REMARKS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANIEL F. CONLEY: ACCEPTANCE OF THE ST. THOMAS MORE AWARD at STONEHILL COLLEGE MARCH 26, 2007 President Cregan, Professor Ubertaccio, Ms. Cleary, distinguished members of the Stonehill faculty and St. Thomas More Law Society, lawyers and lawyers-to-be, friends all: Thank you. I thank you for the honor you have bestowed upon me this evening, and I thank you for the confidence and support that it represents. Most importantly, though, I thank you for everything you gave to me as a young Stonehill College student that would ultimately make it possible for me to accept an award so prestigious and so humbling. In many ways, this evening's ceremony brings me full circle with an institution that has always been a part of me as much as I was a part of it. From the day of my very first class, to the day I graduated four years later, to marrying my beautiful wife Tricia at the Chapel of Mary where we just heard the Red Mass, Stonehill College has never left my heart. To know that I have remained in yours is deeply touching to me, and I must once again thank each and every one of you, from my former professors and classmates to those of you preparing to take your first steps into the legal profession. It was within that profession that so many great men and women before us sought to make their world a better place, and it is within that profession that each of us can do the same. Attorneys defended the slaves who rebelled aboard the Amistad; they prosecuted war criminals at Nuremberg; and they argued the briefs that spurred our nation's conscience to end segregation. As much as any other means of effecting change, the law is a sword against injustice and a shield to defend those who cannot defend themselves. All of us here are among society's most fortunate. Few of us possess great material wealth, but each of us has been blessed to lead a life filled with opportunities - and first among them was the opportunity to receive a good education at a college like Stonehill. Our children will benefit from those opportunities as well, we hope, themselves going on to find many more opened doors than closed ones. Just as importantly, though, each of us can look back on whatever it is we've accomplished and know that we did not get here alone. Parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, teachers, ministers, and friends - they were with us at every critical juncture. Without question, each of us worked hard to get where we are, but what makes us most fortunate are the people who helped us along the way, the opportunities that came to us, and the educations we received that made so many of our aspirations attainable. At this very moment, however, and not so far from here, live men and women with children of their own who are not so lucky. Because of factors over which they have no control, they were born into a different world, one with many more closed doors than opened ones. They are at much higher risk of becoming victims of violence, they are at much higher risk of committing violent offenses, and they live daily in a level of poverty that few of us ever want to consider. They live blocks away from us, but they remain worlds apart. They are young men and women - children, really - who see the buildings but cannot discern the doorways. We need to help them to find their way. This is what public service means to me. This is what I think I can do as District Attorney, and this is what each of you pre-law students can do, too, when you take your briefcase out into the world someday. You don't have to be a prosecutor, either - you can use the law with ethics, integrity, and commitment to others in thousands of ways, whether it's as a defense attorney or a civil rights specialist or a children's care and protection lawyer. One of the most touching anecdotes I've heard in my entire professional career is about a prosecutor and a young teenage defendant. This boy, after meeting the man who would present the government's case against him, was so moved by his compassion and respect, and so unfamiliar with such treatment by adults, that he asked if the prosecutor would be his lawyer. That prosecutor, a man named Paul McLaughlin, was shot to death in the line of duty more than a decade ago. As criminal justice professionals we can only do our part, but it's in the spirit of people like Paul McLaughlin that we enthusiastically embrace our role. He knew that our use of the criminal justice system could effect truly positive change in the lives of young people, and it was for that reason that he was so admired not just by his co-workers but by his adversaries on the defense bar as well. Paul knew, and we must always remember, that the justice system exists not just to punish people - our most fundamental goal is to protect them. Whatever you do and however you make your way, however, I urge you to think carefully about your blessings and to consider the teacher, the advisor, the counselor, or the mentor who helped you along the way. Then I ask you to question whether there might be a young person out there who needs someone like that in his or her life. Well, there is. There are many such young people, and they need your help - not in some warm and fuzzy affirmation, but in a firm hand on the shoulder. They need someone with the wisdom to understand the question of what to do next, and they need someone with the experience to help them find the answer. "If there must be trouble," Thomas Paine said, "let it be in my day, that my children may have peace." You don't have to look far to see that there is trouble here and abroad, and no shortage of it. If we are to serve our children best, though, and leave them a world that is better than the one we inherited, we must get to work and address the inequalities of economy, education, and attainment. We must hold true to the values of our church and our nation - to give to others before ourselves and to act in the interests of the greater good before our own. The rewards may not come in gold, but they will be more valuable and more lasting than any riches. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and generosity this evening. I accept the St. Thomas More Award with gratitude, humility, and an abiding faith that we will meet again. When we do, I hope it will be along a road we travel together toward a brighter day for all. Once again, thank you very much. Good night.