president’s message
Promoting Professionalism
By Lynn M. Roberson
Swift Currie McGhee & Hiers LLP
T
he Atlanta Lawyer this month focuses our attention on
the importance of promoting professionalism. I view
this task as the primary role of our bar association. We
have all dealt with those attorneys who make our professional
lives more difficult deliberately – because somehow they
believe that behaving in an obnoxious manner is somehow
advantageous to their clients. Those misinformed attorneys
are generally not active in the bar association. Every lawyer
I know who is active in their bar association represents our
legal community well. When one is well acquainted with
the other members of our legal community, it is much more
difficult to be a “difficult” lawyer. So get involved and improve
upon your professional reputation!
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The primary way I have learned that we as practicing lawyers
can keep our eye on the ball regarding professionalism is to
communicate with our adversaries more. Judges complain
to me frequently of the litigators in their courtrooms never
communicating with each other except through formal
discovery and motions which frequently can degenerate
into spats which ultimately come to the judge’s attention
in the form of discovery or other motions including mutual
accusations of misbehavior. I have heard from these judges
that such disputes are one of the banes of their existence.
And let’s face it; they have lots of other difficult issues on
their platters without having to deal with the squabbles of
feuding lawyers.
few days letter I received plaintiff’s written discovery to the
defendant and a notice for my client’s deposition to be taken
on the same date beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the opposing
attorney’s office! I was really bent out of shape at the
audacity of this move since my own client’s deposition had
never been asked for nor discussed! So I called the attorney
and spoke to his assistant and pointed out that 1) we had
not discussed my client’s deposition and I had never agreed
to make her available on that same date, 2) she was NOT
going to be available on the same date, and 3) her deposition
was NOT going to be taken in the opposing lawyer’s office.
Shortly thereafter, I received a letter from the lawyer faxed
to my office decrying my obstreperous conduct and accusing
me of refusing to participate in legitimate discovery. I was
now really STEAMED! So I started drafting my letter back
to the attorney when I noticed my computer was beginning
to emit smoke and steam. I then reminded myself that I
was speaking on a panel the next week at the Atlanta Bar
Litigation Section’s seminar entitled, “We Can Work it Out,”
so I should probably make another effort to work it out. I
called the attorney and was lucky enough to be put through
to the attorney (he probably instructed his staff to send me
straight to him if I called now). I introduced myself and said,
“I wonder if maybe we are getting off on the wrong foot here.”
He agreed we probably were and we had a very agreeable
chat and never had another difficult moment through the final
resolution of the case. So the next time you feel your in