On Friday, June 21, 2013 I got goosebumps at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting. I have attended quite a number of State Bar conferences and witnessed of the swearing-in of a lot of State Bar Presidents. Frankly, the ceremonies tend to be rather boring affairs that have to offer a free lunch on the conference premises to attract attendance.
I know I wasn’t alone in experiencing the singular sensation, however. The newly installed president had to quell a lengthy standing ovation in order to speak. I hadn’t given much thought to the swearing-in until I witnessed it, and palpably felt its historic significance.
I was there when the first African-American Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas’s swore in the first African-American President of the State Bar of Texas. And the new President is a woman, to boot! As I watched the swearing-in, its significance hit me. I felt compelled to grab my smartphone and snap a picture. It’s not a great photograph, but it captured a great moment.
Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson became the first African-American Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas in 2001. He ascended to the Chief Justice position in 2004, another African-American first. President Lisa Tatum is the first African-American woman and the 133rd lawyer elected as President of the State Bar of Texas.
Following the ceremony, a mixture of pride and hope penetrated me. I don’t even know what I’m hoping for. An expectation of dramatic change in an industry grounded in precedent is too much responsibility to put on one person’s shoulders. I think I’m just hopeful that this is an outward sign of an internal shift that has already taken place.