Chapter 10 The World Is Round—And Very Small

• Jurisdiction: United States

Chapter 10 The World Is Round—And Very Small

Goodness knows that the ethics of our legal profession is not held in high regard. The noted American journalist H.L. Mencken once defined a lawyer as "one who protects us against robbery by taking away the temptation." Then there are the never-ending lawyer jokes:

Q: How does a lawyer sleep?
A: First he lies on one side, then he lies on the other.

I suspect that much of this derision comes from the fact that those who need our services are not in a good place when they summon us. My good late friend and beloved fellow mediator, Joe Giarrusso, eloquently gave us the other side of the coin:

I serve up a succession, maneuver a merger, confect a contract, irritate the IRS, analyze an act of sale, provide for the pariah, right wrongs (of any kind or type), circumnavigate City Hall, protect the public, create corporations, destroy discrimination, repair reputations. And . . . at the end of the day after doing all this, find time to even trample a traffic ticket for a friend or neighbor. I am a lawyer. I am a judge. I gave you Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon, Griswold, Cruzan, Mapp v. Ohio, New York Times v. Sullivan, Furman, Yoder v. Wisconsin, Miranda, and Cohen v. California. I am a lawyer.

If the classic TV sitcom Seinfeld is more your cup of tea, our calling reminds us of the wise words of Cosmo Kramer explaining his golf dispute with someone who tried to clean his ball lying on the fairway:

A rule's a rule, and without rules—there's chaos!

As advocates in mediation, never forget that you are considered a lawyer practicing law, and thus subject to our canons of ethics. We call yet one more time on our Basque decree to "speak the truth." A mediation setting can be a land mine of ethical considerations for the unsuspecting advocate. Recall that your opposition, in the opening session, is allowed to speak directly across the table to your client, uncensored by your pre-mediation advice. Although Canon...