September 2009

That "Other" Professional Value

The public good as a professional obligation

by WSBA President Mark Johnson

In 1898, nine years after Washington became a state, the first petition to strike the name of a lawyer "from the rolls" — known as disbarment today — was filed by the Attorney General with our Supreme Court.

The unfortunate attorney was Mr. W.D. Lambuth and the alleged offense was using coarse language in a petition for rehearing. In the allegedly offensive pleading, Counselor Lambuth wrote: "It is respectfully submitted to the Court, with all deference to the individual judges thereof that the decision in this case could not appear more prejudiced and biased in favor of the intervenors, and more liberal towards them, if the Court had been under hypnotic suggestion at the hands of the intervenors and the capitalists engaged in the buying and selling and dealing in lumber and shingles." In re Lambuth, 18 Wash. 478 (1898).

The Supreme Court, citing 2 Hills Code 2nd Section 94, stated that lawyers were required to "… maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers," and to "… abstain from all offensive personality."

In response to the petition, attorney Lambuth asked leave of the Court to withdraw the comments, stating that he: "… had no intention or purpose, direct or remote, to be disrespectful to the Court or to be discourteous, or to use language in any way discourteous or contemptuous…" He also said that if his language was "disrespectful or discourteous" it was so "…without any, even the remotest intention or design and it was only so by being written hurriedly and thoughtlessly…" Id. 479–480.

Ultimately, the Court did allow Mr. Lambuth to strike the comments from the record, but not before cautioning lawyers that "attorneys themselves are vitally concerned in preventing the vocation from being sullied by the conduct of unworthy members." Id., 480.

In re Lambuth is the earliest discussion by our Court of "professionalism," a collection of values that guide us in our professional relationships and which include respect for the courts, civility to our opponents and others, confidentiality, competence, honesty, diligence, loyalty (independent judgment), and communication.

But our professional obligations are more expansive than those fundamental to the attorney-client relationship. The Preamble and Scope to our Rules of Professional Conduct remind us that: "As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession…. A lawyer should be mindful of the deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel." See Preamble and Scope, Washington Rules of Professional Conduct [6].

RPC 6.1 instructs us that: "Every lawyer has a professional obligation to assist in the provision of legal services to those unable to pay" and that we should "aspire" to render 30 hours of pro bono per year. The comments to RPC 6.1 inform us that there are two ways to fulfill our Court's expectation that each of us serve the disadvantaged and our communities (religious, charitable, community, civil rights organizations, etc.). Comment [1] provides: "Every lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional workload, has a responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay, and personal involvement in the problems of the disadvantaged can be one of the most rewarding experiences in the life of a lawyer." Comment [9] recognizes that there are times when it is not feasible for lawyers to provide pro bono services. In that circumstance, the Court tells us: "At such times a lawyer may discharge the pro bono responsibility by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. Such financial support should be reasonably equivalent to the value of the hours of service that would have otherwise been provided."

Don Curran, of the Delay, Curran, Thompson, Pontarolo and Walker firm in Spokane, practices in the areas of tort law and legal ethics and will be celebrating his 50th year in practice in 2010. Don has a lengthy and continuing legacy of public service and pro bono work. When I asked him why he did it, he told me, "There is nothing more satisfying than using my legal abilities to help someone in need. They are grateful for the help, I am grateful for the opportunity to have helped them, and when we part company, they always have a positive impression of lawyers."

The past year has been a difficult one for many people but particularly so for the disadvantaged and the organizations, including the legal service organizations, that serve them. Washington's lawyers, individually, through our county bar volunteer lawyer programs, and through a new partnership created between the WSBA and the Legal Foundation of Washington (LFW), have stepped up in an unprecedented fashion — but the needs continue to exceed the dollars and the hours. There are at least three ways that lawyers can contribute to closing the gap: (1) volunteer with the WSBA's Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project. To do this, go to the WSBA's homepage,  www.wsba.org, and click on the project link icon; (2) volunteer with a county bar volunteer lawyer program — the WSBA website has a webpage listing all of the county bars (www.wsba.org/lawyers/countybarassociations.htm) and the Legal Foundation of Washington website has a page listing of all of the LFW's grantees, including the county bar volunteer lawyer programs supported by LFW grants. To access the LFW grants page, go to the LWF homepage (www.legalfoundation.org), click first on the "Grants" link and then on the "Grant Recipients" link; (3) donate to the Campaign for Equal Justice (C4EJ). The Campaign's web address is www.c4ej.org. There is also a link to the C4EJ's webpage on LFW's homepage. Simply access the LWF's homepage and click on the "Donate" icon.

We embrace our professional values, not only because of what we do, but also because of who we are, and there has never been a time when more people needed lawyers and more lawyers were needed to embrace that "other" professional value — altruism. 

WSBA President Mark Johnson can be reached at 206-386-5566 or mark@johnsonflora.com.