A foundation that aims to spread a positive form of global influence

Over the past few years there has been a new term that has cropped up in this social media driven world of ours.

Influencers.

Many of the major brand-name companies use influencer marketing to reach their target audience, especially on such social media platforms as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat where younger consumers tend to hang out.

Those categorized as “influencers” generally are entertainment or sports celebrities who have the power to impact buying decisions, offering a testimonial or an endorsement to sway the consuming public.

If done honestly and effectively, this marketing technique has the power to mobilize an audience, much the way the great orators of the day have galvanized support for a specific cause of action.

In recent years, many of those with a talent – and a modern-day megaphone – for reaching a particular audience have lost their way with the artform, resorting to name-calling and truth-bending as the preferred means of delivering their message.

It’s particularly sad that an increasing number of those speakers are cut from a religious cloth, where their respective faiths would seemingly hold them to a higher standard when it comes to upholding the truth.

The same disturbing trend can be seen most vividly in today’s political arena, which is a Petri dish full of hate, anger, mistrust, contempt, and uncivilized behavior.

It need not be that way, of course. It is our choice to allow it to happen, either as silent witnesses or as full-fledged endorsers of such practices.

When it was founded in 1992, Primerus preferred to be an “influencer” in a different sort of way. Its mission then, as it is now, is framed within the twin concepts of integrity and civility, two of the Six Pillars upon which Primerus has been built.

Thirty years ago, our international alliance of law firms was created to help restore honor and dignity to the legal profession, which had been kicked to the cellar of disdain and had become a punching bag for anyone armed with a lame lawyer joke.

The quipsters especially enjoyed enlisting the great bard himself, William Shakespeare, in stating their case, trotting out an oft-quoted line from the play “Henry VI.” In that classic Shakespearean story, a character offered a suggestion about how to improve the fortunes of the country: “First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

In today’s vernacular, that line would be a sound bite for all those with a gripe against anyone in the legal profession. In reality, the message was meant in an altogether different context, one offering implicit praise for how lawyers are the guardians of the rule of law in civilized societies and stand in the way of violent mobs.

That role is never more important than today, when freedom and democracy are under global threat, as authoritarian regimes flex their might and muscle on continents around the world.

Most notably is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a tragedy of epic proportions that is being beamed to television screens daily for the world to see.

The bloodshed, of course, doesn’t stop there, but continues in numerous other countries that employ violence and oppression as their chosen forms of political expression.

In the U.S., the “breaking news” of the week centered on another mass shooting, this time in a small Texas city where 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman who reportedly barricaded his victims in a school room where they died in a barrage of bullets.

What can stand in the way of such mayhem?

You.

And we – as members of a legal profession that needs to be regularly reminded of our role as peacemakers, as the bridges to the divides that constantly separate us on individual and national levels. While backlash politics may be gaining strength internationally, that doesn’t mean that the forces for good in this world must retreat.

That is the principal reason why we recently created the Primerus Foundation, which is designed to unite people from different cultures, backgrounds, religions, colors, and political persuasions toward the common good. Such a coalition has the potential to be a powerbroker for freedom and equality around the world, just causes that demand a stronger voice from the legal profession.

We invite you to learn more, keeping in mind the immortal words of cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ”

Best regards,
Jack Buchanan, President

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