ALI President Roberta Cooper Ramo of Modrall Sperling was the Ulysses and Schwartz Memorial Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.
Ms. Ramo explained how lawyers were the prime architects of American democracy during its founding; and presently they are the foot soldiers. Recalling events from her fifty-year legal career, Ms. Ramo urged future lawyers to consider the impact of their choices, both personally and professionally.
“Today I’m deeply concerned about attacks on the pillars of our Constitution and the social contracts that flow from its protection,” said Ms. Ramo. “I think some of these attacks, and the language and the popularity with which they are received in some quarters, illuminate a profound and troubling lack of understanding of the constitutional democracy, of our history—and they pose a challenge to the legal profession, sworn to uphold the Constitution. … I fear that democracy will founder from the constant attacks on the independence of the court and the integrity of judges, and the impact of money on electing judges—and the attacks on facts as being optional or illegal or evil when it suits a political need.”
Learn more about the lecture here.