Inside: - Baton Rouge Bar Association

letter from
the president
BY PRESTON J. CASTILLE JR.
Birds of a feather
PHOTO BY DARIA DOYLE
During orientation at Tulane Law School, John Kramer gave us the usual 1L speech: “Look
to your left, look to your right, you will probably be sleeping with the person next to you by the
end of the year.” What! What happened to the Kingsfield speech from The Paper Chase: “Look
to your left, look to your right, because one of you won’t be here by the end of the year”? While
Dean Kramer’s version was both funnier and more disturbing on many
levels, he explained that the law school had raised its standards and did
not expect the attrition that terrified most students. He then began to
boast that our class not only had the highest academic credentials of any
class in the history of the law school, but was the most diverse.
I recently had lunch with Chancellor Jack Weiss, and he proudly
touted a similar statistic about the LSU law school. The SU law center
student population is nearly half white, and the Loyola law school
recently selected its first female dean – the first of any Louisiana law
school. In fact, women today make up more than half of all law school
student enrollment. It is safe to say our Louisiana law schools aren’t our
fathers’ law schools any more.
All too often, we avoid differences and miss opportunities to grow
personally and expand our understanding of others. This month we
nationally celebrate our country’s great heritage of diversity and welcome
all four of our Louisiana law school deans and chancellors. The deans and
chancellors personally reflect the cultural metamorphosis our country is
experiencing in terms of gender, racial and religious diversity. To share
Preston J. Castille Jr.
our experience, we are co-hosting our February luncheon and symposium
with the Baton Rouge Association of Women Attorneys and the Louis A.
Martinet Legal Society.
I am often asked, “Why do we need specialty bar associations like Martinet and the BRAWA?
Preston, if the goal is to become a more united society, why then do we have these separate
organizations and institutions?” Aaahh, the great paradox! While this may be a great question
for our panelists this month, I usually respond by saying, “For the same (or at least similar)
reasons we have a Construction Law Section, a Family Law Section, a Young Lawyers Section,
a Bankruptcy Law Section and practice groups and sections in our firms.” That is, while still
part of the larger organization, we naturally have different interests and issues specific to our
smaller groups. And, that’s not a bad thing… We should view these different organizations as
an opportunity to make the entire bar association better, as we should embrace sub-groups of
our society. In other words, while it’s true that “birds of a feather [sometimes] flock together,”
lawyers and people (arguably, higher life forms) have the ability to have sub-groups (committees,
sections and specialty bars, as well as different races, genders and religions) operate successfully
and still function comfortably as an integral part of the greater organization and overall society.
When birds flock together, it often provides an important nurturing and mentoring function
for others. Think of our own immediate and extended families. Those smaller groups provide the
support to help us build the skills and foundations for operating in the larger society. This month,
we welcome all of our law school deans and chancellors. We also celebrate all of our “flocks”
and hope their growing strength will make our larger bar association and society stronger, more
productive and simply a better place.
February 2011 Around the Bar 5