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FitzGerald Commencement Address to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Media contacts:
Rich Luchette, (216) 797-0931
"Dean Boise, President Berkman, Provost Mageean, Members of the faculty and the Board of Trustees, members of the graduating class of 2014, and all of your family and friends who have joined you here today:
The best commencement speeches are short and memorable. The worst are long and forgettable. I cannot control whether you find this speech memorable, but I can guarantee that it will be compact.
I come from an Irish-American tradition, and there is an old saying that a commencement speaker is like the body at a funeral wake: your presence is necessary for the party, but you aren't expected to say very much.
It is a great and unexpected honor for me to deliver this address to you. In my line of work, I give a lot of speeches, but this is a particular privilege.
21 years ago, I graduated from Cleveland-Marshall, and my wife and I were expecting our first child and trying to figure out how to pay off our tuition bills. 21 years later, our two oldest children will both be in college this fall, and we are trying to figure out how to pay their tuition bills.
Cleveland-Marshall has developed into an outstanding legal institution. Our graduates have represented clients at every level of our court system, from a suburban mayor's court to the U.S. Supreme Court; and all of you are now heirs to that tradition. One of the rarely appreciated aspects of a legal education, is that during your journey through law school, you didn't just learn about the law.
You also gained insight into American history, economics, business, civil rights, social movements, politics, the environment, and technology.; And it is appropriate that your instruction rejected a formulaic approach and covered so many facets of the law, because the law is always in a race to keep up with the times.
Any review of commencement speeches through the years shows that each generation seems to believe that it is in an unusually volatile period of world history. You could search in vain for a commencement address that advised graduates that the world will be the same for them as it was for their parents.
Changes in culture, technology, demographics, wealth and poverty will continue to transform the legal landscape. And it is not so much the course materials you mastered, but the approach to analysis and problem-solving that will serve you well in this ever-shifting environment; and your commitment to the highest ethical standards must be the one thing that will not bend or break no matter what trends are fashionable at the moment.
I know it is popular to believe that high standards are somehow incompatible with a legal career. That myth has been with us for many generations.
As Abraham Lincoln once said: "If in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer."
The development of modern society has made the legal profession necessary. When civilization was young, and simple, there was no need for a legal system, and, hard as it is to believe, there were no lawyers.
I am pausing, because I know that some non-lawyer in this crowd just said to someone next to them "I wish I lived then." But actually, you don't, because it was simple, but lawless. Legal systems were developed to replace the law of the jungle, and to enthrone logic and reason above superstition; And as society continued to develop, and grew more and more complex, lawyers became necessary to help citizens to navigate the legal system.
And please note my use of the term citizen, because as the class of citizens has been applied to more and more people through the centuries, it has created an ever-expanding group of people who were entitled to legal representation.
Lawyers helped to extend the rights of citizens as we developed a broader democracy, and that process continues to the current day. As of this moment, you are in possession of a rare gift, and you get to decide how you will use it, not just for yourself, but for others.
This uniquely broad education has equipped you to do a thousand different things with your degree.
But whatever you do, my suggestion is that you reserve a portion of your legal skill to act on behalf of those who have not shared fully in the benefits of our society.
Justice before the law does not mean an artificial equality of results, but it does mean that every citizen should be guaranteed zealous and competent representation. And that does not exist today, or at least it is far too rare.
We all know that we live in a world where there is an astounding inequality of resources, in the world and in this country, a gap between the privileged and the middle class and the poor which is greater than anything that any of us have seen in our lifetimes.
It was recently estimated that the 82 richest people in the world have more wealth than the bottom 3 and a half billion people.
And it would take willful blindness on our part not to realize that this inequality is manifesting itself every day in our justice system.
The inequities in the criminal justice system are well known. Not just the poor, but the middle class as well has great difficulty in obtaining quality legal representation. Let's not sugarcoat it- those inequities literally result in innocent people being locked up in cages; and it is not just defendants in our criminal justice system experiencing this reality; as a former prosecutor, I can tell you that victims of crime are also frequently denied the support and advocacy they deserve.
Less well-known, and less frequently discussed, are the inequities that exist in the civil arena, where although a persons physical liberty is not in jeopardy, their economic freedom certainly is.
And again, I can tell you as a lawyer who practiced civil law, the doors to the courthouse are frequently closed to those of modest means.
The stark reality is that every day, Americans are losing their homes, their savings, their jobs, sometimes everything they've worked for, because they cant afford someone like you to fight for them.
Organizations like Legal Aid are facing the equivalent of a forest fire of urgent cases, with what amounts to a tiny bucket of water to fight it.
The public sector must do its part to correct these injustices.
The private sector must do its part to correct these injustices.
You must do your part to correct these injustices.
The public sector should, but given its all too frequent dysfunction, I am not confident that it will.
The private sector should, but given its all too common focus on profits over principle, I am not confident that it will.
You must do your part, and given your character, and the legacy of this institution, I am entirely confident that you will.
The bar has made great strides in encouraging pro bono legal representation, and that must be recognized. But it will ultimately come down to not just the design of our systems, but whether the lawyers entering the profession, as you are today, care, not because they are required to care by rule, but because they cannot help but care because of their conscience.
And the clients that you represent will not ask you what your class rank was, or whether you were on the law review, or how often you showed up for Saturday lectures. That is probably a good thing, by the way.
But they will be able to sense, almost immediately, whether you are making their crisis your concern. That cannot be measured on the bar exam, but it is the true measure of a great attorney.
When you take the bar exam, as most of you will, and pass it, of course, you will be sworn in as members of the Ohio Bar, and you will take an oath to uphold the standards of our profession. That will be just the latest in a series of oaths or promises that you have made in your life. Some have been public, and some have been private.
All of you made a promise to yourselves that you would see your quest for a law degree through to the end, and that is a promise, that, today, you have kept.
You now have the rest of your lives to fulfill a greater promise for a more just legal system, and in the years to come, the legal training you refined here will walk together with your commitment to service.
But there is time enough for that. For now, enjoy and celebrate this achievement. Take a week if you can, a day if that's all you have - but just stop, take a moment, thank your friends and family for their support, and congratulate yourselves on the promises you kept and the potential you fulfilled.
I am proud to call you fellow alumni and colleagues. Congratulations."
Rich Luchette, (216) 797-0931
Remarks to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law As Prepared for Delivery
CLEVELAND - On Saturday, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald delivered the commencement address for the 2014 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law graduation ceremony. FitzGerald's remarks, as prepared for delivery, are embedded below."Dean Boise, President Berkman, Provost Mageean, Members of the faculty and the Board of Trustees, members of the graduating class of 2014, and all of your family and friends who have joined you here today:
The best commencement speeches are short and memorable. The worst are long and forgettable. I cannot control whether you find this speech memorable, but I can guarantee that it will be compact.
I come from an Irish-American tradition, and there is an old saying that a commencement speaker is like the body at a funeral wake: your presence is necessary for the party, but you aren't expected to say very much.
It is a great and unexpected honor for me to deliver this address to you. In my line of work, I give a lot of speeches, but this is a particular privilege.
21 years ago, I graduated from Cleveland-Marshall, and my wife and I were expecting our first child and trying to figure out how to pay off our tuition bills. 21 years later, our two oldest children will both be in college this fall, and we are trying to figure out how to pay their tuition bills.
Cleveland-Marshall has developed into an outstanding legal institution. Our graduates have represented clients at every level of our court system, from a suburban mayor's court to the U.S. Supreme Court; and all of you are now heirs to that tradition. One of the rarely appreciated aspects of a legal education, is that during your journey through law school, you didn't just learn about the law.
You also gained insight into American history, economics, business, civil rights, social movements, politics, the environment, and technology.; And it is appropriate that your instruction rejected a formulaic approach and covered so many facets of the law, because the law is always in a race to keep up with the times.
Any review of commencement speeches through the years shows that each generation seems to believe that it is in an unusually volatile period of world history. You could search in vain for a commencement address that advised graduates that the world will be the same for them as it was for their parents.
Changes in culture, technology, demographics, wealth and poverty will continue to transform the legal landscape. And it is not so much the course materials you mastered, but the approach to analysis and problem-solving that will serve you well in this ever-shifting environment; and your commitment to the highest ethical standards must be the one thing that will not bend or break no matter what trends are fashionable at the moment.
I know it is popular to believe that high standards are somehow incompatible with a legal career. That myth has been with us for many generations.
As Abraham Lincoln once said: "If in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer."
The development of modern society has made the legal profession necessary. When civilization was young, and simple, there was no need for a legal system, and, hard as it is to believe, there were no lawyers.
I am pausing, because I know that some non-lawyer in this crowd just said to someone next to them "I wish I lived then." But actually, you don't, because it was simple, but lawless. Legal systems were developed to replace the law of the jungle, and to enthrone logic and reason above superstition; And as society continued to develop, and grew more and more complex, lawyers became necessary to help citizens to navigate the legal system.
And please note my use of the term citizen, because as the class of citizens has been applied to more and more people through the centuries, it has created an ever-expanding group of people who were entitled to legal representation.
Lawyers helped to extend the rights of citizens as we developed a broader democracy, and that process continues to the current day. As of this moment, you are in possession of a rare gift, and you get to decide how you will use it, not just for yourself, but for others.
This uniquely broad education has equipped you to do a thousand different things with your degree.
But whatever you do, my suggestion is that you reserve a portion of your legal skill to act on behalf of those who have not shared fully in the benefits of our society.
Justice before the law does not mean an artificial equality of results, but it does mean that every citizen should be guaranteed zealous and competent representation. And that does not exist today, or at least it is far too rare.
We all know that we live in a world where there is an astounding inequality of resources, in the world and in this country, a gap between the privileged and the middle class and the poor which is greater than anything that any of us have seen in our lifetimes.
It was recently estimated that the 82 richest people in the world have more wealth than the bottom 3 and a half billion people.
And it would take willful blindness on our part not to realize that this inequality is manifesting itself every day in our justice system.
The inequities in the criminal justice system are well known. Not just the poor, but the middle class as well has great difficulty in obtaining quality legal representation. Let's not sugarcoat it- those inequities literally result in innocent people being locked up in cages; and it is not just defendants in our criminal justice system experiencing this reality; as a former prosecutor, I can tell you that victims of crime are also frequently denied the support and advocacy they deserve.
Less well-known, and less frequently discussed, are the inequities that exist in the civil arena, where although a persons physical liberty is not in jeopardy, their economic freedom certainly is.
And again, I can tell you as a lawyer who practiced civil law, the doors to the courthouse are frequently closed to those of modest means.
The stark reality is that every day, Americans are losing their homes, their savings, their jobs, sometimes everything they've worked for, because they cant afford someone like you to fight for them.
Organizations like Legal Aid are facing the equivalent of a forest fire of urgent cases, with what amounts to a tiny bucket of water to fight it.
The public sector must do its part to correct these injustices.
The private sector must do its part to correct these injustices.
You must do your part to correct these injustices.
The public sector should, but given its all too frequent dysfunction, I am not confident that it will.
The private sector should, but given its all too common focus on profits over principle, I am not confident that it will.
You must do your part, and given your character, and the legacy of this institution, I am entirely confident that you will.
The bar has made great strides in encouraging pro bono legal representation, and that must be recognized. But it will ultimately come down to not just the design of our systems, but whether the lawyers entering the profession, as you are today, care, not because they are required to care by rule, but because they cannot help but care because of their conscience.
And the clients that you represent will not ask you what your class rank was, or whether you were on the law review, or how often you showed up for Saturday lectures. That is probably a good thing, by the way.
But they will be able to sense, almost immediately, whether you are making their crisis your concern. That cannot be measured on the bar exam, but it is the true measure of a great attorney.
When you take the bar exam, as most of you will, and pass it, of course, you will be sworn in as members of the Ohio Bar, and you will take an oath to uphold the standards of our profession. That will be just the latest in a series of oaths or promises that you have made in your life. Some have been public, and some have been private.
All of you made a promise to yourselves that you would see your quest for a law degree through to the end, and that is a promise, that, today, you have kept.
You now have the rest of your lives to fulfill a greater promise for a more just legal system, and in the years to come, the legal training you refined here will walk together with your commitment to service.
But there is time enough for that. For now, enjoy and celebrate this achievement. Take a week if you can, a day if that's all you have - but just stop, take a moment, thank your friends and family for their support, and congratulate yourselves on the promises you kept and the potential you fulfilled.
I am proud to call you fellow alumni and colleagues. Congratulations."
