As you climb, you lift

By Steven Cousins
From – https://www.stlamerican.com
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News

It is difficult to summon the words to convey the depth of emotion, the range of feelings I have experienced upon being selected as a Legal Legend Inductee by the Mound City Bar Association.

This venerated organization is the oldest African American Bar Association, west of the Mississippi River. 

It has included in its ranks men and women of storied achievement, ensconced in the pantheon of legal leviathans, who bravely served at the very vanguard of the national civil rights struggle, including such stalwarts as Frankie Freeman, Margaret Bush Wilson, David Grant, Homer Phillips, Sydney Redman, Judges Theodore McMillian and Clyde Cahill and numerous others of that era on whose shoulders we all stand today.

That I would be thought worthy to follow in the footsteps of previous inductees, men and women of staggering accomplishment, is humbling indeed. 

I believe that law and civic engagement can and should exist in mutual play and support of one another, one is a logical extension of the other. 

As a lawyer, I have been blessed with the opportunity and privilege to serve others, be they clients or the community. With respect to clients, it has been an honor to help them problem-solve and successfully navigate challenges that confront them.

The list is variegated, ranging from restructuring multinational companies (such as Peabody Energy, Payless Shoes to Apex / Clark Oil) to representing the national office of the NAACP on a gratis basis. Or from litigating the runway expansion of our airport, to playing a central role in the TWA/American Airline and other airline cases. Or from successfully representing an African American presidential cabinet member to representing Black churches and small business and hospitals that serve the Black community; spanning, moreover, from representing the operating trustee of the Globe Democrat to Ebony/Jet magazine and the Johnson family. It has been quite a ride and an honor and privilege to serve.

But I must forthrightly state that this award, by every mete and measure, should truly be a shared one, which I hold in trust with my colleagues at Armstrong Teasdale.

I enjoyed a 38-year career with this magnificent firm and worked with very talented lawyers and staff who contributed to these successes. From the platform of Armstrong Teasdale as an associate I established a department, then as a partner projected it out nationally and consistently became one of the firm’s major rainmakers. I also pushed for diversity initiatives within the firm and took it as my responsibility to mentor those  young lawyers, within and without the firm and those in college and high school.

As the founding co-chair of the St. Louis Internship Program for 13 years (founded by Tom Hullverson), it has now placed over 4,200 inner city high school students in law firms (and other businesses) throughout the city and in 37 cities.

I was taught that as you climb, you lift. It was and is the right thing to do, to remember your roots and extend a helping hand to those in need.

Just as you serve your clients, you should, with equal measure, dedication and excellence serve your community. It has been my long held belief that one can and should, in the words of Justice Thurgood Marshall, “Aspire to live large in the law recognizing that charity and civic commitment can and should be the great spring of human action.”

I believe that law and civic engagement can and should exist in mutual play and support of one another, one is a logical extension of the other. I believe that one should and can, with simultaneity, seek professional and civic uplift and the uplift of our fellow citizens from the vicissitudes and vagaries of life.

We have benefited by the efforts of our fore-bearers and legal legends who vindicated and safeguarded our civil rights, by our parents who raised us and by our community that nurtured us and bequeathed to us the high moments of our life and our way of life.

This debt can only be requited by gratitude and an acknowledgment that we owe a solemn obligation, indeed a moral responsibility to repay that debt in the coin in which it is given.

I only hope to continue to do my part, however small, to faithfully and steadfastly serve clients and community and to earn this award the Mound City Bar Association has so generously bestowed upon me.

Steve Cousins retired from Armstrong Teasdale in 2018 after a 38-year career, and now is Cousins Allied Strategic Advisors, LLC president and CEO. For Cousin’s full remarks, visit www.stlamerican.com