A Speech on Appreciation
October 1, 2015 I Tennessee Bar Journal I William L. Harbison
This September, I attended the annual meeting of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services in Murfreesboro. One of the great benefits of serving as an officer of the Tennessee Bar Association is the privilege of going to meetings of various bar groups around the state and around the country. This particular meeting was especially interesting and inspiring.
At a dinner in Murfreesboro, we heard from Ramon Arias, who has spent a lifetime representing migrant workers in California. Perhaps coincidentally, I had watched the Edward R. Murrow documentary “Harvest of Shame” not long before the meeting. Murrow’s work shed light on the nearly medieval conditions of farm workers in the United States in his 1959 report, originally broadcast on CBS News. As I listened to Ramon report on the improvements and progress made for his clients through the legal system, I was struck by the similarity between Murrow’s great reporting and Ramon’s great lawyering.
Our bar in Tennessee has a close connection with effective representation of the poor and others who do not have the ability to speak for themselves. Throughout my career, I have looked up to examples like Harris Gilbert, Charlie Warfield, Ashley Wiltshire and other lawyers who have made public service a significant part of their lives. And our own Buck Lewis has pioneered new ways of thinking about the issues, especially with Online Tennessee Justice (http://onlinetnjustice.org/). At the American Bar Association meeting in Chicago this year, I learned that Buck’s ideas are being used as a model now around the country.
I know firsthand the pressures under which we all operate as lawyers. But I also know the feeling of accomplishment that comes with helping someone solve a problem that the client could not have solved without help.
I wanted to use this month’s column to thank, publicly, lawyers who help with legal services organizations, indigent representation and other very often unacknowledged contributions to help make the system work.
Being grateful, and feeling a sense of appreciation, is the best way I know to stay happy in law practice over the long haul.
