PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_JulAug 2019 | Page 21

PROFESSIONALISM CORNER The Missing Link D. CULVER SMITH III Success is a journey, not a destination. The financially rich, but I have been enriched doing is often more important than the through service and the personal growth outcome. — Arthur Ashe and connection with others that it offers— Your writer originally conceived this article to be a bit of a scold of those who sign up to participate on committees and then fail to do so. Commitment, after all, is an integral part of professionalism. Yes, even our Professionalism Committee had year- long no-shows—those who attended not one meeting. Rather than lecture truant colleagues, however, I began to think about the benefits that they were denying themselves. the kind of enrichment that fills the hole that otherwise can lurk in one’s soul. Yes, success is a journey. Embrace the journey. Sign up—and show up. The rewards await you. D. Culver “Skip” Smith III focuses his practice on the ethical and professional responsibilities of lawyers. He maintains an office in West Palm Beach and can be reached at 561-598-6800 or at . others, but there is more to practicing law than earning a fee. (I like to say that I never expected to get rich practicing law and that I have succeeded in that philosophy beyond my wildest dreams.) The organized bar today is awash in conversation about life- balance and personal wellness, targeting, one assumes, the Unhappy Lawyer. Why all this unhappiness? We lawyers are under pressure from many directions— self included—to maximize earnings. We sit within the four walls of our offices, churning out work product, launching embarrassingly caustic communications in the pursuit of one-upmanship fed by the courage of isolation. Meanwhile, the holes in our souls linger, immune to any amount of greenback balm. Something is missing. Service through leadership positions and committee work offers some balm. If pursued for its own objectives and not merely as a résumé-booster, it provides opportunities for connection with others (so important even to us off-the-chart introverts), for personal enrichment and growth, and for relief from the bondage of self. It also is unfailing in enhancing one’s career. That, at least, has been my personal experience. Whatever success or reputation I have achieved has been in great part because of service to colleagues and the profession. No one remembers our biggest cases—heck, I hardly remember my own—but people do remember positive impacts that we have on the profession, in the community, and on their personal and professional lives. I may not have become Visit our CLE library cle.palmbeachbar.org In Memoriam Guy C. Hill 1945 - 2019 Palm Beach County Bar President 1985-1986 PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 21