Michael S. Greco
President-Elect, American Bar Association
Address to the American Bar Association House of Delegates
Atlanta, Georgia – August 10, 2004
Chair Wells, members of the House, and friends.
It is an extraordinary honor for me to be standing before you today.
One gets here only with the help of countless people, stretching over a lifetime –
my family, teachers, professors, friends, mentors and colleagues. I thank each of them
for their wonderful support and caring.
I want to thank in particular someone who gives far more of herself to others than
she asks to receive. An individual of outstanding accomplishment in her own right . . .
an educator . . . and my best friend. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my wife
Dianne.
My colleagues at the great firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, many of whom have
traveled far to attend this Annual Meeting, have my enduring gratitude. They too, have
given me the gifts of friendship and support, and I am profoundly thankful to them.
Please give them your warm welcome.
Moments ago I was accompanied to the podium by a group of distinguished men
and women for whom I have great respect as lawyers and colleagues, and leaders in
this House – my fellow delegates from Massachusetts, New England, and states
throughout the country; and by former presidents of this great Association – all of whom
have helped to shape the Association and our profession with their leadership and
dedication. We are the beneficiaries of their leadership and their good counsel, and I
ask you to join me in expressing our warm appreciation to each of them.
I want to commend one of those former presidents in particular – our newest past
president – Dennis Archer – for his outstanding leadership this past year. Since my
nomination six months ago, Dennis accurately has been referring to Robert, himself,
and me as the “Three Amigos”. The fact is that President Archer is a friend to all of us,
and to everyone in this country who has been touched – directly or indirectly – by his
presidency, and they are legion. Please join me in congratulating Dennis, and giving
him our final thanks in this House, for his immense efforts on our behalf, for giving us an
outstanding year, and for leaving our Association better than he found it.
In my remarks to you in February at our Mid-Year meeting in San Antonio, I told
you the story of a seven-year old boy’s journey – my journey – from a small village in
Europe to America and, fifty-four years later, to nomination as President-Elect of our
Association.
Six weeks after San Antonio, our 22-year old daughter Elizabeth, who attended
the Mid-Year meeting, telephoned me to say that she had decided to go to that small
village in southern Italy during her college spring break. She traveled by plane, train,
bus, car and feet. When she finally got there, she spent time in the village, visited the
house where I was born, and took photos. When she returned home she told me that
the village is incredibly beautiful, that my father’s carved initials can still be seen on the
wooden front door knobs of the modest house, and that she was thrilled to be there. I
was pleased that Elizabeth sought to trace her roots – and to retrace my journey.
At the close of my remarks in San Antonio I observed that each of us in this
room, or our ancestors, made a similar journey at some point in our nation’s history, but
that it is the journey that lies ahead that now joins all of us, and strengthens us, and
challenges us. I invited you to join me on the journey, and for your help along the way.
Today the journey continues – for all of us, for our Association, for our
profession, and for the people we serve.
I want to talk to you about the journey that lies ahead. I want to tell you where I
believe that journey will lead us, and should lead us, and about the issues that we will
encounter -- some welcome, some not –but each requiring our careful attention as we
continue to navigate these challenging times.
First, we take comfort in knowing that more than 405,000 companions, the
members of this great Association, are traveling with us. They are men and women,
and lawyers and judges, and leaders of the bar of remarkable diversity and talents.
I respect deeply the hard work and the splendid contributions of the thousands of
lawyers and judges who serve on our Association’s Sections, Divisions, Standing
Committees, Task Forces, Commissions, and Forums – men and women who daily
strive to improve the profession, the administration of justice, and our society.
We are fortunate as well to have with us a dedicated, professional and
outstanding ABA staff, who take pride in their work and who support our volunteer
efforts every day with enthusiasm and beyond the call of duty. Please join me in
expressing thanks to them.
Yesterday we bestowed the Association’s highest honor, the ABA Medal, on a
great leader of our profession – Father Robert Drinan. Because he was born and
educated in Boston, we in Massachusetts claim him as a native son, but he is in fact a
citizen of the world, the embodiment of the lawyer as public servant, someone who
represents the very best that our profession can give to the world community.
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Father Drinan was my Law School Dean, he has been a friend and mentor to me
for the past thirty-five years, and he has my deep respect and gratitude.
I want to acknowledge another giant of our profession, another citizen of
Massachusetts, another lawyer as public servant, and a hero to all who cherish our
democracy – Archibald Cox.
A writer once wrote of "men in dark times," referring to those individuals whose
moral clarity illuminates the darkness of their age. Archibald Cox was such a man.
At his death this past May at the age of 92, Archibald Cox was remembered for a
lifetime of devotion to the law and public service, including his distinguished fifty-year
career as a professor of law at Harvard, and his service as Solicitor General in the
Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
The most famous measure of his greatness came in 1974 when, as Special
Watergate Prosecutor, he went to court to require the President of the United States to
turn over the White House tapes. After he refused to back down in his quest for the
tapes, the President ordered the Attorney General to fire him.
Rather than comply with the President’s order, the Attorney General resigned,
and so did the Deputy Attorney General. The Solicitor General then carried out the
order to fire Special Prosecutor Cox. The episode, which came to be known as the
"Saturday Night Massacre," created such a national furor that the President was forced
to release the tapes and, ultimately, to resign the presidency.
Archibald Cox's act of conscience, thirty years ago this month, more than any
other single action in that dark moment of the republic, kept alive the rule of law – and
the principle that no one, not even the president, is above the law. He was a
courageous and patriotic lawyer, and public servant, to whom our country owes an
everlasting debt of gratitude.
The luster of these two great lawyers and public servants, Robert Drinan and
Archibald Cox, reflects the true majesty of the law. Through the strength of their
convictions and their courage, they remind us of the noble purposes that lawyers serve.
Indeed, it is those noble purposes that draw all of us in this room to be part of this
great Association:
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Protecting the rule of law.
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Providing excellent legal services to all, regardless of their
economic status; and
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Improving and protecting the independence of the judiciary, the
legal profession, and the justice system, for everyone in America.
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Those purposes are in the bedrock of this Association’s core values.
The world after September 11, 2001, requires that lawyers must monitor and
protect the delicate balance between national security and the rule of law in America.
And we will do it.
In this bountiful nation, the legal needs of the poor among us must be served,
and we must insist that the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright is finally kept.
And we will do it.
The independence of the judiciary and the independence of our profession, on
which our democracy depends, must be protected, and we must insist that sufficient
resources are made available to keep our justice system strong and secure.
And we will do it.
The Association’s increasingly important role internationally in providing technical
legal assistance to emerging democracies, and in advancing human rights, human
dignity, and the rule of law, must be supported.
And we will do it.
And the continued enhancement of diversity in our profession – the greater
inclusion of lawyers of color, women lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, and lawyers of
different ethnic and racial backgrounds and sexual orientation – must be supported, so
that our profession truly reflects the wonderful fabric of our nation.
And we will do it.
The events of recent years have taught us that we must also be prepared for the
unexpected – because it is likely that we will encounter it, and we must be ready to deal
with it: as President John Curtin did from a podium in this very city in responding to a
Vice-President’s attack on the legal profession; as President Martha Barnett did with a
President’s decision to change the historical role of our Standing Committee on Federal
Judiciary; as President Robert Hirshon did in leading the profession’s response to the
terrorism of September 11, 2001; and as President Dennis Archer did in accepting
Justice Kennedy’s challenge to confront the abuses in our country’s correctional
system.
We must be, and we will be, ready to deal with the unexpected.
This morning I wish to address briefly two issues in particular that present the
opportunity, and I believe the imperative, for this Association to define what our
profession stands for, and what our profession’s future role in American society will be.
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First, on June 28, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down three historical
decisions relating to the balance between national security and constitutional rights.
The Association filed amicus briefs in two of those cases.
The Court’s decisions did three vitally important things: they reasserted the
judiciary’s fundamental role in our government of checks and balances; they reaffirmed
the principle that a president’s power in our democracy is not unlimited; and they
reconfirmed for the world America’s dedication to fairness, due process, and the rule of
law.
The Court’s decisions did something else, of which this House can be very
proud: they affirmed the wisdom of the policy positions adopted by the House during
the past thirty months relating to the war on terrorism, the treatment of detained
persons, and civil liberties.
History should be our guide at this time. Following World War II, at the start of
the Nuremberg War Criminal trials, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, who
had taken a one-year leave of absence from the Court to serve as lead prosecutor of
the twenty-two war criminals, insisted that due process and fair trials had to be afforded
even to those who had committed the most heinous crimes against humanity.
In his opening statement to the Court, Prosecutor Jackson said something that is
as relevant today to our government’s treatment of enemy combatants as it was to the
allies’ treatment of war criminals in 1945. He said this:
We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants
today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these
defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.
Those words must guide us today.
This House must continue to monitor our government’s efforts whenever civil
liberties are implicated. This House must continue to help ensure that the balance
between national security and civil liberties is being maintained. And this House must
continue to speak firmly, as it has since 9/11, and as it did again yesterday in adopting
the Anti-Torture Resolution, when that delicate balance is threatened, or when the
actions of our representatives shock the conscience of the American people.
The people look to us to protect their constitutional rights, and to uphold their
belief in fairness, due process and human decency – values that have always defined,
and must continue to define, America to the nations of the world. And so this
Association and our profession bear a heavy responsibility to the people, and to our
democracy – a responsibility that defines what the legal profession stands for.
Let no one doubt that we shall never abdicate that responsibility.
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The second imperative at this moment in the history of our profession is one that
I discussed briefly in my remarks in San Antonio. I spoke to you then about my vision of
a renaissance of idealism in our profession. I want to speak further about it today.
I firmly believe that our profession is now at a crossroads of the kind described
by Robert Frost in his poem, “The Road Not Taken”. You will recall that the traveler in
the poem had to decide which of two diverging roads to take, and he concluded by
saying: “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
For us, there is a road that, regrettably, is now being less traveled by lawyers. It
is a road that has been made more difficult to travel because of mounting economic
pressures and demands on lawyers’ time. It is the road that the founders of our country
and profession emblazed. It is a road that more of America’s lawyers now need to
travel, with pride and full participation. It is the road marked “public service”. And, as
the traveler in the poem discovered, it is the road that, if taken, can make all the
difference.
Goal X of our Association is the goal that historically has attracted young men
and women to become lawyers. It is: “To preserve and enhance the ideals of the
profession … and its dedication to public service.”
Reliable studies and surveys inform us that the opportunity to perform public
service and contribute to the public good continues to be a key reason that attracts
young men and women to enter the legal profession. The desire to make a difference in
society has attracted to our law schools the best and brightest college graduates that
each generation has to offer.
Young lawyers today begin the practice of law expecting to do well, but also
expecting to find reasonable opportunity to perform public service. In time many of
them become disappointed, however, because the heavy demands of their law practice
severely limit the time and the opportunities to contribute to society.
For veteran lawyers, the pressures and the pace of the practice of law continue
to intrude on the time available for public service.
I say to you today that we must strike a balance in our lives and our practices,
whether large firm or small firm or solo practice. We must find the time – no, we must
take the time – to honor our profession’s long-standing commitment to public service; to
return to our core values – as my daughter Elizabeth returned to her roots – for renewal;
to help people in need; and to participate more fully in our communities.
To be sure, tens of thousands of lawyers now do volunteer their skills and
expertise to the common good. Every day, in every community in America, those
lawyers help people – they help the poor mother who goes to a legal aid clinic for help
with a child custody problem; the senior citizen who needs to obtain benefits to which he
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is entitled from the government; the immigrant who does not know her rights; and
countless others. Those lawyers make us very proud, and we applaud them.
Our challenge at this time in our profession’s history is this: to serve the needs of
the American people by enabling more lawyers to have more time, to do more than they
are now able to do.
It is a concern to me, and should be to you as well, that lawyers today are
becoming less visible in our communities in traditional volunteer public service roles,
such as representing pro bono clients, serving on town boards and committees, serving
non-profit organizations, or otherwise helping their community. The gap between the
public and lawyers has been widening. We must close that gap. The American people
need to see how our profession contributes to society, and to see more of it.
It is time for us to help fulfill the yearning among lawyers – younger and older – to
engage in meaningful public service. We must rekindle, we must nourish, and we must
preserve the idealism and public service desire that young lawyers bring to the
profession. We must be guided by the example of lawyer as public servant given us by
great lawyers such as Robert Drinan and Archibald Cox – and given us daily by scores
of thousands of lawyers throughout America who today are able to serve people and
their communities in the highest tradition of our profession.
And so I say to you that the time is now for the Association and our 405,000
members, particularly our young lawyers, to lead a renaissance of idealism in our
profession. I know from speaking with hundreds of young lawyers during the past year
throughout America that they are longing for such a renaissance. The desire is
unmistakably there. I have heard it, and seen it, and felt it. They are ready. But they
need our help in freeing up the time to engage in public service. And we will now give it.
Let me respond to the question on your mind: How will we go about it?
I have given a lot of thought to that question. And I have some ideas.
I intend to convene a group of distinguished Association leaders and respected
leaders from various sectors of society to consider with me the full magnitude of the
issue, and to make practical recommendations that can be implemented. I believe that
it will involve a number of considerations.
The starting point must be an honest discussion among all of us about what we
have allowed our profession to become, about the current state of the profession, and
about its future role in society if we allow it to continue to drift from our core values, and
away from the American people.
It will involve careful and creative thinking and solutions.
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And in the end, it will involve a commitment on all our part – not just for a year,
not just for the short term, but for generations to come – to make our profession one
that we truly are proud to call ours.
Make no mistake, this is the most pressing issue for young lawyers today; it
directly affects all of us; and it bears directly on the future of our profession.
I believe that our profession can do better. I want our profession to do better.
In this context, I am reminded of what Adlai Stevenson said about his love of
country:
The real patriots are those who love America as she is, but who want the beloved
to be more lovable. This is not treachery. This, as every parent, every teacher,
every friend must know, is the truest and noblest affection.
It is in that spirit that I say to you today, and to lawyers throughout America, that
together we can make the profession we love more fulfilling for lawyers, and more
respected by the people. I am confident that we can do it. But I will need your help
and your leadership in the time ahead. I ask you now that you give it to me.
I conclude with these thoughts.
Yesterday we were inspired by the eloquent inaugural address of President
Robert Grey. He is a leader of great grace, intelligence, and vision, and I am proud of
our close friendship, and of the opportunity to work with him this coming year. My
primary role in the year ahead will be to do everything I can to help President Grey
implement his initiatives, and to begin the planning for next year.
I know that Robert Grey will be a great president of this Association.
As president-elect I will work as hard as I am able for this Association, for our
profession, and for the American people. I will work with our President to help keep the
ship of state on an even keel, moving forward strongly, surely, and confidently. It is on
that ship that we all have booked passage.
I am confident that you and I will do all in our power to add to the excellence, the
effectiveness, and the growth of our magnificent Association.
And we will succeed.
Let no one doubt it.
Thank you, again, for giving me the opportunity to serve; and thank you for
continuing with me on our remarkable journey.
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