Last week, the New Jersey State Bar Association's Commission on Professionalism honored some of the brightest lights of our craft, those who serve as an aspiration statement for us all. At the ceremony, the Daniel J. O'Hern Award was presented to Richard J. Badolato, and the Charles J. Hollenbeck Award to David G. Sciarra. In addition, a distinguished group of practitioners were honored with the Professional of the Year Award by their respective bar associations.

The ceremony provided an opportunity to remember why the law matters as much as it does, and how we, as lawyers, rightly uphold the public trust. I am proud every day to be a lawyer. I am thankful to be a member of the New Jersey bar, where practitioners like Messrs. Badolato and Sciarra and all of the day's honorees vindicate and remind us of the excellence and also the nobility of our profession. Our state's bar and its members are a special group, known for the abiding commitment to best practices and reliable civility.

I have known since I was first sworn in (on that occasion my dad, an immigrant with no more than a third grade education, cried tears of joy) that I was obliged to follow in the esteemed footsteps of those members of the bench and bar who had come before me. In the years since then, I have seen the highest standards of professionalism and essential human kindness exemplified by my colleagues and peers.

I see it in the virtue of the lawyers who champion the underdog. Those who stand in the space between what is and what should be, endeavoring to narrow that gap. The lawyers who represent corporations and tenants facing eviction, who advise on responsible public and private sector governance and speak up for those left marginalized and voiceless. Those who labor every day to assure that the guarantees of due process and equal protection are upheld.

When they were younger, my children loved The Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Maybe the galaxy needs protecting, but as lawyers, I think that we do something just as important. We are guardians of the rule of law.

In a talk that he recently gave at a workshop on personal development, Warren Buffet asked, “If you had to invest 10 percent in one of your classmates, who would you choose? Why? Now become that person.”

The lawyers we aspire to be, for all the diversity of our fields of expertise and spheres of practice, share three essential characteristics:

1. Each “walks with kings and queens but has never lost the common touch.” Each understands that the cause of human dignity is not just a platform. It is a way to live one's life.

2. Each makes it a practice to say thank you countless times each day. Gratitude to have work to do. Gratitude to have the chance to be better and do better every day. Gratitude for the blessings of liberty.

3. Each understands that words matters, and knows to take care with every communication, transmission and comment.

Wisdom and compassion are indivisible. May we continue to be guided by the examples of those who know and practice that truth.

Paula A. Franzese is Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law, and chair of the NJSBA Commission on Professionalism.