June 1999

Professionalism and Civility: Are We Making Any Progress?

by M. Wayne Blair
WSBA President

When Bill Gates was President of the Washington State Bar Association in 1986, his theme for the year was improving professionalism. Twelve years later, in 1998, ABA President Jerome Shestack chose "Promoting Professionalism" as the central issue of his term in office. Linda Strout, President of the King County Bar Association, wrote her May 1999 column for the King County Bar Bulletin on professionalism. The WSBA Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee has held many town meetings with lawyers over the past three months in Bellevue, Kennewick, Wenatchee, Bellingham, Vancouver, Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Olympia, and at the Washington Young Lawyers Division Annual Meeting. One of the issues consistently raised by members in these town meetings is the unsatisfactory state of professionalism and civility by, between and among lawyers. Clearly, it continues to be an issue. I believe, however, we are making progress.

Although often used, the term professionalism remains conceptually vague. Having read much in the last decade about professionalism within the legal profession, I would describe it as having four basic features: (1) a commitment to lifelong learning of the law in which the lawyer is constantly striving to improve his or her skills and knowledge; (2) an adherence to the highest ethical standards, including integrity and civility; (3) service to one's clients with competence, dedication and independence; and (4) service to the legal profession and to the public, including a commitment to promote justice, improve the legal profession, and provide pro bono legal services.

The aspect of professionalism that I wish to focus on in this column is "civility." It is one of the areas that most challenge lawyers in their practices, which are inherently adversarial.

As president of the King County Bar Association in 1987-88, I initiated a project to develop guidelines of professional courtesy at the suggestion of lawyer Maria Regimbal. Over the next year, a committee of the King County Bar Association developed these guidelines, which were approved by the Board of Trustees in January 1989 and revised in 1992. These professional courtesy guidelines are a statement of principles intended to guide individual conduct beyond the minimum requirements for lawyers found in the Rules of Professional Conduct. They are not rules, and are not intended to be treated like rules. These guidelines are worthy of your consideration. The 10 basic principles are:

1. A lawyer should treat others with courtesy and respect.
2. A lawyer should honor promises or commitments.
3. A lawyer should never knowingly deceive another.
4. A lawyer should make reasonable efforts to schedule matters with other counsel by agreement.
5. A lawyer should be timely in responding to other lawyers, and considerate of their time.
6. A lawyer should not seek sanctions against opposing counsel for mere tactical advantage.
7. A lawyer should not make unfounded accusations of unethical conduct about opposing counsel.
8. A lawyer should be punctual.
9. A lawyer should seek informal agreement on procedural and preliminary matters.
10. A lawyer should not engage in invidious discrimination.

Copies of these Guidelines of Professional Courtesy, with explanation, are available through the King County Bar Association at 206-624-9365. While the guidelines in essence describe common courtesy, imagine how much easier our relations with others would be if we all acted accordingly.

Early in my term as WSBA President, Judge Thomas S. Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington wrote to me. He had two lawyers who had so misbehaved in his court that he ordered them to attend a WSBA seminar on professionalism and civility within the next six months. The lawyers reported back to him six months later that no such seminar existed. Judge Zilly was astonished. Although the WSBA has an ethics component in all of its seminars, no specific seminar on professionalism and civility was available. I am pleased to report that this circumstance is about to change.

Following up on Judge Zilly's letter, Jan Michels and I met with Judge Zilly, and then with the WSBA Professionalism Committee, chaired by Ed Wolfe. As a result, the Professionalism Committee, in collaboration with the WSBA's Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Continuing Legal Education Department, is sponsoring the seminar "Ethics, Professionalism and Civility: The Hard Questions" on Friday morning, September 24 in downtown Seattle. The Professionalism Committee promises an interesting and interactive program with a panel of experts, including Judge Zilly.

My 31 years of practicing law convinces me that lawyers can be effective advocates and at the same time be decent people who are courteous and respectful of others. While many anecdotes remain of the troubling conduct of some lawyers, most of us take our obligations as professionals seriously and treat others with the same courtesy and respect that we desire.

I believe that we are making progress to be civil and professional, despite many reports to the contrary. Lawyers, I believe, are more aware of acting professionally and are in my opinion doing better. Of course, I cannot prove this statement. It is simply an observation from having worked with and talked to many lawyers in this state over the past few years. We need quite simply to continue to emphasize professionalism in our practices, and, as we work together, to strive for continuous improvement.

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