This past week all the 1Ls gathered in Power Rogers & Smith Ceremonial Courtroom on the 10th floor to attend a Panel on “Civility in the profession: Building a Community of Legal Professionals.” The purpose of this panel is to begin a discourse of civility in our profession. Lawyers have a reputation for being over-competitive and combative. While it is important to be a zealous advocate for our clients, the panel highlighted that putting on battle amour may not be the best way to get the best results, ultimately denying the best service to our clients. Many of the panelists shared that getting on the bad side of a judge or a certain lawyer most certainly will cause problems in the future. So it is important to be civil for both our current and future clients; after all, it is not really about our egos or us.
The panelists were from a diverse background each offering an interesting perspective to the dialogue:
Honorable Young B. Kim is a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Kim offered his opinions as the manager of attorney conduct in a courtroom. He cautioned us to be mindful of our words, particularly with what we write down in emails. He spoke about how he receives packets of email correspondence between lawyers that one has printed out and turned in. In many instances the language used results in heavy fines for the attorneys. So even if we are frustrated with opposing counsel and we are outside the courtroom, it is always important to approach people with respect.
Jayne R. Reardon, Ms. Eileen M. Letts and Melissa A. Smart work to develop professionalism in law. They have served in capacities of reviewing attorneys’ conduct for their standing in the ABA (American Bar Association). They shared how important integrity and respect for the law is. Throughout their responses, they shared examples to illustrate the importance of civility. This was perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the discussion to hear the truly crazy things lawyers have done. A couple of my favorite examples are listed below:
“A Public Defender in a small county starts a blog about her life as an attorney. In her blogs, she reveals confidential information about her cases, using inmate numbers to identify clients, and providing enough detail about the clients and/or their legal matters that they are easily identifiable. The blog is open to the public and not password protected.”(In Kristine Ann Peshek, M.R. 23794, 2008 PR 00089 (Ill. May 18, 2010))
“A student on academic probation and with disciplinary issues flunks out of medical school, and decides to apply for law school. He lies on his law school applications about his disciplinary and academic history. Once in law school, he achieves sub par grades. In order to get a summer internship at a big law firm, he doctors his transcripts to make it look like he had good grades… When applying for the Bar, he lies on his Character and Fitness applications about his academic and disciplinary issues.”
(In re Loren Elliotte Friedman, M.R. 23785, 2009 PR 00032 (Ill. May 18, 2010))
All the panelists spoke to the importance of integrity and maintaining professionalism. Dipping a little into Karma, they advised to be civil and generous to others because some day you will need a favor from them. While being a lawyer is a long way away for me (nearly three more years with five more rounds of finals and the Bar) it is important in our education to think about the type of lawyers we want to be. We already have the opportunity to begin. We go to school with our future colleagues and learn from current professionals. We have started developing our character and our professional selves. How we interact with our peers and professors creates a reputation and shapes our integrity that we will take into our careers. I enjoyed the panel because it helped us focus on our current conduct and what that will mean for our futures.
Questions for Amie? Email law-admissions [at] luc [dot] edu with the subject “Ask Amie” and she will make sure to answer them.