67 The Alabama Lawyer 180 (2006). Beyond Mere Ethics - Improving Professionalism In the Practice of Law.

• Author: BY CHARLES I. NELSON and JUSTIN L. GARRETT, II

The Alabama Lawyer

2006.

67 The Alabama Lawyer 180 (2006).

Beyond Mere Ethics - Improving Professionalism In the Practice of Law

Beyond Mere Ethics: Improving Professionalism In the Practice of LawBY CHARLES I. NELSON and JUSTIN L. GARRETT, II As the Watergate scandal unfolded in the early 1970s, it was clear that many lawyers were involved. As a result, a public hue and cry arose for stricter regulation of lawyers. At that time, many thought that the relatively new ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility addressed nearly all questions worth considering.(fn1) The Kutak Commission concluded that additional ethical standards were needed and the ABA adopted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 1983.

Even as ethical rules were being redrafted, the bench and bar noted other disturbing trends in the behavior of lawyers. The term "unprofessional" came to describe behaviors that were neither illegal nor unethical, but were almost universally agreed to be undesirable. Numerous causes were assigned for the decline in professionalism, including the unique stresses of modern society, pressures to increase billable hours, increased competition for clients as lawyer advertising became legal, scorched-earth litigation tactics, and a prevailing attitude that winning is everything.

Realizing that it is not enough for lawyers to be merely ethical, the profession wrote rules governing behaviors not regulated by criminal codes or ethics rules. The resulting codes of civility and professional conduct were widely adopted. In 1992, the Alabama State Bar Board of Bar Commissioners adopted a Code of Professional Courtesy.(fn2) In 1999, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association adopted Standards of Professional Conduct.(fn3) The new codes, however, were generally cast in precatory language.

It is clear that professional values cannot be imposed by rule or decree. In spite of that reality, the bar is not powerless to effect change. This article suggests a few things that ordinary lawyers can do to improve professionalism.

Master the mundane aspects of practicing law

No ethical rule is violated if you are five or ten minutes late for a client appointment. Still, if tardiness becomes customary, it reflects poorly on your professionalism. Develop a reputation for being on time for appointments, depositions, and court appearances. Pay your court reporter invoices with the same celerity with which...