My daughter Austin recently graduated from Stetson Law School. She did so with Honors and even achieved four book awards, representing the highest grade in a class. I may not have had four A’s during law school, much less any hope of a coveted book award. Austin also had the extra blessing of being a mom and giving birth to two more children during her law school journey.
Some of you may remember a post I wrote earlier this year, Hire Contenders Not Pretenders—Why Policyholders Have to be Careful Choosing Professionals In an Artificial Intelligence World. I noted in part:
The call to “Hire Contenders Not Pretenders” isn’t just about checking credentials, which are easily flaunted and sometimes falsified in the digital space. It is about ensuring that the professionals policyholders choose are genuinely capable and deeply knowledgeable in their field. Artificial Intelligence advancements and sophisticated marketing techniques have made it easier for pretenders to create a façade of expertise. Fake reviews, manipulated testimonials, high-tech websites, and follow-up hard sell sophisticated call-in centers all create the illusion of competence and reliability, potentially misleading policyholders into making poor choices for representation.
The dangers of falling for pretenders are manifold. In the insurance industry, where stakes involve critical financial decisions and legal complexities, the cost of entrusting a claim to someone who merely looks the part on a digital platform can be devastating. Unlike simpler tasks where “faking it till you make it” might be harmless, insurance claims require a deep understanding of policy details, experience with loss details and estimating, legal implications of all of these, and strategic negotiation skills that can’t be improvised without mastered and real expertise.
So, unlike many commencement speeches, Professor Timothy S. Kaye delivered a speech that resonated with me. While his remarks were certainly made for the graduating lawyers, the lessons and primary point should resonate with us today when authenticity is often questioned. With the help of our firm’s law librarian and AI, we have made a transcript of his presentation. The authentic speech is here for you to learn from and consider:
Stetson Law School and its students are fortunate to have such a dedicated and brutally honest faculty member. Such legal teachers impact society far beyond the halls of their law schools. I am proud of Austin for having attended Stetson, and that is hard for a Florida Gator Law alum to admit. She received a high-quality education. My hope is that she and all of us will learn more from Professor Kaye on this topic in the future.
Thought For The Day
“So, here’s the biggest lesson of all – the hardest thing is to see who someone authentically is when you like them or want to like them. Those of you who didn’t like me calling out Taylor Swift or any of the other pitch-corrected talentless wannabes whose noise has been fraudulently transformed into something vaguely musical can’t actually prove me wrong because I’m not wrong. You just didn’t like me criticizing someone you like.
But if you aren’t prepared to see who your favorites authentically are, you have no business being in the law. Law is about holding people to account. I talked earlier about having to play within the rules of the game – well holding people to account is precisely what the rules of the legal game demand. If, instead, you’re just going to give free passes to anyone you like, then the law has no purpose and no role to play.
So, whether the lawyer, politician, speaker, writer, singer, or cuddle ball player is on the other team or your own, assess their authentic selves. And, when they show you who they are, believe them.”
—Prof. Timothy S. Kaye (Stetson Law School 2024 Commencement Faculty Address)
