A personal honor to serve The Florida Bar.

• Author: Angones, Francisco R.
• Position: President's page

This has been a wonderful year; there is nothing I would have rather done these past 12 months than serve as president of The Florida Bar. It has been one of the best experiences of my life, as important to me as any of my personal and professional milestones, which include becoming an American citizen and a lawyer.

My main goal has been to support and encourage lawyers to take pride in our profession. Lawyers, together with an independent judicial system, are truly the guardians of our liberties.

These liberties are incorporated as their own by successive generations of Americans born in our country and by immigrants reaching America in search of basic freedoms. By so doing, they guarantee the continued existence of the concepts and practices of democracy and equality in our nation. Thus they, together with lawyers and the judiciary, guarantee the continued protection of innate human rights, characterized as human and/or civil rights.

Professionalism and ethics are the cornerstones on which we build our daily practice to protect these rights; these cornerstones are requisite to our ability to advocate and support the rule of law. Florida lawyers share a dedication to protect and defend our clients' and our communities' rights. In order to do this, it is essential that we help ensure open access to the courts, make legal services available to all, work toward an independent and properly funded legal system, grow professionally as lawyers, and mentor beginners in our profession with the goal of diversity as the norm. All of these fundamentals will enhance public perception of the role of the lawyer, which will conform to the reality of a truly great profession.

The members of The Florida Bar have been the beneficiaries of many material and spiritual blessings. We come from different countries, diverse backgrounds, and dissimilar personal situations; we practice a variety of specialties. But we share a love of our profession, our devotion to the law, and a dedication to the rule of law for the good of our country, communities, and fellow Americans. Our obligation as lawyers is to extend this inclusiveness to all without regard to ethnicity, race, sex, religion, or other. To those that much is given, much is required.

The practice of law cannot be viewed primarily as a vehicle for financial success, rather than helping others solve their problems as amicably as possible. Consider the joy that Mahatma Gandhi felt when he described how he...