Message from the President, November 2025

A few years back, I was with some friends, and one raised a question for fun discussion: if you’re stranded on a deserted island with 30 people, what are the things that you’d work on first?  Naturally, some of the friends were focusing on getting shelter in place, finding food, and similar initial concerns.  But the first answer that came to me was: “Deciding how we’ll make decisions and work together as a group.”  You can imagine that this answer was promptly razzed by others in the discussion.

Although it’s not the answer that may come first to mind for many people, it is an essential early step.  Absent a shared understanding of how decisions will be made, the group risks wasting time on unnecessary conflicts and avoidable disagreements.  Some people in the group may be treated unfairly.  The group may fracture and be unable to work together at all.

This demonstrates what I see as the most fundamental importance of our profession in the law.  The law is our collective process for making decisions and ensuring that people adhere to them.  Predictable and consistent laws and legal processes provide people with the fundamental tools necessary to order and plan their lives.  They let us know how to form and plan families, what freedoms and protections we have, how we may own and utilize property, how we may enter and maintain contracts, how we can uphold our responsibilities to others, how to seek redress if they do not uphold their responsibilities to us, and so much more.  The law is the foundation for an ordered society.

There are many reasons to be proud of a career in the law, but this is the most important of them.  However, the significance of this purpose carries equally significant responsibility.  We must ensure, both individually and collectively, that we are attentive to this high purpose and our part in it.  This is not only true in our legal practice, but also in our work as leaders in the community.

In March of 2025, with the guidance of President Manisha Patel, the Greensboro Bar Association adopted a Statement in Support of the Rule of Law.  I hope that all of you have read it, and that each of you supports the major themes that it states on behalf of our organization (echoing statements from other bar organizations). As stated so eloquently in that letter is the principle that “the rule of law is the bedrock of American democracy, ensuring that laws are applied fairly, rights are protected, and justice is accessible to all.”

This is not a statement for or against any political party or official; it is a restatement of an essential principle of an ordered society – one which lawyers are uniquely positioned and responsible to protect.  I am grateful to President Patel and proud that GBA remains committed to stand in support of the role that the rule of law plays in our lives.  This is not only our profession and our livelihood, but also our duty.

If you have not read the GBA’s statement, you can view it at the following web address: https://www.greensborobar.org/frontpage-article/statement-from-the-gba-in-support-of-the-rule-of-law/

 

Hon. Bill Davis
President, Greensboro Bar Association
and the 24th Judicial District Bar