Don’t Be An Empty Suit

Every four months for the past fifteen years, I’ve avidly read the Alumni Notes section of my alma mater’s publication,the Cornell Law Forum to see what my classmates have been up to since graduation.  In addition to alumni notes, the Forum publishes a couple of articles by professors and students.  While some have been moderately interesting, none have really captured my attention until now.

This month’s issue includes Amie Ely’s (Cornell Law ’05) convocation speech entitled In search of Truth and Justice – Without Becoming An Empty Suit.  The speech describes Ely’s own personal quest for truth, as she sought to uncover the story behind her father’s murder in 1979 and his killer’s eventual acquittal, and justice, in embarking on a career in law to change or improve the system that failed her family.  But more powerful than her personal journey is Ely’s reminder to all of us of our responsibility as lawyers:

At the same time, law is built on what came before it – on precedent.  And so are we.  Without knowing where we’ve been, we can’t chart where we’re going.  Without remembering what drew us to the law, and feeding that fire no matter where we go, we risk losing a sense of purpose, of urgency and of grace[…]

We matter.  In our hands, we will soon hold other people’s lives and hopes, and their last chance for justice.  Let’s hold on to what brought us here, honor what came before us and do all that we can to never become empty suits.

Have you fulfilled what you set out to do when you graduated from law school?  Are doing work that makes a difference?  Or are you simply shuffling papers, generating heaps of billable hours and biding your time in a job that can be performed by any other suit?  Maybe you started out with the best of intentions but somehow lost your way.   If any of these apply (and even if they don’t), read Ely’s entire speech (available online in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of the Cornell Forum, pp. 13-15) and maybe you’ll be inspired to make 2006 different.