On July 31, 2023, Stephanie Grana received a letter from Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwin, on the recommendation of the Virginia State Bar (VSB) Standing Committee on Professionalism, inviting her to join the VSB Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course Faculty for a three-year term.
According to the Virginia State Bar, “this course is required of all newly active members including members admitted by reciprocity, as Virginia Corporate Counsel, and those re-activating their license. The curriculum will focus on Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct and lawyers’ broader ethical obligations to their clients, to the judicial system, and to society.”
The faculty for this course is appointed by the VSB Professionalism Committee and consists of some of Virginia’s best judges and lawyers, as it’s the committee’s belief that Virginia’s most outstanding and prominent lawyers and judges will effectively instill in the new lawyers the fundamental values of the profession. It was with great honor that Stephanie Grana accepted this new role.
Stephanie is no stranger to the Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course. During her one-year term as VSB President, Stephanie spoke at a total of six professionalism courses. In her March 2023 speech as acting VSB President, she welcomed the attendees of the Professionalism Course held in Alexandria and spoke about the important history of how the course began.
In her speech, Stephanie said, “Chief Justice Carrico was the driving force behind the founding of this program in 1988, which was later named after him. At the time, it was the first course of its kind in the United States, and now more than half the states across the country have similar programs. Justice Carrico’s purpose in creating this program was to inspire all lawyers in Virginia to embrace and apply the principles of professionalism in their practices.”
She also noted her admiration for Chief Justice Carrico by remembering him as “an outspoken advocate for the admission of women and minorities to the legal profession in the Commonwealth.” Stephanie also referred to him as a “gentleman on and off the bench, polite and kind to all. He never forgot that justice was supposed to serve the poor, and he advocated tirelessly for pro bono service by lawyers.”
Our Cantor Grana Buckner Bucci team would like to congratulate Stephanie on her new role as a VSB Professionalism Course Faculty member. We cannot think of a better teacher for our future lawyers and look forward to her inspiring the newly licensed Virginia lawyers to uphold the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in law. Her term commences October 2023 and concludes September 2026.
