Gass Weber Mullins-Litigation Counsel of America Legal Professionalism Award

The legal profession has a noble past and an enduring charge. The practice of law is a secular calling with its own end: the attainment of wisdom that lies beyond technique. The former dean of Yale Law School, Anthony Kronman, called it “A wisdom about human beings and their tangled affairs that anyone who wishes to provide real deliberative counsel must possess.” This practical wisdom, or prudence, is the exercise of good judgment, particularly about the goals or ends of proposed actions, whether for the client or citizens in general.

Lawyers have to think objectively about their role in practicing law, without bias or prejudice.  That thinking makes the lawyer a wise deliberator, allowing him or her to perceive the contours of the legal and factual disagreements, the current state of the law, and the outlines of potential resolutions to the dispute.  The boundaries to the lawyer’s advice— the limits to the possibilities to be considered, the options to be presented—come from understanding not only the facts and the law, but more importantly, the higher role of counselor, steward of the law, and peacemaker.  With distance from a problem, the lawyer can counsel in the best interests of the client as well as the law.  The lawyer’s conduct is based upon traditional virtues of truth, honesty, and trust. Those virtues, and thus the lawyer’s ethics, do not change based upon circumstances. The lawyer’s role as an officer or steward of the law is just as important as his or her role as advocate.  In the ideal, the attorney is more than just a professional advocate for his or her client.  The ideal lawyer, in a significant sense, is a good man or woman. Joined with this practical wisdom is public-spiritedness, a devotion to the public good reflected in an active involvement in public affairs.

Alexis de Tocqueville advanced an exalted view of the American lawyer.  For de Tocqueville, lawyers brought stability to a turbulent society.  Lawyers mediated between the government and the people.  Lawyers assumed a responsibility for the common good through public life, for which they were particularly suited by training and cast of mind. De Tocqueville wrote: “In America there are no nobles or literary men, and the people are apt to mistrust the wealthy; lawyers consequently form the highest political class and the most cultivated portion of society. . . . If I were asked where I place the American aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation that . . . it occupies the judicial bench and bar.”

There are many entities which recognize lawyers with superior skills and techniques and some by the process of election accord them designations such as Fellow and Diplomat e while others use adjectives such as “Best” and “Super”. Few if any entities celebrate the acts of lawyers which are for a a public good greater than the interests of their clients.

To honor lawyers who have used their talents of practical wisdom and, public-spiritedness, who have mediate d between the private, public and the government al interests, with appropriate detachment detachment, without losing passion ate representation of their clients, and who preserve the traditions of civil institutions for a greater societal good, Gass Weber Mullins-Litigation Counsel of America Professionalism Award has been established. It will be awarded not as a matter of course. Each year a call for nominations will be issued in the summer with the announcement of the awardee in November. The event celebrating and presenting the award will take place in the early spring of each year.

The inaugural award will be announced in the next issue of the Commentary. Future nominations should be sent to J. Ric Gass at Gass Weber Mullins LLC, 309 N. Water St., Milwaukee, Wi 53202