President’s Perspective

During the installation portion of the association’s annual meeting in June of this year, I described four principles that I intended to lean on during this bar year: professionalism, civility, acknowledgment of the importance of wellness in the profession, and “grace.” I explained that, by the latter, I meant acknowledging individual successes, forgiving failures, celebrating differences and diversity, and being inclusive of our members and those we serve.

I continue to reflect on all of these — especially on the intersection of professionalism, civility, and wellness. We are practicing our profession in exciting and challenging times. Advances in “Artificial Intelligence” bring the opportunity to better our practices and client services, along with threats to the ways we have worked and made professional livings. Political and ideological division and disagreement bring both challenges to our ability to work together and opportunities to stretch our capacity for bridge-building. And all of these increase the stress under which we work.

These challenges increase the significance of professionalism, civility, and wellness. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor addressed the importance of civility more than 30 years ago in a December 12, 1993 American Bar Association speech: “When the professionals charged with administering [the justice system] cannot even be polite to one another, stress and frustration drive down productivity and make the process more time consuming and expensive. Many of the best people get driven away from the field….” (available at https://library.oconnorinstitute.org/speeches-writings/speech-to-american-bar-association/) Justice O’Connor went on to note that civility, in contrast to professionalism and ethics, focuses more on things that lawyers should do than on things a lawyer must not do. Discussing civility in a February 21, 2024, article for the NCBA, Past President Hank Van Hoy observed, “[C]ivility means showing dignity, extending courtesy, and being respectful of others regardless of whether the other person deserves such a showing.”

The reasons for focusing on civility are myriad. I would start, however, with one thing that I don’t think helps the discussion of civility: reflexive nostalgia. There was no “Golden Era” of civility in the practice of law, at least, not for many lawyers who would have been excluded from the profession and its associations in the not-so-distant past. But many recent factors have affected how we, as lawyers and legal professionals, treat each other. More of us practice in far-flung venues with fewer opportunities to build relationships and less accountability for our interactions. Increased focus on profits and billable hours has heightened stress on attorneys, risking diminishment of emphasis on relationships and camaraderie. And, lest we forget, we spent much of the beginning of this decade away from our offices, working remotely, because of the COVID pandemic. Many of our youngest lawyers spent law school years and the starts of their careers isolated from classmates and other lawyers.

What are some of the things each of us can do to maintain civility in the practice? Many of our standards are matters of ethics and professionalism and codified in our Rules of Professional Conduct: competence, confidentiality, avoidance of conflicts, candor, truthfulness.

But beyond the ethics rules, what things can each of us consider in our interactions with other lawyers?

  • Don’t assume the worst in our adversaries. Life happens. And sometimes exchanges that seem rude or dismissive are simply the result of a lawyer — a person — having a bad day. Consider giving a little “grace” to the other lawyers in our personal and professional interactions.
  • Avoid “going for the jugular” at every opportunity. The adage, “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” rings true. And, as one commentator noted, judges and other decision-makers “are more likely to be impressed by an advocate who is courteous and respectful to the decision-maker, opposing counsel, the litigants, and the legal process.” David A. Grenardo, A Lesson in Civility, 32 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 135, 138 (Spring 2019) (internal citation omitted).
  • Disagree without necessarily being disagreeable. A firm but polite “no,” is still a no, and sometimes received as more certain and confident than a shrill rejection.
  • Be true to your personality and style. In my experience, some of the most “dramatic” lawyer conduct has been from lawyers seeming to mimic some other, sometimes fictional, lawyer’s mannerisms.
  • For litigators, resolve the disputes that can be settled between counsel without court intervention. Take seriously court rules on consultation and avoid, at all costs, wasting the court’s time with things that should be worked out in advance.
  • As the late Mel Wright, Executive Director of the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, wrote in one of his columns, “Always remember the importance of a handshake.” Melvin F. Wright Jr., C. Lawyers and Professionalism: A Lawyer Walks into a CLE. Practice the simple, but important, gestures of greetings and handshakes between opposing counsel before and after court appearances and other meetings.
  • Take particular care with digital communication. Pause (perhaps permanently) before hitting “send” on emails and texts. As one former judge explained, “[W]e are bolder behind keyboards than we are in courtrooms, and more vocal with the imagined security of a mute button than we would be otherwise.” Judge Christopher C. Conner, Professionalism and the Business of Law, 32 Com. P. Prac. & Disc. 2. Rather than sending — or replying to — a harsh email or text message, consider picking up the telephone.
  • Even beyond our practices, find opportunities to talk with peers with different viewpoints. Exercise those skills that we learned in law school: listen, discern, and even disagree with civility.
  • Find ways to interact — support and be supported by — other members of the profession. The tendency to “bowl alone” and work in silos began well before the 2020 pandemic, but it increased dramatically during that period. The benefits of encouragement, guidance, and mentorship remain vital, and we should look for opportunities for those kinds of mutual support.

The NCBA, local bar associations, and affinity bars provide vital resources for our efforts to promote civility, professionalism and professional wellness. If you’re not engaged already, please join us.

Rob Harrington serves as president of the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Foundation.