The graduating class voted to invite Armstrong to deliver the commencement address.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Empathy is what makes good lawyers great, Gov. Kelly Armstrong told 71 graduating law students and an auditorium packed with family, friends and other guests during the UND School of Law graduation ceremony.
Judges, prosecutors, negotiators, professors and others use empathy to help them do their jobs, Armstrong said during the Saturday, May 10, event. Law, and the world in general, will be better if people make empathy a bigger part of their personality, he said.
“Empathy is the secret sauce that makes good lawyers great,” Armstrong said. “Understanding people’s strengths, their weaknesses, their motivations, why they do what they do, and caring about why they do what they do, really understanding who they are. Empathizing with their circumstances is the most effective tool in a lawyer’s arsenal.”
The event was held at the Chester Fritz Auditorium. Armstrong was chosen to give the commencement speech by a vote of the graduating class, said UND School of Law Dean Brian Pappas. Armstrong graduated as a Juris Doctor from the UND School of Law in 2003. His brother and wife also are graduates of the school; Armstrong said they would have been more likely to be voted to give the address due to their academic diligence.
During his address, Armstrong listed titles and names — official and unofficial, positive and negative — that the students might be called in their coming careers. Among them: counselor, professor, prosecutor, judge, shyster, pettifogger, business adviser, problem solver and trusted adviser.
“Somebody in here is Googling ‘pettifogger’ right now,” he said.
The definition of pettifogger, a Google search later showed, is “an inferior legal practitioner, especially one who deals with petty cases or employs dubious practices.”
“There are a lot of official and unofficial titles in the practice of law, but I always just preferred ‘lawyer.’ A trusted and diligent lawyer is really essential to the success of just about every facet of modern life,” he said.
He also gave more advice for the students. He encouraged every student, no matter what field they eventually choose, to experience what it’s like in a courtroom — at least once. He told the students not to make promises or declarations until they’ve seen all the evidence; they don’t need to participate in every fight they’re invited to; remember how to talk in the common language when explaining legal terms; return phone calls; do not create a “legal alter ego;” don’t take criticism from someone they wouldn’t take advice from; and don’t suffer life paralysis.
Armstrong’s last point was to not get so focused on one goal that other opportunities are missed. He used his own life as an example. He came to law school to be a title lawyer because of his dad’s oil and gas business, then became a criminal defense attorney, state senator, congressman and now governor.
“A lot of our futures are determined by circumstances beyond our control,” he said. “Call it faith, call it luck. I call it life, and we all only get one of those to live. … In 20 years, your future will be very different from what you, your friends, your family or even your professors think it looks like today.”