Remarks of Hon. David Kennedy
on
Receipt of the Howard Dana Jr. Award

January 25, 2001
Maine State Bar Association 2001 Annual Meeting

 

 Members of the association, colleagues and friends. -- I am gratified beyond measure to receive this award, and thank the Bar Foundation Board for this singular honor. 

A wise friend of mine once correctly observed that the coin in which we as professionals are really paid is in the respect of those whom we respect.  There are so many of you in this room who I deeply respect, and I truly appreciate this expression of your regard.  It is especially meaningful for me to receive this award, as it is named for my good friend Howard Dana.

 I want to take just a few moments to share some thoughts with you on the nature of  pro bono publico service, and why we engage in it.  For those of you who were here earlier today for Bob Hirshon's excellent speech, and after Judge Hjelm's remarks about Lew Vafiades, you may hear an echo.  I can only say that I hope some thoughts bear repetition.

            Pro bono service takes many forms.  For those of us in the public sector it is often participation on project teams and committees  that work to enhance our justice system or indirect support of pro bono, for example, by acting as VLP lawyers of the day.  For those of you in the private sector, it is all of that and more - you add the direct representation of clients who can't afford legal assistance, whether through the auspices of the VLP, Legal Services for the Elderly or similar organizations, or through private service to a needy individual, service that is unknown to and uncounted by others.  Beyond those activities, we all serve in a myriad of ways on municipal boards, as trustees of our churches, as counsel or directors of non-profit groups, and more.  Why, in a time when increased economic pressures are felt by all of us, do we choose to do these things?  I think there are three reasons.

            First, we do it to help our neighbors and our communities. 20% of the people of our state are eligible for VLP or Pine Tree services.  We all know that at least again as many Maine citizens are not eligible for this help, yet cannot afford our services at the going rates.  Because of the nature of our state, we do not live in economically segregated communities.  The person we help often has a son or daughter in the same school as our children, and that person will be there for us when we next find ourselves in a snow bank, or when the local fire or rescue company responds to our call for help. Governor King correctly makes the point in many of his speeches that Maine is one large small town.  Who knows that better than us, as we sit amongst colleagues we each know as individuals, who hail from every point in the state.  As Mainers, we are all bound to each other by an invisible, interdependent web. Our volunteer service strengthens that web, and deepens the roots of our communities and our state.

            Second, we do it to honor our profession.  Other walks of life, other trades are different. When they gather there is no talk of pro bono service, or of societal obligations, nor are people honored for their efforts in this arena.  The history of this state's bar, of this Bar Association and of the Bar Foundation are very different.  In each of the 20 years I have been practicing in Maine, pro bono service has been at or near the top of our collective agenda.  This broader commitment is what sets lawyering aside as a profession, not just a business, and so our individual acts enrich our entire profession.

            And last, but most certainly not least, we do this work for ourselves.  I see many of you in action in the course of my days, and I know from my observations of you that lawyering is in fact an honorable profession, and that the Maine tradition is to practice with integrity and civility.  I am convinced that most of us chose to become lawyers, at least in part, because we harbor a passion for justice.  We all know that advocacy positions taken in clients' interests and a desire for a just outcome only sometimes coincide.  Your daily work often forces you to cloak that passion for the right under world-weary veneers, but I am not fooled -- I see it in you.  I suspect that you are not fooled either -- you see it in yourselves and your colleagues.   So, in the end,  I think we choose to do this work, we  choose to undertake these extra burdens, to satisfy that hunger for justice; to serve our own highest and best aspirations.   That effort nourishes our own spirits.  It is one of the important things we do that give our lives meaning beyond ourselves.

            Any of these three reasons would be sufficient explanation for our commitment to pro bono service.  Taking them together, we see that it is indeed essential work.

            I thank you again for this award, which I will treasure always.  More importantly, I thank each and every one of you for your volunteer good works, which, taken together, create the atmosphere of service and commitment that both allows this recognition tonight and makes this award so valuable. Thank you.