Each generation has its own challenges, failures, and victories. For the current generation of young attorneys, many of our grandparents battled the discrimination, devastation, and sheer destruction that were bred from World War 2. Our parents are the baby boomers, a generation that faced the multifaceted highs and lows of the Cold War. People have asked what will the next generation be faced with as they graduate into the role of policy makers. How will Generation X and the Millennials make their mark on America?
As I have noted in previous articles, our newest generation of attorneys is at times characterized as lazy and entitled. But whether our predecessors in the legal forum like it or not, this generation of young lawyers will be responsible for taking on perhaps the biggest legal challenge in a century—preserving the freedoms memorialized in this nation’s founding documents while battling global terrorism.
I should give some context as to why I chose to address this topic in what I typically feel should be a far more relaxed forum. As I write this column, the most recent terror attacks of Paris and Mali are less than a month old. My first inclination was to write on the subject in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Hundreds of innocent people were killed and, I felt, like many, that we needed to do anything to ensure that we caught those responsible for the attacks, and to prevent future harm.
These emotions were similar to what I experienced on September 11, 2001. On that day, I was a few weeks into my junior year at the University of Connecticut. I remember walking into my class with Professor John Breen, a legend of the UConn journalism department, and hearing him explain what happened. He told us to go home and be with our families. It was one of “those” moments in this nation’s history. This was going to be an infamous day akin to Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, and the Challenger exploding. September 11th hit particularly hard because I had family members in lower Manhattan on that day, including a close relative whose office was located above the 100th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. We fortunately found out several hours into that day that the family member had not yet entered the building when the first plane hit.
In the days that followed, what was initially selfish relief quickly transformed into moments of pain, anger, sadness, and just plain confusion. It was the first time in my “adult life” that our country was scared. I had been fortunate enough to grow up in a time where kids were allowed to take off to the park for 12 hours at a time, and to have been taught history classes where we learned who the bad guys were, as well as and the names of the heroes that defeated them. My childhood was filled with stories of The Miracle on Ice, Ronald Reagan, Rocky Balboa, and the 80s era Mets. Conference realignment in college athletics had yet to occur. I was spoiled with bravado.
As we all know, that changed in 2001. And while I still firmly believe in the principle of American Exceptionalism, it would be dishonest for me to argue that life has not changed dramatically since the War on Terror was first declared. I witnessed first hand what post-9/11 life would be like during my three years of law school. Living in lower Manhattan, I walked past Ground Zero three to four times per day. Although I’d like to pretend otherwise, there was never a time that walk felt normal. You could not even get near my building on Wall Street without having federal guards that carried automatic weapons inspecting your every move. I have no problem acknowledging that during this period of my life I was indifferent to the proposition that my phone or computer could be monitored for communications.
Simply put, I felt like I had nothing to hide, so if giving up personal freedoms kept people safe I was comfortable with the exchange.
But time passes, and our willingness to give up freedoms as citizens tends to ebb and flow with the day’s events. Although society is grudgingly accepts such dramatic swings in life, attorneys, at least in their professional lives, do not have the luxury of being finicky with the application of this nation’s laws. We have a constant obligation to ensure that the rights of our clients are protected.
As lawyers, we have many challenges, but perhaps none will be more important than putting aside our personal feelings when the application of our Bill of Rights collides with the reality of terrorism. Do I hate terrorism? Of course. Do I believe that terrorists should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and punished with whatever means we are permitted under the Constitution? Absolutely. But that does not change the fact that these people, irrespective of how heinous their (alleged) actions are, have the right to representation if charged with crimes. The current generation of young lawyers will be the standard bearers that set standards that will hopefully create a balance of protecting our lives while simultaneously protecting our freedoms.
How much privacy are we willing to give up? How many freedoms are we willing to sacrifice if it ultimately results in a safer world? The true answers to these questions are not black or white. Like our friends abroad now dealing with tragedy, I believe we have to do whatever we can to prevent terror attacks and to protect life. But I also know that too many people have sacrificed their lives in defending the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted as Americans. Those lives cannot have been lost in vain. As legal practitioners, we must protect the ideals established hundreds of years ago by our forefathers.
In the decades to come, today’s young lawyers are the generation that will be tasked with this challenge. It is imperative that we use our skills to guide society through the legal labyrinth that we will unquestionably encounter.