‘The Hard Things Did Not Break Us’: Outgoing President Michelle A. Behnke hailed the association’s ability to meet challenges
Acknowledging the challenges the legal profession, the country and the American Bar Association have faced over the past several years, outgoing ABA President Michelle A. Behnke said each challenge has strengthened the association’s ability to meet whatever comes next.
“The hard things did not break us,” Behnke said during the ABA House of Delegates meeting at the ABA Annual Conference in Chicago. Behnke delivered the remarks to the ABA’s policymaking body at the conclusion of her yearlong term.
Behnke said history and precedent remind us that difficult questions “can be reasoned through, that institutions can endure and that principled people have faced hard moments before.” Every generation of lawyers has been called upon to answer unprecedented questions, she said.
“Our current moment is only the most recent chapter in a long and complicated story of a nation born out of friction,” Behnke said. “So what we face is challenging but not wholly unprecedented.”
To meet today’s challenges, Behnke said, the association has evolved and adapted to address fast-changing legal issues nationwide. “But we have remained anchored by the principles that define both this association and our profession.”
She said the ABA’s commitment to its principles and to continuous improvement have shaped its discussions around diversity, equity and inclusion—a key issue facing the association today.
The conversations have not always been easy, she said. “When we think about diversity, equity and inclusion, I think about the value of having a variety of lived experiences engaged in our profession. I think about strengthening all lawyers. I think about having all lawyers bring their whole selves to the practice of law, helping to solve the clients’ problems with creativity, intellect and wisdom.”
Describing attorneys’ law school training to ask questions, examine facts, test assumptions and look beyond the obvious answer, Behnke said: “We are trained to seek better understanding because better understanding leads to better judgment.
“If we truly want to strengthen our profession, improve outcomes and better serve our clients and communities, then we must continue learning from different experiences, different perspectives and different voices,” Behnke said. “Eliminating bias and enhancing diversity improves the work of us all. Diversity and excellence are not mutually exclusive. We have to reject that false choice.Working to eliminate bias and enhance diversity is not separate from the rule of law. It is part and parcel of the rule of law.”
Behnke also said she has learned firsthand that the rule of law is not self-executing. Every generation is asked to renew it, she said, noting that lawyers can advance the rule of law outside the courtroom by mentoring young lawyers, offering the underserved access to legal help, serving as poll workers or answering questions through ABA Free Legal Answers.
“And sometimes advancing the rule of law looks like speaking up for an independent judiciary or an independent legal profession,” she said.
Saying she strongly believes in the association’s strategic plan, Behnke said the “greatest advancements come when we build on our progress together rather than begin again every year.
“A strategic plan is more than a document,” she said. “It is a commitment to think beyond ourselves. It is an acknowledgment that stewardship sometimes means planting trees whose shade we may never sit under ourselves.”
Behnke said she is confident in the association’s future. “Not because I believe the road ahead will be easy. It won’t be. But because I believe and I have seen that when the work is hardest, lawyers choose service over indifference. Thoughtfulness over certainty. Collaboration over division. And purpose over convenience.
“The future will undoubtedly ask more of us,” she said. “It always does. Justice is never finished. Neither is the work of strengthening our profession. Neither is the work of strengthening one another. And that is exactly why I leave office hopeful.”
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
