Bryan Stevenson

And then the guards recovered and they started pushing him down the hallway.

And you could hear the chains clanging as they pushed him down the hallway.

But you could hear this condemned man singing about higher ground.

And when I heard that song, when I heard him sing, that's when everything changed for me.

That was the moment that I knew.

I wanted to help condemned people get to higher ground.

But I also knew at that moment that my journey to higher ground was going to be tied to his journey.

And when I went back to Harvard Law School, I was completely changed.

You couldn't get me out of the law school library after that because I needed to know everything about federalism and comedy and appellate procedure and criminal procedure and habeas corpus and all of the procedural doctrines.

I needed to become a master of the law and

Because I wanted to help condemned people get to higher ground.

And now 40 years later, sometimes people say, well, how have you helped all these people get relief?

How have you won these cases at the Supreme Court?

And I know they want me to say it's because I'm hardworking.

We try to be smart.

We try to be tactical.

And we do try to be tactical and smart and work hard together.

But the truth is, is that if I've helped anybody during my 40 years as a lawyer, it's not because I'm hardworking or smart or tactical.

It's because I got close enough to a condemned man to hear his song.

And I believe that there are songs still being sung in jails and prisons all across this country.