Dr. Godsey, Congressman Chambliss, members of the faculty, families of graduates, graduates and friends:

I congratulate each one of you graduates on having completed law school. Through much study and great effort, you are about to become lawyers. You are about to become members of a privileged class of Americans because as lawyers, you are agreeing to serve your fellow Americans in resolving those kinds of disputes which arise in a free country.

In 1835, a young Frenchman by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville came to this country to study our prison system. He stayed for two years and ended up writing Democracy in America, an epic study of our democratic system. He reached many conclusions, and two apply to you.

First, he said that almost every problem that arises in a democracy will eventually be resolved in the court system. This was true then and it is true now.

Second, he said that there was no aristocracy in America, but that the nearest approach to aristocracy was in the lawyer class. His thought was that lawyers occupy an unusual and favored position in our system.

So now that you are about to become aristocrats, I want to give you a short lecture on behavior. We have an ample supply of lawyers in our country, and some of the lawyers overlook the obligation to serve others. They also distort the privilege of practicing law by converting it into a mere occupation. I was taught in law school that a lawyer had ethical obligations well above the morals of the marketplace.

We are privileged to represent others in resolving their problems, but we have to do so with the public interest in mind. We can advise and counsel and defend clients, but we cannot advise or facilitate activities which violate the law. We live in a very complex world where the channels of commerce depend on tax laws, which are often unfathomable. There is a fine line between tax avoiders and tax evaders. Accounting standards can be evaded with the result that the public loses confidence in our business corporations and in the integrity of the marketplace. Lawyers are the watchmen on the wall in the sense that they should say no to clients who engage in such activities.

One of the first duties of a lawyer is to remain detached in any representation to the end that you do not facilitate the breaking of the law. Always err on the side of doing right. You and only you are responsible for your ethics.

You should attach yourself to a mentor at the earliest possible time. Those of you who will be trial lawyers -- and that will probably be about half of you -- will not have the privilege of being trained as barristers, as would be the case in England, where you would have your training at an Inn of Court. Inns of Court do not teach law, but they teach lawyers how to conduct themselves and how to behave themselves. Once they are certified by their mentors, as knowing how to conduct themselves, they become barristers. If you attach yourself to a mentor who has integrity -- and I can assure you that the older lawyers are always glad to help young lawyers -- you will absorb those qualities of conduct that will make you into respected lawyers.

The rules of conduct that you should follow in your practice can be simply stated.

1. To a client a lawyer owes undivided allegiance and the utmost application of your learning, skill and industry as well as the employment of all appropriate legal means within the law to protect and enforce the interests of the clients. You should not be deterred by any fear of judicial disfavor or public unpopularity. Nor should you be influenced by self interest.

2. To opposing counsel a lawyer owes a duty of courtesy, candor in the pursuit of truth and cooperation in all respects -- not inconsistent with the clients' interests. You also must scrupulously observe all mutual understandings. Your word in your bond.

3. To the courts you owe respect, diligence, candor and punctuality. You should also work to ensure the independence of the judiciary and protect the courts against unjust and improper criticism. In return, you should expect from the judge and the courts that you be treated with respect and that your dignity and independence as an officer of the court be maintained. I have always thought it a mark of great distinction that a lawyer in court can make a statement, as they say, "in his or her place" to the court, without the necessity of being put under oath. This is a mark of our professionalism.

4. In the administration of justice, you must abide by the rules and conform to the highest principles of professional rectitude, irrespective of the desires of the clients or others.

5. To the public you owe the duty of making certain that the system for administering justice is fair and efficient, and you should do what you can to improve the system.

6. To the public you also owe the duty of seeing to it that counsel is made available to those who cannot afford counsel either on a pro bono basis or for such fees as can be afforded.

7. Finally, to our country you owe the duty of leadership. You are in the class "to whom much is given, much is expected."

You should arrange your affairs as lawyers so as to have time to be thorough and diligent. The bane of many lawyers may be having too much practice. You do not serve any client well when you lack the time to be thorough and prompt. You are not required to take every matter that is presented to you, but having assumed a representation, it becomes your duty to finish the representation. Sometimes you will make a bad bargain, but as professionals, you are still obligated to carry out the representation.

Someone asked one of my friends when we were in law school why so many of us veterans were going to law school just after World War II. My friend replied that we were hoping to gain a part of the American dream. In most instances, my generation has found the American dream. We have had good, rewarding lives and we have taken great pride in our profession.

I am proud to be a lawyer. I am proud of the fact that my son is a lawyer, and I am proud of the fact that my grandson, a member of this class, is about to become a lawyer. Being a lawyer is an honorable profession, and our obligation is to maintain it with honor.

I feel certain that all of you will have that attitude toward being lawyers, and I wish you well as you go forth now into the practice. I hope that each one of you will find the American dream.

Thank you.