Civility And Professionalism: A Unique Opportunity
Whether justified or not, a lot of us share a common concern about the nature and future of the legal profession. Our judicial system is under attack. Our image is tarnished. Distrust of the profession appears to be growing. Though they never liked us, at least the public once respected lawyers. Now, the public’s lack of respect for us is at its zenith. The perception is that civility, collegiality, professionalism, and sometimes, sadly, integrity, are diminishing within the profession.
It is not my purpose here to analyze the legitimacy of the concern about diminishing civility and professionalism, or, if true, the myriad causes thereof. Rather, I intend to offer some thoughts about how each of us who hold a license granting us the privilege to practice law might think about civility and offer some suggestions and encouragement to use the opportunity to practice law to achieve higher standards of professionalism.
To me, civility means showing dignity, extending courtesy, and being respectful of others regardless of whether the other person deserves such a showing. Extending civility to others is, in essence, a part of the moral philosophy of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you – the Golden Rule. We learned this concept from our parents early on.
Why should we treat other lawyers, clients (ours and the clients of others), judges, and court personnel civilly? Why shouldn’t we engage in slick and pugnacious practices in fulfilling the requirement to zealously represent our clients? After all, some of our clients may equate acting boorishly, rancorously, and surly to aggressive, zealous representation and like it.
In his essay Ethics & The Law: The Ethics of Incivility, July 1999, Barrie Althoff, former Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the Washington State Bar Association, answers the question as follows:
“The legal profession … is a noble profession not because its members are, or may be required to be, polite or civil or politically correct to one another, but because the profession’s overriding goal is to make the promise of justice a reality…. If lawyers truly are guardians of law, then they more than others need to embody in their practices and lives that very same respect for the dignity of the individual.”
Regarding civility and professionalism, Althoff goes on to say:
“Concern over declining civility and professionalism is not just a nostalgic yearning for a passing of bygone social graces or outmoded conventions. Rather, civility and professionalism relate to the basic level of trust and respect accorded by one person to another, of the level of confidence a lawyer or a judge can have in the word of another lawyer or a judge. Civility and professionalism form a framework for common expectations of mutual trust, of being treated with dignity, and ultimately set the stage for justice to be done.”
Civility is part of acting professionally. Lawyers are holders of a unique privilege. In this country, despite what the public may think, our society is blessed with an incomparable legal and judicial system. Lawyers have been given the exclusive right to access that system and the opportunity to earn a living from it. As a result, we should seek to act in ways that merit the respect of the public without regard to whether others render respect in return.
To paraphrase Walter Bennett, author and former director of the Intergenerational Legal Ethics Program at UNC School of Law, we should be concerned about honesty, integrity, professional competence, and service, or the lack thereof, not so much because of a concern of what the public thinks about us or of our image, but rather because we are a profession, and a profession must have certain ideals and standards to maintain itself as a profession and fulfill its role in society. It matters that lawyers strive to maintain the integrity, fairness and basic decency of the judicial system, and to see that the ends of justice are met.
So, what does acting professionally mean? The North Carolina State Bar Revised Rules of Professional Conduct establishes only the minimal standard of conduct. Professionalism includes but involves more than the personal values of competency in the law, acting honestly with our clients, and treating people – judges, lawyers, clients, opposing sides – with civility and courtesy. Such conduct should be commonplace.
Being professional does require us to uphold the key core values of the legal profession: duty of loyalty to clients, avoidance of conflicts of interest, independence of judgment, and our duty to the judicial system as officers of the court. Professionalism transcends high standards of personal integrity, civility, ethics, and adherence to core values expected of all lawyers. A lawyer should accept individual responsibility for these attributes, values and virtues. And, lawyers, collectively, share responsibility for ensuring that the profession discharges these responsibilities of professionalism, demanding of all of us the high duty to self-police our actions.
In speaking of the profession and of the obligations owed to the profession by his beloved law school, Professor Albert Coates wrote:
“The profession of law is essential to the up-building of a democratic commonwealth, but it must be interpreted not as an adventure in selfish advancement so much as an enterprise in constructive statesmanship. It is a function of this law school not only to train men and women in the technique of the law, but to lift them to a higher level of achievement by making them living apostles of social justice.”[1]
Professor Coates was not a man who chose words, including Biblical allusions, inconsiderately. What does it mean to be an apostle of justice? It must mean that we have a calling higher than ourselves or the advancement of our own economic gain. You cannot be an apostle of justice if you do not live and act justly with due regard to the needs of others. This is the essence of being a professional.
Professionalism extends beyond a duty to our clients. What are these higher duties and aspirations of professionalism that extend beyond our personal behavior and obligations to clients that make us disciples of justice?
As lawyers, we have a duty to advance the safety, prosperity, and commerce of our country and its people.
As lawyers, we must ensure access to the legal system for all persons regardless of their means or the popularity of their causes.
As lawyers, we have a duty to act in ways that build confidence in our institutions.
As lawyers, we have a special duty to not bring disparagement upon the profession, the rule of law, constitutional government, or our institutions, including the courts.
As lawyers, we have a duty to strive to maintain an independent judiciary and guard against restrictions upon the power of the courts.
As lawyers, we have a duty to do our best to ensure that judges act independently and according to the rule of law, and to hold judges accountable therefore.
As lawyers, we have a duty to advocate for the selection of judges who will uphold the rule of law independently and fairly, regardless of political affiliation or ideology.
As lawyers, we have a duty to support the administration of justice through and by the courts in accordance with open and fair due process.
As lawyers, we have a duty to ensure that admission to the profession and advancement within the profession is open to all qualified individuals.
As lawyers, we must uphold high standards of social responsibility.
As lawyers, we must hold as self-evident truth the sentiment expressed in these principles and have the courage to act accordingly.
As lawyers, we have a duty to protect public interests and promote the public good.
As lawyers, we have a duty to stand for the fundamentals of constitutional government.
The history of the legal profession in North Carolina is filled with examples of courageous lawyers who exhibited the highest ideals of professionalism, from James Iredell and William Richardson Davie to Colonel Kenneth Royall, from Sammie Chess to Julius Chambers, from to Suzie Sharp and Cheri Beasley. We may not all make history as these lawyers did, but if we courageously act as “apostles of justice,” we have a unique opportunity to heed the higher callings of our profession.
About the Author: Henry P. Van Hoy, II of Martin, Van Hoy & Raisbeck, L.L.P. is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC School of Law. He is a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association, a member of the General Practice (now Legal Practice) Hall of Fame and recipient of the Citizen Lawyer Award. He has served for more than three decades as Mocksville Town Attorney and for nearly four decades on the Bar Candidate Committee of the North Carolina State Bar.
[1] Greetings to First Year Law Students at the Beginning of the Academic Year 1983, Albert Coates, Professor Emeritus.