PROFESSIONALISM CORNER
PROFESSIONALISM CORNER
Professionalism by Cooperation( Continued)
MARK R. OSHEROW
That credibility is not merely personal. It belongs, in part, to the client. When a lawyer is trusted, the client’ s position is more likely to be heard on the merits. When a lawyer exaggerates, delays, or attacks unnecessarily, even a good argument may lose force. Professionalism, therefore, is not separate from client service. It is a form of client service.
For that reason, professionalism can be practiced through repeatable habits. Call before filing the motion when a real conversation may solve the problem. State discovery objections with enough specificity that the other side understands what is actually disputed. Grant reasonable courtesies without using them as leverage. Correct a mistake before someone else has to expose it. Do not let a client’ s frustration become the lawyer’ s tone. These habits do not weaken advocacy. They make advocacy more credible.
The Palm Beach County legal community understands this well. We practice in a community large enough to handle complex, high-stakes matters, but still connected enough that reputation follows us. Today’ s opposing counsel may be tomorrow’ s co-counsel, mediator, referral source, committee colleague, or judge. That reality should not make us timid advocates. It should make us thoughtful and careful ones.
The same is true within our own offices. Professionalism is not limited to courtroom behavior or lawyer-to-lawyer interactions. It includes how we communicate with clients, how we supervise staff, how we bill, how we manage expectations, and how we respond when a case becomes stressful. Support personnel should not be placed in the middle of hostility between lawyers. Clients should not be encouraged to view every opponent as dishonest or every judge as unfair. The tone we set becomes the tone others follow.
Professionalism also requires self-awareness. Litigation is demanding. Deadlines, client pressure, financial concerns, and the emotional weight of disputes can affect judgment. Lawyers are not immune from frustration. But professionalism asks us to pause before sending the unnecessary email, making the personal remark, or escalating a dispute that could be resolved. Sometimes the most professional act is not dramatic. It is taking a long pause or substantial time consuming reflection before responding. It requires us to find outlets for our frustration, particularly through the important relationships with our colleagues and friends within the legal community that we foster for emotional support. It requires us to find avenues to deescalate our encounters with opposing counsel.
The Florida Bar’ s renewed emphasis on professionalism is a reminder that our obligations are not satisfied by avoiding discipline. Ethics rules set minimum standards. Professionalism calls us to something higher: competence, candor, courtesy, fairness, and respect for the administration of justice. Those values are not mere ornaments to the practice of law. They are part of what makes the practice possible.
The measure of professionalism is not whether lawyers avoid conflict. Conflict is part of litigation. The measure is whether we handle conflict in a way that honors the court, serves the client, and preserves the profession. What is different now is that the rules increasingly expect that kind of professionalism at the front end of the case, not after time and resources have already been incurred. In Palm Beach County, and throughout our State, that expectation should not be viewed as a burden. It is an opportunity to show that strong advocacy and professional conduct are not competing values when properly understood. They are the same commitment, to foster the practice of law, and enhance who we each are within the legal community.
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PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 21