Friday, September 8, 2017
Legal History: President Celebrates Young Lawyers' Commitment to "Fundamental Balance" Under "The Rule of Law"
Today a friend dropped off an interesting item of legal history, a news article about the merger of two law school student organizations, Phi Delta Delta and Phi Alpha Delta (often referred to as PAD). The merger occurred at an annual convention that was somewhat fraught, as some of the students were struggling with the notion that one organization could serve both male and female law students. The U.S. president, once a member of PAD himself, offered words of encouragement:
Today in America the opportunities are greater than ever for young people to find profound meaning in their lives through the practice of law. The processes of justice and of legal practice are going through a period of intensive reform. This will mean new challenges for the new minds entering our profession and new scope for ingenuity, imagination and hard work.
At the same time, there has never been a greater national need for capable attorneys who, while breaking fresh ground, are staunchly committed to the basic principles of our constitutional government. For while law is an avenue of change, it is also an instrument for defining and directing change in the interests and for the security of all of our people. The rule of law, among much else, ensures that innovation and stability are in fundamental balance. The gains which our society makes are therefore not transient, but enduring.
As history would prove, this writer lost his own way in the law, but, eventually, the system of checks and balances worked to restore order for "the people."
The date on the White House correspondence was August 4, 1972. The signature was that of President Richard Nixon.