Nicole J. Benjamin
Adler Pollock & Sheehan PC shareholder,
Rhode Island Bar Association president
I am a lawyer; not a psychologist. But every life experience I have had has led me to believe that people need people. That is why relationships and connectedness built through professional organizations are so important.
There is an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The pandemic challenged the way we think about togetherness. By necessity, it caused us to go fast alone. It is time now for communities to come together again, and together we will go far.
We are better together; we are happier together; and we are more successful together.
As lawyers, we carry the weight of our clients’ heaviest burdens along with our own. While we have long emphasized well-being, we sometimes overlook the strong, documented correlation between connectedness – the kind of connectedness fostered by professional organizations such as bar associations – and well-being.
Fulfilling lawyers’ intrinsic need to feel connected – to be an engaged member of a community and to feel a genuine sense of belonging – can have a positive effect on lawyers’ happiness and success, and in turn, on civility in the profession.
As bar president, I have one ask of the more than 6,500 members of the association. Be the community for a young lawyer that you were to me. The future of our profession depends on it.