Fall 1996 – Issue 50 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

Hurlbut Teaching Award
Sullivan Speaks of
the Long Haul
Kathleen M. Sullivan, the 1996 Hurlbut Award
winner and Commencement speaker, had this
to say to the graduating class:
The tasks ahead. "You will be among the first
lawyers of the 21st century. To you will fall the
work of organizing the Int met, controlling
world climate change, saving the M dicare trust
fund, running n wly global businesses, checking
the centrifugal forces of ancient tribalisms in international
affair , and reconciling th respective
roles of government and markets at home."
The lawyer's role. "I urge you to remember that
the degree you pick up today represents a code of
conduct as well as a technical license. It represents
a commitment to professionalism and to
process-sometimes long and frustrating proce s,
during which you think your patience will explode.
But remember that you're in it for the long
hau!."
The ultimate reward. "Your accomplishments
in the future will be those of a lifetime measured
as a whole. When you look back at your life from
the other end, you will ask not just how many glittering
ornaments adorn your resume, or how
clever your arguments have been.
"You will ask if you were brave and bold and
true and just. You will ask whether you sold your
great skills and greater talents to the highest bidder,
or shared them with some of those in greater
need. You will ask whether you took responsibility
for your actions, or blamed them on someone
else's snafu. You will ask whether you took a
higher road than your enemies, and whether you
treated those less powerful than you as you would
be treated yourself. Only then will you know that
good conscience is the only sure reward. Please
try to remember that in the meantime." •
Aboye: Class President Andrea Picciotti (right) with fellow grad
Michelle Bonner following the ceremony.
Below: Amy Spence and well·wisher.
24 STANFORD LAWYER FALL 1996