Advocacy. Defusing Bullies

• Author: Heidi K. Brown
• Pages: 28-30

ABA JOURNAL | WINTER 2019-2020

28

Many individuals in our

profession—attorneys,

judges, clients—have

high expectations of

themselves, others and the profession.

They are intelligent and hardworking,

yet they also are kind, considerate and

respectful in interpersonal interactions.

Engaging in intellectual debates with

these folks—tough negotiations, oral

arguments, disagreements over legal

strategy—feels ful lling, motivating

even.

It is not mutually exclusive to be

a successful, assertive and ambitious

member of our profession yet also be

nice. Contrast this with the bullying

behavior that unfortunately happens

in law of ces, courtrooms, deposition

rooms and boardrooms across the

country. Law students, lawyers, legal

assistants, support staff, court reporters

and even judges endure bullying from

individuals who often are excused as

“strong personalities,” “eccentric rain-

makers,” “results-driven” or “just under

a lot of pressure.”

When I encountered such characters

in law practice, I erroneously assumed

their behavior was the direct result of

me making some sort of mistake. Like, I

should have been tougher, louder, better,

edited by

BLAIR CHAVIS & LIANE JACKSON

blair.chavis@americanbar.org

liane.jackson@americanbar.org

Illustration by Brenan Sharp/Shutterstock

Practice Matters

ADVOCAC Y

Defusing Bullies

We can be smart, ambitious and accomplished members

of the legal profession without being jerks

BY HEIDI K. BROWN

quicker on my feet, clairvoyant, meaner.

After a decade of re ection, studying

myself and how law practice affected

my mental and physical health and that

of colleagues, I realize, no. These people

were bullies, plain and simple.

We rarely talk about how to ef-

fectively stand up to or defuse bullies

in the legal profession. We lament a

decline in civility. We reaccentuate

standards of professionalism. But when

do we teach junior attorneys how to

mentally and physically recalibrate in

a bullying moment, and if, when and

how to substantively respond to the

offender? We can do more than just talk

about civility problems or advise targets

of bad behavior to “just toughen up” or

“just stand up for yourself.”

Taking a hard look at bullying does

not mean we are going to reduce the

intellectual rigor of our profession or

lower standards of excellence in our

work environments. Working in a legal

environment obviously takes grit and