Friday, October 18, 2013

I will respect the rulings of the Court.

Full Quote from the Texas Lawyer's Creed 

“I will respect the rulings of the Court."

 
At first reading, I thought “Ha!  I got the easy one!  This one is a no-brainer.”  Most of us respect and honor not only our judges individually but also their rulings – even the ones that we may not think are the “right” ones.  However, upon further contemplation, I realized there is a bit more to this statement than simply following the letter of the law.

I find it very notable that the line reads “respect”.  Not “follow” or “abide by” but “respect”.  Respect is more than simply meeting the written obligations or restrictions of a ruling.  To me, respect requires that I impart to my client the gravity and weight of a court’s decision.  It is important that I convey the full meaning and consequences of the court’s decision to the client.    This is, of course, simple when the ruling has come out in my client’s favor.  The challenge is when we do not agree with a court’s decision.  It is sometimes tempting to bad mouth a court’s ruling or a particular judge to our client in an effort to explain an unsatisfactory outcome.  However, this is another important time for us all to remember that it’s not about us and our personal opinions.  It’s about the litigants and perhaps more importantly, the entire court process. Our system provides for relief if it’s in our client’s best interests to challenge a ruling.   However, denigrating a court’s decision to a client is not the answer.  If we fail to respect the court, then we cannot expect litigants to show the court the respect it deserves.  Frankly, we as attorneys are part of the overall court process.  If we disparage the court, we are in a sense disparaging ourselves.  Just like when we tell parents not to disparage the other parent in front of the children, we should not disparage a court ruling in front of our clients.  We are called upon to model respect for the court which in turn means respect for the court’s rulings. It is often our own behavior that influences the behavior of our clients.  If we do not show proper deference and respect, then we can never expect the general public to do so.

Submitted by Dana Floyd Manry, Attorney at Law
Hurst, Texas 

No comments:

Post a Comment