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56 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 275 (2023)
Louis D. Brandeis and the Formation of a Positive Professional Identity

handle is hein.journals/sufflr56 and id is 303 raw text is: 













  Louis   D.  Brandeis and the Formation of a Positive Professional
                                       Identity'




                      R. Lisle Baker2   &  Peter Scott Campbell3


                                   1. INTRODUCTION

   We   are  fortunate  to live in a  country  where   political liberty and  economic
opportunity   are both possible, though   many   injustices remain.  But  we sometimes
forget  that it is the rule of law that  provides  the essential  foundation   for a free
society.  Our  laws,  however,   are not self-executing.   Without   lawyers, the  courts
and  the  administrative   agencies   before  they  practice,  contracts  would   not  be
binding,  harms  could  be inflicted without  remedy,   and officials who  would   abuse
their power   would  be  unchecked.   But  we  need  more  than  competent   representa-
tion from   our attorneys-we need them to have a positive professional identity
that enables  them   to serve both  their clients and the  public interest with  distinc-
tion.
   Our   communities are fraying. Those binding institutions on which we used
to rely to knit our  communities together, such as local media, nonprofit organi-
zations,  and  religious  congregations,   are shrinking   or even   disappearing.4   To
respond,   we  need  to  find ways   to build new   frameworks and ways to help us
preserve   and protect  the public health  and  welfare.  Like  the piers and  girders in



     1. Copyright 2023 by R. Lisle Baker and Peter Scott Campbell. The authors wish to acknowledge the
research assistance of Jessica vandervort, Suffolk U. Law School '24, as well as the helpful comments of re-
viewers Professor Laura Rothstein and visiting Professor Marcia Ziegler of the Brandeis School of Law, Uni-
versity of Louisville, Louisville, KY; Louisville attorney, David Brandeis Tachau; former partners in the Boston
law firm of Nutter, McLennan & Fish, which grew out of Brandeis & Warren, attorneys Robert Fishman, and
Michael Bohnen, the latter of who graciously shared his own collection of Brandeis-related writings; Brandeis
biographer, Melvin Urofsky; and Christina Lee Brown, whose interest in the Brandeis legacy helped spark the
idea for this article. Any errors, however, are the authors' responsibility.
     2. Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA, and visiting Researcher, Brandeis
 School of Law, 2021-23; lbaker@suffolk.edu, 617-573-8186; A.B. Williams College, 1964; LL.B. Harvard Law
 School, 1968; Master of Applied Positive Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 2016.
     3. Technical Services Librarian and informal custodian of the Louis D. Brandeis papers at the Brandeis
 School of Law, and author from time to time of articles about Brandeis and Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan,
 https://brandeiswatch.wordpress.com/.
     4. See, e.g., Erin Karter, As Newspapers Close, Struggling Communities Are Hit Hardest by the Decline
 in Local Journalism, NW. Now (June 29, 2022), https://news.northwestem.edu/stories/2022/06/newspapers-clos-
 e-decline-in-local-journalism [https://perma.cc/VB73-7473] (examining decline in local media sources and effect
 on grassroots democracy); Drew Lindsay, 'Collapse' in Small Gifts Poses Threat for Nonprofits as Recession
 Looms, Report Says, CHRON. PHILANTHROPY (Oct. 17, 2022), https://www.philanthropy.com/article/collapse-in-
 small-gifts-poses-threat-for-nonprofits-as-recession-looms-report-says [https://perma.cc/H5XC-WDF9] (noting
 decade-long trend of decreased support for charitable organizations).

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