"The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in
the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of
life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the
needy and the handicapped," said Hubert H. Humphrey in his speech
at the dedication of the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington,
D.C., on Nov. 4, 1977.
As attorneys, we are in a unique and privileged position to
promote access to justice and equal justice to all through the
court system; both of which have been cornerstone beliefs of the
Massachusetts Bar Association since its inception 100 years
ago.
Throughout the year, we are able to put these beliefs into
action. Most recently, the MBA last month co-sponsored the annual
Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, where a record amount of
lawyers participated to advocate for legal services funding. The
past year's economic troubles have taken a toll on civil legal aid
in Massachusetts. Income from the Interest on Lawyers' Trust
Accounts (IOLTA) program has plummeted 63 percent since fiscal year
2008 and is not expected to increase in fiscal year 2010.
Compounding this loss is the decrease in the civil legal aid line
item - from $11 million in fiscal year 2009 to $9.5 million in
fiscal year 2010.
As powerful as this annual event is at raising awareness for the
dire need of appropriate legal services funding, individual efforts
help the cause as well. It brings great pride to witness the
remarkable commitment of our peers doing their part on an
individual basis to preserve access to justice.
One of the many honors of serving as MBA president is
recognizing those exemplary fellow attorneys. Each spring, the
MBA's Access to Justice Awards Luncheon honors lawyers throughout
the commonwealth who apply their expertise and energy to represent
those in our society who need it most. It never fails that those
honorees are perhaps the most humble about the critical
representation they provide.
Last year, then-President Edward W. McIntyre spoke of the
"humble service delivered unpretentiously by our guests of honor
and all the admirable attorneys between [MBA inaugural President
Richard] Olney's time and today." This is really a key ingredient
of understanding the motivation of all of our honorees. There is
satisfaction in the work itself, and knowing that some good has
been accomplished, whether or not the client ever expresses the
gratitude directly.
At our most recent Leadership Roundtable for MBA leadership, we
discussed Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers: The Story of
Success. In it, Gladwell writes:
"It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy
between nine and five. It's whether our work fulfills us. If I
offered you a choice between being an architect for $75,000 a year
and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for
$100,000 a year, which would you take? I'm guessing the former,
because there is complexity, autonomy and a relationship between
effort and reward in doing creative work, and that's worth more to
most of us than money. Work that fulfills those three criteria is
meaningful."
As we congratulate our 2010 Access to Justice awardees, we
should all be reminded of the ways in which our own work is
meaningful, and how its meaning and impact can be enhanced
further.
We can learn from Boston-based firm Fish and Richardson and
attorneys Patti Prunhuber, Thomas Kosman, Michael Angelini, Beth
Eisenberg and Michael Connolly and our other fellow attorneys who
work so diligently to do their part in providing equal justice for
all. Our honorees know better than anyone that the work itself is
its own reward.