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8 Summer 2015 The Mississippi Lawyer could come live with his family in their home for at least the next year and that he personally would find the defendant suitable employment. After recovering his composure Judge Clayton withdrew his order placed the defendant on probation and she left the courtroom with her court-appointed counsel. The defendant found employment and went on to lead an exemplary life later becoming the legal guardian of her grandchildren. Much is wrong with our profession. Fees are too high for most middle and low-income Americans. Lawyers do not enjoy the respect that we had from the public fifty years ago and that loss of stature may be the reason law school applications have decreased. But there is and I believe always will be an aspect of our profession that will remain the same. It is an ideal that is reflected in that true story of that indigent defendant and her court-appointed counsel. That ideal is powered by our belief that doing good is better than doing well. That ideal is based on an understanding that whether we are earning more than or less than we were 5 years ago each of us is blessed with a life of relative luxury with opportunities unknown to many. That with those opportunities come responsibilities to make our local communities our state our country indeed our world a better place. Some call what I am talking about the transformative power of the law. I call it the transformative power of the profession. It is reflected in our ability as lawyers to alter the course of not just an individual but of entire communities by providing a voice for the voiceless. It is an ideal found in lawyers in every part of Mississippi and in every practice area. Some may be focused on civil rights. Others may be working on eco- nomic development or fighting crime. Some of you defend the rights of children. Others defend the rights of the homeless. You work in and with legal aid organizations and nonprofits or are just as likely to work as public servants solo or small firm practitioners or as corporate lawyers. Some of you will spend your entire careers in the courtroom while others will never set foot in one. However we all share a common commit- ment to our self-imposed professional obligation to give something back to our communities contributing our time to those without means and without the breaks that have fallen our way. It is all of those things that allow us to call what we do a profession and not a business. The ideals of our profession will transcend changes in the day-to-day practice of the law. Just as the precepts of the Magna Carta have survived the past 800 years long after LegalZoom Rocket Lawyer and even Google have ceased to exist lawyers in Mississippi and elsewhere will still be providing voices for the voiceless. Few of us will ever ask our families to give up a bedroom or add a chair at our dinner tables for a pen- niless client but each of us will seize other opportunities to prove our worth as professionials. It may be giv- ing up two hours a month to the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project. It may be volunteering an afternoon for Wills for Heroes or A Lawyer for Every Classroom. Or maybe it is simply putting 20 in a Salvation Army kettle with no expectation of taking a deduction. Call it pro bono publico paying it forward or doing unto others . . . . Whatever label one chooses you all do it one way or another. Laws will change the practice of law will change but our professions selfless commitment to those in need will remain constant. That is the message that I hope we can continue to communicate to the newest members of our profession and to the public. Larry Houchins Melanie Henry and the Bars superb staff remain hard at work at the Bar Center ensur- ing that your new officers do nothing to disrupt their well-oiled machine. Watch the weekly Bar Briefs for dates and places of upcoming events and seize opportunities to volunteer your experience and your expert- ise. A small investment will make a huge difference in the life of someone less fortunate. I Welcoming the 110th President of The Mississippi Bar