Being recognized for one’s achievements is always satisfying: It signals that we have, on some level, made a difference.

When the people closest to us get to share in that recognition, it means a little more: It becomes not just an accolade, not just the assurance of a job well done, but a heartfelt moment to treasure.

One of those moments came just recently when RumbergerKirk partner –– and Larry’s oldest daughter –– Jennifer Smith Thomas made a quick stop along a business trip to see Larry’s portrait in the Florida State Supreme Court building.

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The Supreme Court building is, of course, imposing: an edifice meant to inspire awe, to impress on those who enter the gravity of the proceedings in which they participate. In its nod to a Greco-Roman aesthetic, its pillared entrance and lofty ceilings remind us of the stability and formality of our institutions.

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And yet … even in professions as wedded to tradition and precedent as jurisprudence, change does come, when enough of us decide to work for it.

If “the arc of the moral universe is long,” then surely it is the highest function of the law to ensure it bends toward justice.