Mission Statement

III. Mission Statement

At the behest of Chief Justice Benham, the Commission developed a Mission Statement to define its reasons for being now and into the future.  In the drafting process, the Commission was guided by the desire to keep the Mission Statement clear and understandable, brief enough to keep in mind, having a primary focus on a single strategic thrust, but broad enough to allow for flexibility in implementation.  At its May 31, 1996 meeting, the Commission unanimously adopted the following Mission Statement and accompanying Calling to Tasks:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism is to support and encourage lawyers to exercise the highest levels of professional integrity in their relationships with their clients, other lawyers, the courts, and the public and to fulfill their obligations to improve the law and the legal system and to ensure access to that system.

Calling to Tasks

The Commission seeks to foster among lawyers an active awareness of its mission by calling lawyers to the following tasks, in the words of former Chief Justice Harold Clarke:

1. To recognize that the reason for the existence of lawyers is to act as problem solvers performing their service on behalf of the client while adhering at all times to the public interest;
2. To utilize their special training and natural talents in positions of leadership for societal betterment;
3. To adhere to the proposition that a social conscience and devotion to the public interest stand as essential elements of lawyer professionalism.