lawyer at law

lawyers are childlike. aren't we? well, look at us! we are always noisy. we are always talking. we always have an opinion, even if it's not well-grounded. well, we are always opinionated, and for those of you who had a chance

to visit the courthouseand be present in court for a trial, you might have also noticed one very particular elementin the lawyers' practice: they ask questions, way too many questions. so, with this rather negative referenceto my own profession, you might well ask how come i became a lawyer myself. and, you know, i could saythat it was almost by chance.

i wanted to be an actor, like one of my granddads. i loved playing, i loved drama in my school, i was prepared to be a historian. i spent seven great years, seven summers, in archaeological expedition schools under the leadershipof the great historians

stefänija urtäne and vladislavs urtäns, digging in latgale,in aglona, in madeläni, the old town of latgalian tribe. when, after these seven years, i came close to graduatingfrom high school, i thought: "well, i am prepared to pass the exams and enter the history school," when my motherand my girlfriend suggested:

"well, why don't you try goingfor the same exams, but for the law school?" because, you know, at that time — and it was 1989 — the law school didn't differ muchfrom the history school. it was too abstract, there were many subjectsrelated to history, so i thought: "i'm not giving up too much, if i'm going to passmy exams at the law school."

so i did. after i entered the law schoolwith a rather good score, i gathered with all my friends from the archeology circle, from the young archaeologists association, and went to see our mentor,our teacher vladislavs urtäns, who was rather ill then, in the summer of 1989. it was his last summer.

we all went to see himto the gaiä¼ezers clinic. he was fragile, and we saw that his days were numbered. and we thought,"well, we need to cheer him up." he was our moral authority, he was our tutor, we learned a lot from him. he has, after all, a phd in history, he was an archaeologist,a famous archaeologist in latvia,

and he had a tough life. he was actually sent twice to siberia, just before the second world warand immediately after, and the only reason wasthat he was too [open-minded] too open [in his opinions], and he dressed like a bourgeois — at least some might have thought thenthat he dressed like a bourgeois. we went to see vladislavs urtäns, and all of us started [to talk about]what schools we were going to learn at.

then, when my turn came — you know, there were historians, there were peoplewho were studying foreign literature — i said with pride, "i'm going to be a lawyer." his reaction was shockingly crushingfor me, he was so sad. he didn't elaborate,he didn't explain why, but then i thought that obviously this is oneof those [pieces of] advice

that you don't say out loud, you need to understand it, it's not going to be explained. and with the really hard lifeof vladislavs urtäns in the totalitarian state, — the state that was dominatedby unjust laws and dishonest lawyers — his attitude towardsthe law school and lawyers might have been as harsh. [so all my life],

[since 25 years ago], i've tried to live by and always have in my practice,this vladislavs urtäns' test, whether i am doing well and whether he would look at me and say: "it's a shame you became a lawyer." well, i had a kind of a compromiseduring my university years. i thought: "well, i'm goingto stay in the university." i was invited to stay and helpa professor to prepare lectures,

and then, later on, lecturephilosophy of law and legal ethics. i thought it was perfectly in line with what i [thought] a proper, good,and honest lawyer should do. until one very nice summer day, when i was barefoot, with my leather backpack,t-shirts, shorts, and crossing the town square in the old part of riga, in vecrä«ga, when i suddenly saw [one of] my classmates,

a course matewho was a great friend of mine. we were both kind of revolutionaryin the law school, against all the existing standards,against the system, and [now], suddenly, i see himin a black, dark suit and black tie. i was like: "hey, you look likeyou've [just had a] court case, "and it seems that it was successful." he said: "yes, indeed. moreover, i've gotmy own law firm. come join me!" and i said: "law firm?no, no, no, that's not for me. i'm going to be an honest lawyer.

"i'm not going to havea [law practice]." (laughter) he said: "let's go and prove that you can be an honest lawyer, practicing not just legal rules, but also doing justice within a private, commercial law firm." then i thought, "why not?i'm going to try." and, you know, one of my first cases

was a case which i had to takebecause it was mandated. you all knowthat in our latvian constitution we have article 92 which suggests that everyone has the right to a lawyer, to a qualified lawyer, to an advocate. so even those people who cannot affordto pay for legal services, have a right to claim a lawyer when they need one. so i was assigned to defenda minor in a criminal case

which was, to put itin simple terms, rather blunt. a young boy — well, he's not a boy, he was a teenager,obviously a rather revolutionary one — broke into a parking lot, opened up the hoodand took out a car battery, which was qualified as theft, and not just as a [common] theft but theft under aggravating circumstancesfrom closed premises. because if the car is locked,

the lawyers would sayit's a closed premise. i examined the case, and i went on,started to defend the guy, and then, luckily enough, one day his brotherentered the courthouse. he came from a rather difficult family, and his childhood wasn't the best one, but then his elder brother talked to me, and i realized that he worksin a car repair shop.

so then, i opened up my law book and said: "well, instead of applying a sanctionto this young boy who made this crucial mistake which could detrimenthis whole future life, why don't we have himunder the custody of his elder brother who is actually workingin a car repair shop? effectively, what [he proved] by opening up the hoodand stealing the battery was that he loves cars so much

that when you'll put himin a car repair shop, that is going to be his place." well, the court was surprised, the prosecutor's officedidn't expect this move, but then they all said,"well, why don't we try?" i think this first case showed meone of those great tools, one of the values which, i think,is important for a lawyer's practice. it is 'trust your client', and even if it's doubtful,

even if you don't entirely agree to what has happenedand why that has happened, do trust your client. this might sound idealistic, but frankly speaking, idealism is somethingthat we very often miss. and for this reason, this is another value,another important element, in the lawyer's practice.

you have to be an idealist, you have to believe in things that most of the people don't believe in. when last year, november 21st came to riga, you all rememberthat it was a great tragedy to us. the supermarket in zolitå«de collapsed, the roof crashed over the headsof more than 50 people who remained buriedunder the ruins of the supermarket.

one of the first to react was the advocates association,the latvian bar association, which immediately promisedto offer free of charge, legal assistance to those people who lost their loved ones, to those who suffered in this tragedy. and, even now, when you look at the websiteof the latvian bar association, you will see that there aremore than 150 people, — this is three times as muchas there were sufferers —

three times as much lawyers who are ready to providetheir legal services free of charge, without asking any moneyfor what they will do for those people. you might think, this isa great opportunity, but then again, think about thosethey are going to fight against. those are superpowers, companies with enough cash to [hire]the best of my colleagues in town. so this is and this is going to bea very hard battle. and for the people in this battle,

they are doing it out of a strong sense of idealism. so here is the third important value: go on, be active, even if it hurts, even if there are hard times. and this is something that helps not just lawyers, but, i think, all of us to wake up every morning and say, "well, i'm here,and i'm here to help people." when i had a little chat few days ago,with my youngest daughter zelda,

she said: "daddy, you know, you arethe best daddy one can have." i said: "no, why? why do you say so?" then she said: "because, you know,you are like a child." and i was going to say: "well... should i be happyfor this or should i laugh?" but then i put these two things together, i thought: "yes!this is exactly how i feel." a child — a child trusts people, even if there might not beproper grounds for that.

a child is full of idealism, he or she believes that the worldreally is a great place, a child is ready to stand up after he had hurt his knees, and go on, and be active again. so i wish for the lawyers, for my colleagues, and for everyone hereto be like a child. be cheerful, be open, trust people, be an idealist,

and be active,even if no one is expecting this. thank you. (applause)