’s future.
Lincoln asked, “Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the Register of Deeds, in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket?”
Even then, it seems, the legal profession had its share of sharks.
But more interesting than Lincoln’s question was Lincoln’s solution. For Lincoln, the antidote to unethical behavior was found not in the law itself, but in the community of lawyers.
To rid the bar of immoral men, Lincoln wrote, “a moral tone ought to be infused into the profession, which should drive such men out of it.”
To assist in making Lincoln’s vision a reality, the Illinois Supreme Court recently created the Commission on Professionalism. The commission’s goal is to create a forum in which lawyers, judges, and legal educators can explore the meaning and aspirations of professionalism in contemporary legal practice.
But the commission cannot do it alone. And I am very grateful to see that professionalism issues are front and center at this year’s joint meeting. At the same time, the joint meeting is a time for continuing education.
Speaking to a group of Harvard undergraduates in 1886, Oliver Wendell Holmes advised that, “No result is easy which is worth having. Your education begins when what is called your education is over.”
The fact is that each of us enters this profession largely unequipped to practice law properly or even effectively. There are the basic skills that each of us must acquire. Drafting a case management order. Executing a living will. Negotiating a real estate deal. Filing a notice of appeal.
These are the skills that define our profession, yet few of us enter the profession with even a working knowledge of those skills.
More importantly, there is the substantive law that governs our practice, the sheer magnitude of which demands constant study.
In 1966, the Illinois Compiled Statutes filled 5,000 pages. Today, it fills almost 15,000. The federal tax code contains almost eight million words, more than 10 times the number found in the complete text of the King James Bible. In its last full session, the Illinois General Assembly enacted 935 new laws.
Each of us owes a duty both to the profession and to the public to ensure that we never rest on our laurels, but instead continue to educate and improve ourselves as lawyers and jurists.
In 1858, Lincoln received a letter from a young lawyer named William Grigsby. Grigsby was seeking a position in Lincoln’s law office, and Lincoln was obliged to turn him down. In doing so, however, Lincoln offered young Grigsby the following counsel:
“If you wish to be a lawyer, attach no consequence to the place you are in, or the person you are with; but get books, sit down anywhere, and go to reading for yourself. That will make a lawyer of you quicker than any other way.”
As lawyers and judges, we understand that our education is never complete. That there is always room to improve. And that sometimes we may not have all the answers.
Of course, education can take many forms. Formal education forms the bedrock of the MCLE program, and it is in this area that I expect great things from the ISBA.
Over the past two days, the ISBA offered an impressive selection of formal legal education programs covering both substantive law and professional development. And I am hopeful that each of you took advantage of as many of these programs as possible.
But occasions such as this also provide a forum for informal education through networking and fellowship.
Whether we appear on a panel or not, each of us brings to this gathering a valuable perspective, shaped by our unique experiences as lawyers and judges. And it is important to the profession that we occasionally get together and share those experiences with each other.
But don’t save it for the meeting rooms and banquet halls. Continue the conservation over lunch, in the hallways, and over the phone in the days and weeks and months to come.
If you are a personal injury attorney from Madison County, seek out a probate attorney from Cook County. If you are a public defender from DuPage County, seek out an appellate prosecutor from Sangamon County.
Compare notes, and find out how the concerns facing our profession – facing your practice – differ from place to place and from specialty to specialty. As importantly, discover how we’re all in the same boat.
These informal lessons are every bit as important as the formal ones. From them, we take away not only invaluable insight gained from experience, but also a professional and personal bond that reminds us that we are all part of the same system, all committed to serving the cause of justice.
Thank you again, Joe (Bisceglia), for the invitation to join you here, and for all of your dedicated service to the bar.
And to all of you, thank you for supporting the ISBA, and for your continued commitment to serving and improving the legal profession. Enjoy your day.