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Integrity (or, Fun with Links)

Sometime last year I was approached by an ambitious student at my alma mater.  She was organizing a TEDx program at the college on the topic of integrity, and asked if I would be one of the presenters.  I gladly agreed to do it, although I had no immediate ideas of what I would talk about.  After thinking about it for several months, I came to recognize an opportunity to brag about the good work lawyers do, in contrast to the negative public image our profession has earned.  Having served as President of the Boston Bar Association, I was privy to a number of worthy projects that many volunteer lawyers engage in every day.  So I enlisted the help of one of the marketing directors at my law firm and the communications director of the BBA to put together some slides for a talk about lawyers with integrity.  I also followed the advice of someone at my firm that I needed to make at least part of the talk personal, yet I didn't want to boast about myself, especially when I knew so many lawyers whose good works far outshone my own.

It finally occurred to me tonight, while sitting at my computer and listening to Van Morrison, that I should post a link to the talk on my blog (if I don't post it, who will?).  So, here it is, a little long, and with one slide (a familiar Shakespeare quote) omitted by the invisible hand of some anonymous editor.  But if you ever get into an argument with someone about whether lawyers are like the targets of an old, reviled Randy Newman song (i.e., having no reason to live - shame on Randy), you might consider showing them this talk, and maybe, just maybe, they'll have to admit that some lawyers do amazing things, with no thought of reward other than the satisfaction of helping those in need.  I hope their work inspires you as much as it inspires me.

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