REMARKS BY RONNA FICKBOHM
UPON RECEIVING ALICE TRUMAN LEADERSHIP AWARD (2015)

My legal career here in Tucson has been truly blessed. Starting in law school, I connected to many of the people in this room, including through LWA (Law Women’s Association). Those connections have continued in great part due to AWLA.

In many ways, Tucson is an intimate legal community, a supportive community. I could walk around this room and at each table put my hand on the shoulder of one or more persons who have contributed to my wonderful life through love, friendship, mentoring, professional support, camaraderie, and- maybe some of you don’t even know this - through the examples you have set in your personal and professional lives.

Thank you, everyone.

This award reinforces to me the need to honor others. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, I should remind myself each day that my life depends upon the labors and actions of others and I must exert myself in order to give in measure as I have received and am still receiving.

For my Chapter of AWLA to recognize me, to tell me my actions matter, is humbling and brings me great joy. It also reinforces two truisms I hold dear: we are all connected, and everything we do matters.

The world can seem a sad, even scary place at times. Our lives can get way too busy. We can feel overwhelmed by obstacles we perceive. It is easy to let any of that drive us into the silo, the silo within the four corners of our desks, our homes, our small routines. But then I think, where would we be if women like Sarah Herring Sorin, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Alice Truman had not stepped out of their silos? These women were real leaders. The notion that it might be difficult, even impossible, to become measured only on their merits, in the same fashion as their male counterparts - by other attorneys, judges, juries, even their clients - did not stop them. They made our lives better.

AWLA’s Southern Chapter, by giving us this annual reminder that what we do matters, honors these early leaders. I celebrate that.

Again, thank you AWLA.

I would like to leave you with the words of Mary Catherine Bateson:

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us.

The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.

Let’s all be part of the revolution.