The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All The Lawyers (swearing in, 15 Nov. 2010)

Highlight of the summer (or not)? Taking the Ohio Bar Examination. It was July 27 – July 29, 2010. After three long years of law school, and then two months of intense bar study, I along with my peers sat for what proved to be the most difficult exam I have taken. As if the process to become a licensed attorney in the State of Ohio was not difficult enough, I was then sent away with the emotionally trying task of waiting until October 29, 2010 for my test results.

Promising that I would never return from Africa should I fail, I set off for Rwanda just more than one week after the bar exam, pledging to forget about the miserable experience. In the end, my passing score made the entire experience worthwhile. The only downside was that I was not able to join my classmates and friends in Columbus for the Supreme Court’s swearing in ceremony on November 8. But, there was to be a bright side to this . . .

W. Stuart Symington, the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, got wind of my success, and my need to take the oath of office for the State Bar, and invited me to the Embassy for a private swearing-in ceremony. So, one week after the grand event in Columbus, I found myself in the office of the Ambassador perched between the flags of the United States and the State of Ohio (yes, he had a flag of the State of Ohio put in his office for the occasion). With the assistance of a consular officer, Ambassador Symington issued my oath and we signed my affidavit making the process official.

Ambassador Symington, without knowing my love of Shakespeare, delivered a much misused quote from Henry VI – “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Dismissing that it was intended to me nothing more than a mere joke of our profession, Ambassador Symington went on to explain the context – that the intent in the play was to eliminate those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution, thus underscoring the importance of lawyers and upholding the rule of law in society. “And that’s what happened here in Rwanda,” the Ambassador said, “they killed the lawyers in 1994 and disregard the rule of law.” It was profound, especially since my first job as a licensed attorney is working as a legal advisor to the Supreme Court, and doing my best to propose legal reforms to strengthen the rule of law in Rwanda.

It was certainly a memorable experience – and a wonderful way to mark the occasion of my swearing in albeit far from friends and family.