Lawyer Well-being

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 1 Pg. 38
• Pages: 38
• Date: 01 January 2025

Lawyer Well-BeingNo. Vol. 38 No. 1 Pg. 38Utah Bar JournalJanuary, 2025

Dealing with the Difficult Lawyer

by Andrew M. Morse

The difficult lawyer. The one who insults, degrades, and bullies and is simply difficult. We struggle to cope with their ever-worsening behavior. This article describes the behavior, how the Utah State Bar and other legal organizations have responded, how to handle the behavior, and finally, how to avoid becoming a difficult lawyer.

Most of us are kind and reasonable. We get along and work well with opposing counsel and the court. We have learned that this is the most peaceful and effective way to live and practice. Yet a small minority of lawyers are pills. They fight, refuse stipulations, brag, degrade, insult, abuse, and bully. The cadre of difficult lawyers aren't confined to miserable old misogynists, but include lawyers of all genders and ages.

I haven't the training or expertise to explain why they behave badly. My commentary, rather, is grounded in forty years in the trial trenches, and nine years at the helm of a fifty-lawyer firm (Snow Christensen & Martineau (1886-2024)) that featured generations of lawyers who prided themselves on their reputations for civility and honor.

The Problem.

We have all experienced difficult lawyers. They tell us we do not know what we are doing, that we are incompetent, even stupid. We have seen their dishonesty, suffered through their disruptive abuses in deposition, read their thirty-seven blanket objections to discovery requests followed by an evasive non-answer. We have gone to the expense of proving facts at trial that were not disputed, but did not garner a simple stipulation from the difficult lawyer.

Legal Entities' Responses.

Twenty years ago, the Utah Supreme Court adopted the Standards of Professionalism and Civility (Rule 14-301 of the Rules Governing the Utah State Bar). These twenty rules are aspirational. Violating them will not directly lead to an attorney's discipline, yet they are a very useful guide to proper conduct.

Likewise, the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) in 2009, published the Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct (Code). It details the qualities of trial lawyers and their obligations to clients, colleagues, the court, and to the system of justice. It details proper and honorable motion and pre-trial procedures, discovery practices, and relationships with witnesses and litigants. Unfortunately, the lawyers who need to follow that Code often seem to be the last ones exposed to it, to read it, or be inclined to change their behavior. Nonetheless, these two resources are very valuable guides into how to conduct yourself in every aspect of your practice. More about that later.

Coping.

You have a...