John P. Nelligan`s Address to General Convocation, University of

Address to General Convocation
University of Ottawa
Sunday, June 9, 2002
John P. Nelligan
Chancellor:
Je suis très conscient de l’honneur que vous me faites. L’école de droit de
l’Université d’Ottawa a été une composante importante dans ma carrière
professionnelle, m’assurant une source d’esprits juridiques jeunes et
intelligents qui ont beaucoup agrémenté ma vie. Je vous suis reconnaissant
d’avoir cette occasion d’adresser la parole aux gradué(e)s de 2002, et de
partager avec eux cette journée.
For this is a day of great joy. The seemingly endless years of study and
sacrifice have now ended, and you are about to enter the real world, with all
its opportunities for fame and fortune. In a few moments you will receive a
document that, in effect, proclaims that you are sufficiently intelligent and
knowledgeable to become members of one of the learned professions—the
legal profession.
Not all of those involved with the law are members of the legal profession.
Early in the last century, the Dean of Columbia Law School, on his
retirement from the law school, became Warden of Sing Sing Penitentiary.
In later years, when he encountered someone he recognised as an alumnus
of one institution or the other, he didn’t quite know what to say. He
developed an all-purpose greeting which was, “My friend, how are you and
the law getting along?”
When I finished my legal studies, fifty odd years ago, I served as Assistant
Director of a Survey of the Legal Profession. I have been an active
participant and interested observer in the changes in the profession that
have occurred since. I feel I can make a modest claim to know what those
changes have been, and, less certainly, predict what changes the future
may bring. Responsibility for the latter rests firmly on your shoulders.
À cette époque, l’avocat typique exerçait seul. Il obtenait la majorité de son
revenu en effectuant des transactions immobilières et en réglant des
successions. Aujourd’hui elle se trouve dans un grand cabinet et elle est
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plus prospère. Elle se charge des problèmes juridiques inconnus il y a un
demi-siècle.
Many of the changes reflect changes in society as a whole. Women now
play an important role in the profession as they do elsewhere in the world of
affairs. Increased government regulation and concern for civil rights have
given rise to complicated laws requiring specialists to administer and
interpret them. Technological changes facilitate detailed research and rapid
response. The law libraries of the world are available at the click of a key.
With the increasingly business-like demeanour of the profession, there is a
danger that we will become so enamoured of our efficiency as a business
that we will forget that we are first and foremost a profession, with
obligations that go beyond those to our immediate client.
We need not look far for examples. In a recent article on the Enron affair,
Mark Sargent, Dean of Villanova University’s law school, made this
comment:
“The real problem is the attitude toward legality that prevailed among
Enron’s independent directors, accountants and lawyers. They may have
asked themselves whether what they and Enron were doing was “legal.”
Very few, however, seem to have asked whether it was right.
….Apparently Enron’s lawyers never realized that it is sometimes necessary
to say “no” to a client. But a lawyer must also say no to arguably legal
actions that seem to the lawyer, as an independent moral actor, to be
wrong, even if that means losing the client. So far as we know, only one or
two Enron lawyers seem to have had the courage to challenge the insider’s
self-dealing. More courage by more lawyers could have made a difference.
…Will something like Enron happen again?…As long as professionals inhabit
only a legal, and not a moral universe, it is sure to happen again.”
L’histoire et la littérature sont comblées d’exemples ou le plaideur est le
défenseur des droits. Assumer ce rôle exige du courage, mais il apporte
aussi une très grande satisfaction personnelle. Plusieurs d’entre vous, je le
sais, accepterez ce rôle. Ce faisant, vous contribuerez à faire croître la
réputation de notre profession.
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But most of you will carry on less glamorous aspects of the lawyer’s work,
advising clients on everyday matters, far away from the public glare. Will
you inhabit a purely legal universe? Or will you have the courage of which
Dean Sargent speaks, and say “no” to a client when the circumstances
require?
Professionalism means many things—scholarship, public service,
independence, collegiality, and integrity. But the greatest of these is
integrity. May you all enjoy many fruitful years in this wonderful profession
of ours, and be able to respond with pride whenever someone asks, “My
friend, how are you and the law getting along?”