PROFESSIONALISM IS A quality that is difficult to describe – but, as was said in a very different context, we know it when we see it. When I think about what it means to be a professional, I think about the people whose very personae exemplify professionalism.

I think about Judge Hugh Bownes, longtime judge on the First Circuit who recently passed away. He recognized, with every fiber within him, that we lawyers are engaged in an honorable profession; we are dedicated to helping real people obtain real justice. Judge Bownes could always be counted on, in oral arguments, to raise concerns about the fairness of particular legal positions and to write opinions applying that same sense of fairness. Sometimes he wrote in dissent, but he was always, as Judge Stahl said at a recent Bar meeting, "the conscience of the court." And he always treated everyone with respect, no matter what their station in life.

I think about Chief Justice David Brock, who will be resigning soon from the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He courageously took the lead in making what he viewed as "the right decision" in case after case, even though it was politically unpopular, and, without complaint, he took an incredible amount of heat for doing so. The Claremont decisions are the ones that most people will remember him for, but he followed his conscience on other decisions too numerous to count. In addition, at every swearing-in for new lawyers, Judge Brock extolled the virtues of doing pro bono work on behalf of people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford legal services. This kind of leadership from the highest-ranking judge in the state is no doubt one reason why New Hampshire has one of the highest rates in the country of lawyers participating in the Pro Bono Program. Judge Brock also championed the need for an independent judiciary, a bedrock principle of our system of government that we all must continue to defend against those who would weaken it.

I think about Justice John Broderick, who endured the worst kind of personal trauma and sorrow, yet came back to his standard hard work with the same dedication to serving the cause of justice and with his well-known sense of humor and upbeat personality intact. Every time I see him on the bench or hear him speak in public, it is an inspiration.

And I think about our current Bar president, Russ Hilliard. I met Russ when the federal court appointed him to mediate a major class action that I was involved in. New Hampshire Legal Assistance had sued the state commissioner of Health & Human Services on behalf of a class of children on Medicaid, claiming that the state violated federal law in running its Medicaid dental program for children. The Attorney General’s Office had vigorously defended this lawsuit, which had been going on since 1999.

At the point where Russ stepped in, the parties had spent about a year meeting trying to settle the matter, but we were going nowhere. Russ probably thought this mediation was going to last one day, like his other mediations. Little did he know what a protracted commitment he was embarking upon. The court recorded 18 days that Russ spent mediating our case, but I can tell you he spent far more time than that with us.

We were all amazed at the extent to which (and the speed with which) Russ educated himself about the subject matter of the case and of the details of the terms we were negotiating. He knew what was important to each party and how to propose compromises that would give each as much as possible of what it needed. And through it all, most impressively, Russ maintained his serene, unflappable persona; his incredibly reasonable approach to every issue; his persistence in resolving every detail. Russ tolerated our lawyerly disputes, mollified us, and guided us toward more tranquil shores.

Lo and behold, miracle of miracles, due in large part to Russ’s professionalism, the parties reached agreement on a 36-page consent decree, which the court has preliminarily approved. A needless trial was avoided and all parties will have the certainty of a set of actions that everyone has bought into.

Selfless pro bono efforts like Russ’s are usually not heralded in the press; they are not sensationalized in the mass media, and the public is unaware that lawyers behave in so professional a manner. But I, for one, will never forget Russ’s professionalism nor what he has contributed. And I hope that none of my colleagues in the Bar forgets it either.

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