Recognition Ceremony for December 2001 Washburn University School of Law Graduates
Washburn University School of Law held a recognition ceremony and reception for December 2001 Law School graduates on Saturday, December 1, 2001 in Robinson Courtroom.
The Honorable Christel E. Marquardt, Kansas Court of Appeals, addressed the graduates, their family, and friends. Judge Marquardt's complete address is given below. Allen Easley, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, introduced each of the December 2001 graduates attending the ceremony.
Graduates, their families and friends, other law students, and faculty celebrated with the December graduates at a reception following the ceremony.
Remarks By The Honorable Christel E. Marquardt at Washburn Law School
Congratulations!! I have been privileged to get to know some of you, and because of that, I am convinced that Washburn is graduating some of the finest to join our profession.
I was very humbled by being asked to give the address today. I tried to think back to twenty-seven years ago trying to remember who spoke at my graduation and what was said. I couldn't remember who spoke, and more importantly, what was said. After some checking, I found that Governor Docking spoke but I don't have a clue about what he said. Needless to say, I hope you will retain some of what I have to say. If nothing else, remember INTEGRITY and your IOUs.
In your life as a lawyer you will experience every emotion possible - excitement, frustration, exhilaration, disappointment, anger, and unreasonable demands, perhaps from judges --
Law school helped you build the foundation for what you will do for the rest of your professional life. Your diploma is the tangible evidence of that foundation. There will be words written on the diploma but I believe that there are some letters super-imposed on it that are not written. They are 'IOU.' You're probably thinking that I am referring to your student loans, but I am not. In your life, up to this point, you have accumulated several IOUs-- to your family, yourself, this school, your fellow lawyers, and the general public.
The obvious IOU goes to your parents, spouse, family and friends. Because of their commitment and sacrifices, you are here today.
The next group to whom you owe an IOU is Washburn Law School and its professors. I have had graduates tell me that they paid their tuition and, therefore, they owe nothing more to this school, or its faculty. Once they received their diplomas they wanted to be gone-- totally. Such statements and sentiments are truly short sighted. Washburn's commitment to you does not end with graduation. It's true that the professors are paid to teach you, but the professors at Washburn do much more than teach. They invest themselves in trying to produce the very best lawyers possible. Our professors consider teaching a commitment, not a job, and they are there to help, even after you graduate.
They have helped you to accomplish your first critical step as a lawyer - tell them thank you.
In addition, you owe something to this school. Yes, the school can always use money to help deserving students who otherwise would not be able to attend, but they need your help in recruiting prospective students. Washburn graduates have made tremendous contributions to the law, their communities and society. With your help in recruiting qualified students, we will continue this fine tradition.
The face of our profession has changed a great deal since I graduated. The profession is much more diverse and the opportunities are likewise more diverse. With your graduation, your greatest challenge is yet to come. The bar exam is definitely a challenge. However, your associations with other lawyers, judges, and individuals in the legal community will be critical to your success as a lawyer.
Daily, you will be faced with difficult choices. The choices you make, and the actions you take, will determine how you are viewed as a lawyer and it will affect your entire legal career. The practice of law is not like making a movie where you can go over and over a scene until you get it right. In the practice of law you get one chance to get it right. Sure, you will make mistakes, everyone does. However, it is not the honest mistake that will cause the problems. Your education will help to minimize the honest mistakes.
The most important asset you have is not your education but your integrity. Your moral and ethical standards, are the essence of being a good lawyer. Even though each of you has had classes in the area of ethics, you will find that in practice, the issues are not always as clear cut as the case studies were. Education does not provide you with the answers to ethical dilemmas. Education does not automatically mean that you with be a good lawyer. You owe yourself an IOU to not compromise your ethical standards. If you compromise your ethical standards, you demean yourself and all others in the profession, and make it easy for others to criticize all of us. Once a reputation is damaged, it is very difficult to repair.
A lawyer's word is that lawyer's bond. If another lawyer cannot trust what you say, and that you will follow through on what you have said, it gets known very fast. You will have lost the respect of that other lawyer, as well as others in the profession. If you respect your fellow lawyer, that lawyer will usually respect you. If you find another lawyer that you cannot trust, don't let that lawyer cause you to jeopardize your own integrity.
I'm told that "BEING CONNECTED" is extremely important today. There are organizations that can provide professional connections for you - Washburn Alumni Association, the Kansas Bar Association, American Bar Association, and the myriad of local and specialty bars. They can be your source of help and friendship. These organizations offer mentors - whether you have a legal, personal or ethical problem.
It does not matter where or how you will be using your degree, take advantage of those who are already there. This is an opportunity for other lawyers to be of service to you. If you have a difficult decision, ask someone who has experience. I can guarantee you that the experienced lawyer will consider it a privilege to help, and you will have made a new friend.
Because law is a profession of advocacy, advocacy sometimes escalates into antagonism and harassment. It should be neither. The only way we can effectively advocate is by rising above antagonism.
Years ago, most people thought of lawyers as the individuals in our society who preserved the rights of citizens. Now, lawyers are viewed as individuals who look for technical loopholes so that criminals can go free, and are for the most part only looking for money.
The only way to change these perceptions is through individuals like yourselves setting good examples. We can change attitudes, not by running ads about what good things we do, but by educating the general public about our legal system.
There are a myriad of reasons why you went to law school. Those reasons don't matter any more. What matters is what you do with your education. Your professional life should include candor, courtesy, civility, and cooperation with personal dignity and professional integrity.
We also have a duty to help preserve our legal system. You will be able to help in this preservation by exercising your IOU to your communities and the public. We need to teach the public about our legal system, our system of justice, and why it is so important for each of us. Oliver Wendell Holmes said:
"Law is the business to which my life is devoted and I should show less than devotion if I did not do what is in me to improve it."
The founders of our nation created a form of government that masterfully provided checks and balances to ensure individual liberties. The most innovative and significant feature of our government is the separation of powers among three independent branches of government. For more than two centuries this separation of powers has worked to protect and defend freedom in our nation.
A cornerstone of our democracy is that we have a judiciary free from partisan politics, acting on the basis of what is right and just, and not what is popular. It seems that the general public does not understand this concept and believes that this fact is irrelevant to their daily lives.
Our courts are the arena in which constitutional guarantees are tested. The judiciary is charged with guarding the constitution and protecting the civil liberties and fundamental rights of every citizen. To protect these liberties, judges must be beholden to no one and must perform their duties impartially, diligently and with integrity, without regard to popular public sentiment or public pressure. Judges have to decide cases based on facts and the law, not popularity of a particular position. It isn't enough that our judiciary be independent, it must be perceived by the public as independent. The problem with electing judges is that it turns every judge into a politician who is beholden to those that supported his or her election efforts.
As officers of the court, your IOU mandates that you help citizens understand why the separation of powers and an independent judiciary are so important.
The law does not and cannot solve all human problems. However, we can help solve problems by our willingness to involve ourselves in the business of life. We do that by involving ourselves in our communities.
Robert Schuller, a well-known clergyman has written a new book. Its title is: "If It's Going to Be, It's Up to Me." I'm telling you that it is up to you and me to make sure that others know the importance of the American legal system.
Lawyering provides us with a sense of history, it's never boring, you meet all sorts of people, you never stop learning, and of all professions, it offers us a chance to make a positive difference in other people's lives. We have an opportunity to see and work with people who have plans and dreams. We get to help them achieve their goals and dreams. We learn that having the chance to help someone in need is one of the greatest gifts a person will ever receive.
Thank you for allowing me to share in this special day.
