State Bar of Georgia's Committee on Professionalism Establishes New Speakers and Writers Bureau
| Jurisdiction | Georgia,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 25 No. 6 Pg. 0028 |
| Pages | 0028 |
| Publication year | 2020 |
State Bar of Georgia’s Committee on Professionalism Establishes New Speakers and Writers Bureau
The State Bar's Committee on Professionalism and the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism have launched a speakers and writers bureau to encourage research, writing and speaking by Georgia lawyers on issues of professionalism.
BY TERRICA REDFIELD GANZY
During orientation for my LLM in Trial Advocacy program at Temple University's Beasley School of Law, we were asked to introduce ourselves to our classmates. One by one, each of us went to the front of the room and told the group our names, where we worked and other mundane details about ourselves. If we managed to project our voices, we thought we had done a good job.
After everyone had spoken, the program's director introduced herself. And it. Was. Glorious. Her movements, her inflection, the story she told about her life left me in awe. I had never witnessed an introduction so powerful. It had not occurred to me that something as simple as a personal introduction could leave such a lasting impression. Her demonstration set the tone for the year of study that followed. We learned to connect with our audience on an emotional level and use our words and delivery to make even seemingly tedious information sing and dance in the minds of listeners.
Professionalism is a pillar that helps uphold the legal profession as a high calling; without professionalism our legal profession falters. It is, therefore, critical to convey ideas about professionalism best practices in a manner that makes attorneys want to sit up and listen. We must leave a lasting impression. The poet William Carlos Williams said, "It's not what you say that matters, but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages." I have found this statement to be true in many contexts, but concerning professionalism, the "what" of your communication is as important as the "how."
To enhance both the quantity and quality of professionalism research and materials (the what) and the number of presenters capable of effectively conveying this information (the how), the State Bar of Georgia's Committee on Professionalism, with staff support from the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, is launching a speakers and writers bureau to encourage...
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