The Hawaii State Bar Association was honored to be addressed last week by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The Justice was visiting Hawaii on the final leg of her tour of the Pacific Rim, which included stops on Guam and Saipan. My Damon Key blogging colleague, Rebecca Copeland, gave a thorough post of the Justice's address here. I will add a few more comments to Rebecca's post.
As she began her address, Justice Sotomayor explained she does not like podiums and preferred standing or sitting at the table where she was located.
Earlier in the day, Justice Sotomayor had been to Farrington High School in Honolulu, to meet with students. Her address was broadcast to fourteen other high schools on Oahu. Justice Sotomayor explained that if she accepts an invitation to travel and speak to groups, she insists on the opportunity to meet with young students because she values education and believes she may be able to make a difference in students' lives.
Justice Sotomayor felt lawyers enter the noblest of professions where they serve people to help solve their problems. In her mind, there is no more worthy profession. She mentioned her brother is a doctor, and doctors are often involved in offering free clinics. But Justice Sotomayor felt the contributions of doctors in such free clinics is over-shadowed by the amount of pro bono work that lawyers perform.
As Rebecca's post explains, the Justice must be selective about accepting invitations because she has so many. She attempts to narrow the scope of her visits by focusing on her two interests: (1) health; and (2) education. For example, she explained she recently traveled to New Mexico where she visited an Indian reservation. There, she was able to discuss health and education goals and accomplishments with tribal members.
In discussing her life-work balance, Justice Sotomayor explained she now works seven days a week, and expects this to continue for a couple more years until she feels grounded. She sees, however, a light at the end of the tunnel when she hopes to enjoy other pursuits, including cooking, theater, reading, playing poker once in awhile with friends, and long bike rides, with an emphasis on "long."
Giving back to the community is a priority for Justice Sotomayor. One important aspect is working with students. She said the simplest of gestures can change one's life. For example, when Justice Sotomayor was in law school, she worked in a law office. A secretary there had a garden and grew vegetables. The secretary brought the Justice a particular vegetable, but Justice Sotomayor did not know what it was or how to cook it. The secretary taught Justice Sotomayor how to cook the vegetable, which happened to be an artichoke. As a result, all of their diets improved and a lasting friendship was formed.
Turning to access to justice, she felt lawyers can work with inner-city students to help with a variety of skills that they may not otherwise acquire. Examples are teaching students job interview skills or the balancing of a checkbook. In the long run, these simple tasks build a foundation and provide a gateway to the access to justice.
Finally, Justice Sotomayor is grateful to all of those who have helped her in her life journey. She noted parents typically give so much of themselves to their children. The same can be said of teachers. The Justice felt we do not realize how much friends, colleagues, and even adversaries in litigation help us. Justice Sotomayor said if she does not know how to do something or the answer to some question, she is not afraid to ask. People are willing to help and no one ever refused to provide assistance.
Justice Sotomayor confided she had learned much about Hawaii during her four day visit. She considers herself fairly educated, but she never knew before her visit about the monarchy that once governed Hawaii. She also was unaware of the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson law school before her visit.
After her inspirational address, Justice Sotomayor worked the room to meet and shake hands with each of the attendees and pose for group photos. As I shook her hand and thanked her for coming, I mentioned I had read the glowing accounts of her visit to Saipan, where I used to live and work, and the great impact she had on the students. Her response was,"I loved Saipan."
We were fortunate that Justice Sotomayor so graciously gave her time to meet with members of the bar and share her insights on so many topics.
