Legal Current

I’d like to salute my colleagues at Thomson Reuters, Legal, for launching the Legal Current blog. I have been writing a very personal blog at www.tomglocer.com for a couple of years, and have enjoyed and learned a lot from the experience.

So I was pleased when these colleagues asked me to be a guest blogger and talk about my experiences on Monday in Washington, D.C. It was an important milestone for me. Twenty-five years after I was admitted to the New York State Bar as a practicing attorney, this week I was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Attorneys who wish to argue a case before the Supreme Court – one of the most challenging and coveted opportunities for most litigators – must first be nominated by an attorney in good standing and then petition for admission to the bar. For others like me, who aren’t planning to take a case to the highest court in the land anytime soon, admission is simply a great honor.

Decisions handed down by the Supreme Court often have a dramatic and lasting effect on our society, such as the famous 1954 school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, in which the nine Justices of the Court unanimously held that segregated education violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “Separate but equal is inherently unequal” 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686 (1954).

So it was quite a moving experience for me to be seated in that very same courtroom in which such important law has been established. Tom Leighton of West made a motion before the seven justices who were in session, Chief Justice Roberts delivered the Court’s approval, my name was called, I rose and was sworn in.

Afterwards Tom and I had the chance to chat with Justice Scalia in his chambers and we discussed his book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, which was published by West, and presented him with the latest book of Reuters Sports photography.

Law is a profession rich in history and ceremony. Being “called to the bar” at the U.S. Supreme Court was certainly one of the most memorable ceremonies I have ever experienced. But what impressed me most of all were the high esteem in which West is held and the strong professional relationships between my colleagues and the Clerk and Reporter of the Court and the Justices.

Tom Glocer
Chief Executive Officer
Thomson Reuters