Can’t we all just get along!?

When I stood at the podium last May, I discussed three primary goals for my term as OCBA President, namely, work life balance, health and wellness, and professionalism. This month we celebrate our professionalism award recipients, so I want to first congratulate each of them on a job well done, and second, do my best to relay to each of you why professionalism is important more now than ever before.

I was awarded the Lawrence G. Mathews, Jr. professionalism award back in 2018, about 1-month before my daughter Cameron was born. I remember being very humbled and excited to win the award, but also concerned my water may break on the stage during my speech! One of the things I mentioned in my speech, and later in my article in the Briefs, is that it is okay to disagree, but you don’t need to be disagreeable.

I have been practicing for 18 years, and while each year I tend to encounter at least one attorney on the other side of the case that gets under my skin, makes derogatory comments, raises his or her voice, or outright does something that warrants a grievance being filed, things have gotten progressively worse since the pandemic. In 2020 and into 2021, attorneys seemed nicer, more collaborative, and had that thing called “empathy” I spoke about in a prior article. This is likely because we were all scared, not sure whether we were going to live or die or whether our family was going to be okay, and so for once, we were focused on attempting to work together to resolve cases instead insulting of each other, serving a complaint on Christmas, or purposefully propounding discovery so that the responses are due the day before Thanksgiving. After doing this for 18 years, I am honestly disgusted by some of the conduct I have seen, and I’m hearing more and more colleagues question whether litigation is even worth doing.

I honestly wish, however, that we could go back to how it was during the pandemic, sans the coronavirus obviously, and just stop trying to pad the bill, making the other side “pay”, and doing everything you can to ruin opposing counsel’s day. It doesn’t need to be like this. I have lost count of the number of cases where I offered a settlement on day 10 of the case that the other side refused to accept, essentially calling me crazy, and then 6 months later and tens of thousands of dollars later, the case is settling for almost that exact offer. Why did we have to spend the last 6 months fighting and spending our client’s money? Why can’t we just be reasonable and stop trying to prove something?

During this month, which focuses on professionalism, we should sit back and reflect on how we handle ourselves during litigation and question whether it is really in our client’s best interest or is it just to prove something or to meet a certain billable hour requirement? I urge all of our members to have a little empathy, and not only put yourself in your client’s shoes, but put yourself in the opposing side’s shoes. Maybe if we do this, and we set our pride aside for a little while, we can come to a creative resolution for our clients in a much more efficient manner and truly serve our client’s best interests.

Instead of sharing a book this month, I have two of my favorite professionalism quotes that I would like to share. The first is from David Maister, “Professionalism is not a label you give yourself – it’s a description you hope others will apply to you.” This quote underscores the importance of perception and reputation in the legal field. As attorneys, our professionalism is judged by other attorneys, judges, clients, and our peers. It is important that we build a reputation for reliability, competence, and ethics so that others describe you as professional, ethical, and fair.

The second quote is from John Wooden and he states, “Your reputation is what others think of you; your character is what you truly are.” This quote highlights the difference between reputation and character. We all care dearly about our reputation, and we certainly should, but if we have character, we won’t need to worry about our reputation because our character will shine through. In the words, if you have strong character and a strong reputation, that professionalism label will follow. Character reflects our fundamental values, principles, and behavior.

As attorneys we need to demonstrate our character, integrity, and professionalism in all interactions whether we are speaking to a judge or a janitor. The tone and demeanor of the conversation should not change. I ask that each of you think twice before you send that email or make that derogatory comment. We are here to do what is in the best interests of our clients and I highly doubt that means you must attack opposing counsel. Zealous advocacy should never include acting unprofessional or unethical.

Thank you.