Sorensen stresses value of public service

FEB. 23, 2010 -- Internationally-respected attorney Ted Sorensen, former top adviser to President John F. Kennedy, told students Tuesday at the Charleston School of Law that they should embrace public service and give back to their communities.

During a speech to a packed house at the Charleston Music Hall, Sorensen said the law school's focus on public service was "brilliant."  The school requires each of its graduates to perform at least 30 hours of public service before receiving their diplomas.  Faculty members are expected to give back 30 hours a year.

"Pro bono service is one of the most important parts of every law practice in the country," Sorensen said.

Before and after his noon speech, Sorensen signed copies of his latest book, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History.

Here is an excerpt from the Feb. 24 story about Sorensen's speech by The Post and Courier:

Practicing law, and any other work, has to be about more than making money, said Ted Sorensen, former special counsel to President John F. Kennedy.

Sorensen, 81, helped write Kennedy's inaugural address, which exhorted listeners to "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." More than four decades later, his message about committing to public service remains unchanged.

Sorensen encouraged students from the Charleston School of Law and members of the public attending a presentation Tuesday at the Charleston Music Hall to be "true professionals" and give back to their communities. Sorensen called the law school's emphasis on public service brilliant.

Sorensen, a widely published author on the presidency and foreign affairs, was one of Kennedy's closest advisers during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He now practices law with the prominent firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

A former chairman of the firm's International Practice Committee, he has represented U.S. and multinational corporations in negotiations with governments all over the world. He has advised foreign governments and leaders including the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. In 2008, Sorensen published his memoir, "Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History."

Sorensen said he was part of Kennedy's team during the "13 most dangerous days in the history of all mankind." Those were the days when Kennedy confronted the Soviet Union over its missiles in Cuba.

Sorensen helped Kennedy write a letter to Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union.

"Helping to do that gave me more satisfaction than any paycheck could have given me," he said. And helping draft historic civil rights legislation gave him "more satisfaction than any Wall Street bonus."