Last week I had the privilege of writing for Lawyers as Leaders. In my prior post, which you should read, I proposed a working definition for leadership as a social process defined by relationships wherein individuals work together to achieve a goal that would otherwise be unachievable on their own. Everyone in an organization or civil society engages with that process differently. This week I am returning to build off that definition and the responsibilities it imposes on our profession.

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I am a bit of a Francophile. At my high school, students were required to choose a foreign language to study. I decided to learn French. While studying one day, I came across the term “Noblesse Oblige.” After googling the unfamiliar phrase, I discovered that Noblesse Oblige, or noble obligation, referred to a cultural tradition in pre-1790s France wherein the nobility practiced a duty of generosity to their serfs. In other words, “privilege entails responsibility.”[1] While modern America has many differences from pre-revolutionary France, except perhaps the continual rise of wealth inequality[2], the concept of Noblesse Oblige remains applicable to the profession of law.