Civility in the legal profession is embodied in all sorts of laws, rules, codes, and creeds. There’s nothing new about civility. It's just a way of conducting our lives that hopefully will make not just our own lives, but everybody’s lives better. And certainly for those of us in the legal profession, isn’t that our calling?
In this episode, Host, Jean Lawler–commercial + insurance mediator and arbitrator–talks about what civility is, why it matters to lawyers, and the one key word that makes the difference.
To read the full episode transcript please see the Podcast Website.
Links to Resources Mentioned:
About the Host:
Based in Los Angeles, CA, Jean Lawler is an attorney and mediator, focusing on commercial, insurance and civil litigation matters pending at the trial and appellate levels - wherever filed. She regularly mediates a wide variety of insurance, business, and tort matters, as well as federal ADA accessibility lawsuits re architectural barriers and websites. CIPP/US (Certified Information Privacy Professional) certified, Jean also mediates matters involving data breaches, ransomware, and cyber losses. She has mediated hundreds upon hundreds - thousands - of cases over the years with a myriad of issues. For a more detailed sampling of the types of mediations that she has conducted and participated in, both when in practice and as a full-time mediator, please refer to her web page detailing Representative Matters.
Prior to becoming a full-time mediator in 2017, Jean was a Senior Partner in a Los Angeles based litigation firm, representing corporations, professionals, non-profits, individuals, and insurers in a broad range of matters, at trial and on appeal - mediating hundreds upon hundreds of cases over the years. Her legal experience has been diverse and international, and she has a deep knowledge of the insurance industry, insurance policies and the various risks they insure against (primary, excess, reinsurance, program, surplus lines, London Market, and international insurers). She also served as a Managing Partner of her former law firm, at times chairing the firm’s Insurance Law, Cyber & Privacy Law, International Law, and Business & Real Estate Transactions practice groups and, ultimately, served her many clients as counselor and trusted advisor.
As she would tell you if asked: “I absolutely love what I do! I would be honored to serve as your Mediator or Arbitrator.”
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Thank you for reading this transcript of the ROADS TO Resolution ~Closure ~Certainty Podcast for the episode entitled, “What is Civility and Why it Matters in the Legal Profession and In Life”. To improve readability, this clean verbatim transcript also includes additional headings (not part of the audio). The transcript is human generated, so there may be minor errors. Thanks for your time!
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Hi, I’m Jean Lawler, I'm your host for the ROADS TO Resolution ~Closure and ~Certainty Podcast. And it's a pleasure to be here with you today. What I’m really wanting to talk about today is civility. Civility in the legal profession, as well as in life, of course. But, in today’s world, in the legal profession, it's definitely something that we need to address. And so I thought I would take my turn at it, right here in a very abbreviated fashion.
The Definition of Civility:
First and foremost, what is the definition of civility? It's defined in the dictionary, looking here at Microsoft, as, “formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech.” Very simple. Basically it's treating others the way you’d like to be treated, in other words. But “formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech”... You can even take out the word “formal” if you want. Just being polite. So that’s the definition of civility.
Civility and Life as an Attorney:
Now, where and how then does this play into things in life as an attorney? Well there is a February 1, 2017 article that was written by Linda Klein and published in the ABA Journal. She was the President of the ABA at the time. And it's very instructive. I would urge you if you’re interested in this topic to google it and find it. It’s fascinating. But I'll cover a little bit of it right here.
First of all, she starts with, “One Word: Civility”--that’s the name of her article, and it’s “civility costs nothing and buys everything.” Well she then goes on to explain that that phrase: “civility costs nothing and buys everything”, that those words were written by an 18th century poet, Mary Wortley Montagu. And they are as true today as they were then. As we’ve all become so much more polarized in so many things - and just professional behavior does not seem to be what it used to be.
So anyway, with that in mind you’ve got someone in the 1700’s writing about that. She then goes on to explain that both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln left us guidance on civility and in fact, Washington wrote a book on civility, literally. She says it was actually a list that was created by 16th Century Jesuit priests that Washington then copied for a penmanship exercise, of all things, as a school boy. And then that list stuck with Washington and he had 110 maxims in that book that he then published as George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation.
Well, who’s to know? I had no idea. But let’s dig a little deeper.
The first rule is according to this author here, “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.” Respect. That’s ultimately the key word, or a key word when it comes to civility. And here it is, George Washington talking about this when he was a school boy.
Then the last rule, “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.” Oh, yes, if we think that we’ve done something that’s not quite right, ideally our conscience is telling us, you know we really had some bad behavior there, we shouldn’t do that, or ideally catches us before we say or do something that would not be polite, respectful, civil, etc.
So again, think of it…This goes back to Jesuit priests writing in the 1500’s. So what we’re talking about with civility is nothing new. And then of course you have President Lincoln who on the eve of the Civil War was looking for common ground to try and avoid the war and as, again, as she quotes in her article, “We are not enemies, but friends. Though passions may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
Similar things. Respect, relationships, all of these things with it.
The ABA, the American Bar Association has recognized the need for civility as have most state courts and state bar associations, and there are a myriad of civil, or civility codes and all that are out there. The last little bit from this article that I would quote here for you is, “Civility allows us to deal with conflict through mutual respect without damaging relationships.” That says so much, and it should say so much to all of us. That’s certainly true in mediation and it's certainly true in life.
Now some of you may remember recently there was a LinkedIn post that highlighted a text message that a partner at an Ohio law firm sent to an associate who had returned from maternity leave and then announced to the firm that she was leaving the firm and going to work elsewhere. The maternity leave had been a paid leave and this lawyer was very upset with her and said very mean and not nice, not kind, things to her accusing her of abusing the right to the maternity leave, especially the paid maternity leave. What he said to her has gotten a lot of press, so I won't repeat it here. You can go find it. Just google something like Ohio lawyer sent nasty text to associate and tie in the word maternity leave or something.
But one of the parts I want to call attention to is what he goes on to say to her at the end, “Rest assured regarding anyone who inquires . . . ” in other words, calling for reference or whatever, or asking him about her at all, “. . . they will hear the truth from me about what a soul-less and morally bankrupt person you are.”
I mean…Can you imagine being on the receiving end of that, let alone the sending end of that? Hopefully not on either end of it. And that’s the thing that I want to focus on. What an awful thing to both receive or to send.
Now in Ohio there is “A Lawyer’s Creed” and the Lawyer’s Creed was adopted in 1997 in Ohio and one of the things that it says here “To our colleagues. . . we offer concern [inaudible]. . . We shall extend to you the same courtesy, respect . . . ” There's that word respect again, generations old, “. . . respect, candor, and dignity, that we expect to be extended to us.” Again, do under others, I guess, as you would have them do unto you. So that is in this Lawyer’s Creed. And then, as part of it also is, “As to the profession. . . we shall aspire to conduct myself always with an awareness that my actions and demeanor reflect upon our profession.”
Well, clearly this text message that this lawyer sent was not in comportment with that. But now moving on…
The State Bar of California has, for several years now, has had lawyers take a civility pledge as part of being sworn in to the bar, and what this says is, “As officers of the Court. . .”--Right there how strong that is, to be an officer of the Court as a lawyer is an awesome, awesome responsibility, but anyway, back to the quote, ”As officers of the Court with responsibilities to the administration of justice, attorneys have an obligation to be professional with clients. This obligation . . . .” And it goes on with other things, but, “. . . This obligation includes civility, professional integrity, personal dignity, candor, diligence, respect . . .” (again there’s that word), “. . . courtesy, and cooperation, all of which are essential to the fair administration of justice and conflict resolution.”
So this brings it back into tying it into mediation or whatever. And now the California state bar is considering a proposal to have this extend to all lawyers, not just the new lawyers. The oath includes a statement that the attorney “will strive to conduct . . . “ himself or herself “. . . with dignity, courtesy, and integrity.”
Final Thoughts:
So you can see, civility in the legal profession is embodied in all sorts of laws, and rules, and codes, and creeds, and aspirational sorts of things, and I would highly encourage us all to keep that in mind. There’s nothing new about civility. It's just a way of conducting our lives that hopefully will make not just our own lives, but everybody’s lives better. And certainly for those of us in the legal profession, for anybody on Earth, isn’t that our calling?
Talk to you later then. Thank you, I'll be back. It's been a pleasure. Please follow me on LinkedIn. Watch my YouTubes. Listen to my podcast. That’s all for today. Thank you so much.
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