What’s Your FQ?

November 2024

By Betty Williams
CLA President

The average person’s IQ is somewhere between 90 and 109; the mean result for most IQ tests is 100. The average lawyer’s IQ is 112, at least 20 points below Mensa membership.

 A test measuring someone’s working memory, verbal comprehension, processing speed, and perceptual reasoning says almost nothing about how interesting a person may be to their peers.

Yes, I am aware there is also an EQ (Emotional Quotient) analysis which has to do with effective communication, empathy, and defusing conflict. Also not an indicator of who to talk with at a cocktail party.

 I’m suggesting a test for FQ – a person’s Fascinating Quotient. You know them when you meet them. They hold your attention with an engaging story or antidote. By listening, you hear another perspective, which you may not have ever considered. They are affable leaders who do not easily offend, nor do they bore. I would give a high FQ rating to anyone who gave me a more meaningful understanding of another culture, topic, or opportunity.

Whenever I spend time with a group of CLA members, I learn something new and typically interesting. It could be about a practice area, something a Section does for its members, or the unique background of one of our colleagues.

Over the past month I have met several lawyers and judges who are truly fascinating, memorable, or intriguing. Through their stories, I learned something important.

At the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association’s annual Judicial Excellence & Scholarship Gala, President Brian Cecilio Amaya told the engaging story of his early education by Catholic nuns in Mexico who would physically punish students who spoke any language other than Spanish. Amaya received corporal punishment for speaking English. He talked about his family’s early years in America, and how he has relayed their personal experience to judges, emphasizing the importance for jurors and defendants to have interpreters in their primary language.

This became necessary when a judge felt a potential juror was simply trying to “get out of jury duty” or when a judge felt a defendant could understand his defense counsel, Amaya, “well enough” to proceed without an interpreter. Amaya’s advocacy makes a difference for his clients and his cases, by educating judges one at a time. In the future, I will pause before I take for granted whether someone understands their legal issues if English is not their first language.

I hit the lottery at the National Association of Women Judge’s annual conference in meeting fascinating CLA lawyer leaders and judges from around the globe. In fact, I met judges from every continent except Antarctica. Listening to a judge from Mexico who hears criminal cases, where the accused is considered guilty until proven innocent, pre-trial detention is mandatory, and jury trials do not exist, it is clear that the level of responsibility is enormous. This may change as part of Mexico’s recent broad reform that will introduce anonymous judges to oversee organized crime cases, shielding the identity of judges to protect them from reprisals and threats of harm. The judge I spoke with relies on her faith to keep her safe.

Another person I met is an Associate Justice serving on the High Court of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Linda Strite Murnane. Judge Murnane served as a military judge for the U.S. Air Force, traveling as many as 200 days a year to hear cases across the country. Ultimately serving nearly 30 years on activity duty, Judge Murnane retired as the Chief Circuit Military Judge for the Eastern Circuit, Washington, D.C., and a Colonel. She then served the United Nations in positions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Special Tribunal for Lebanon for eight years. She is an author, award winner, and just began her term on the ABA Board of Governors.   

Judge Murnane began working in the Marshall Islands in 2022, a country she says has no law schools and therefore needs lawyers to teach procedure and other aspects of the law to lawyers practicing in the Marshall Islands. Meeting Judge Murnane reminded me of meeting U.S. State Department counsel in Mexico City, who take their law licenses and work abroad, opening doors for themselves and eventually others through their stories of opportunities and unique experiences while they serve areas in the world that need the help they can provide.

Closer to home, I recently met a CLA attorney who was an aspiring actor before attending law school. He found his work acting as an attorney in theater performances so satisfying that he decided to become a trial attorney. He initially told his family he was attending law school to become more authentic in his roles as an attorney on the stage! It was a funny story but also a reminder of the thin threads that sometimes lead us to the passion of our profession.

I would give each of these leaders a high FQ. Not only are they fascinating, but they tell stories that inspire others to act in small and large ways for themselves, our profession, and our communities. As attorneys, we reportedly have high IQs; as members of CLA, we have opportunities to share our fascinating experiences. What’s your FQ?