Michigan Bar Honors Richard Bernstein for Outstanding Pro Bono Legal Advocacy

Attorney Richard Bernstein’s Speech Accepting John Cummiskey Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Legal Advocacy

State Bar of Michigan Awards Ceremony

September 17, 2008

The Talmud teaches that if you can impact one person’s life, you’ve done nothing short of changing the entire world.

I got a call a day ago from a nurse at University of Michigan Hospital, who told me how excited she was because for the first time U-M Hospital could take severely disabled, and very sick children to University of Michigan football games. She told me how easy it was to navigate the stadium, to get in and out, to get into the disability seating. She told me how excited these young patients were to finally be able to attend a football game, to not have to sit by themselves, to not have to be alone, but rather to be with the entire crowd, to be with all the other fans, to hear the noise, to feel the excitement, to be a part of the community.

I can’t thank the State Bar of Michigan enough for not only this award, but for something quite deeper, for giving me the ability and the privilege to practice law.

I love being a lawyer. I love our profession. I love who we are. I love what we represent. I love the impact that we’re able to have. I love the difference that we as lawyers are truly able to make.

It’s through the law that you understand one cardinal and crucial imperative. That the blessing of adversity is what gives rise to true purpose. And it’s with purpose that passion is inspired. And it’s through passion that one can truly have a genuine and sincere connection with others and with their Creator.

And once that creation and once that feeling are established, you’ve achieved the true measure of life. You’ve achieved a true sense of genuine and sincere fulfillment.

I conclude with the old story of a pessimist and an optimist who once met on the street. And the pessimist said, “Why, oh why, is the world so harsh? Why, oh why, is the world so difficult?” To which the optimist responded by saying, “I’ve always believed that the world is what we choose to make it.”

We as lawyers, as counselors, and as officers of the court, have that ability to shape and decide just what kind of world we want to live in. Because it is through the law, that we can do what is hard, but achieve no less than what is truly, truly great.