Like many aspiring attorneys, I chose to attend law school driven by a desire to help others and a conviction that serving one’s community is a moral imperative. After all, the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct’s define a lawyer as “an expert in law pursuing a learned art in service to clients and in the spirit of public service.” Yet the demanding realities of legal education—the pressure to excel in grades, secure prestigious clerkships, and later maintain billable hours—can easily obscure these foundational principles. During my final year, however, my “Lawyers as Leaders” course revealed that true professional fulfillment stems not from achievements alone, but from embracing service to others. Through this transformative course and my extensive pro bono work, I’ve discovered key principles that demonstrate how servant leadership remains vital in our profession—principles that I believe will shape our future as lawyer leaders.
Tag: law
Noblesse Oblige: Privilege and Duty
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.
The Intersection of IP Law and Leadership Skills: Insights for Aspiring IP Professionals
Intellectual Property (IP) law is more than a specialized area of legal practice. It is a dynamic field that cultivates and demands essential leadership skills. As IP law evolves, so must the competencies of its practitioners. Drawing on my experiences as a J.D. candidate at the University of Tennessee College of Law along with my education, research, and practical experiences, I have found that excelling in IP law fosters critical leadership qualities. I have also found that institutions like The Institute for Professional Leadership at UT Law are uniquely positioned to develop these skills. This is a guide crafted for law students, recent graduates, and legal practitioners seeking to enhance their understanding of IP law while simultaneously developing their leadership potential.
Helping Others and Ourselves
When I decided that I wanted to go to law school, my main motivation was that I wanted to help people. At the time, I was a a junior in college, and I didn’t really know what helping people meant yet. I had seen also sorts of documentaries about the Innocence Project and watched movies like “Dark Waters” and “Erin Brockovich.” Helping people at this magnitude seemed so unattainable, so it was hard to picture what helping people would look like after three years in law school.
Leading As Lawyers 