“I will not, without good cause, attribute bad motives or unethical conduct to opposing counsel nor bring the profession into disrepute by unfounded accusations of impropriety. I will avoid disparaging personal remarks or acrimony towards opposing counsel, parties and witnesses. I will not be influenced by any ill feeling between clients. I will abstain from any allusion to personal peculiarities or idiosyncrasies of opposing counsel."
Unfortunately, at times attorneys seem to forget that yes, you may have had to do a motion to compel and request sanctions. However, if the other attorney did not have bad intentions for being late with discovery or other response is it really necessary to have a full hearing and demand sanctions?? I was actually accused of going soft on an attorney and not demanding sanctions against an attorney who had been very ill and I was shocked that someone thought I had violated my duty of zealous representation without the person knowing the entire story. So, I learned a lesson and it made me think about my own assumptions I have made against other attorneys.
On another issue, we do a disservice to our profession every time we talk poorly of another attorney or judge to non-attorneys - our clients, our friends, our family. I know I have personally been challenged on this issue. I may discuss with my husband or another person who I felt that a certain attorney was unethical or may have said other disparaging remarks. I challenge each one of you and myself, to make it a point to say something really good about an attorney or judge that you know to at least one non- attorneys. For example, you could say, “wow you would not believe how great it is that we have a local attorney Diane Wanger, who has spearheaded a local effort to bring ethical issues to the forefront of our practice once again and boy is she making a great impact”. Or, “Wow, you should have seen how great Judge X did in court today. He/she was so even tempered to both parties and listened to each side and handed down a fair order for both parties that was in the best interest of the children”.
Let’s face it word of mouth is the best advertisement. Let’s get the word out that we don’t hate each other, that we are, as a whole, a profession that deserves respect.
Submitted by Karon L. Rowden, Attorney at Law
Fort Worth, Texas
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