Professionalism? What's that?

• Author: Smith, William Reece, Jr.
• Position: Florida

"A profession is a group of individuals pursuing a learned art as a common calling in the spirit of public service..."[1]

Roscoe Pound

What? We now have a Center for Professionalism in Tallahassee? Where did it come from? And what is professionalism anyway?

The center is the result of a joint venture of the Supreme Court of Florida and The Florida Bar. Its existence is a tribute to the inspired leadership of the court, especially that of Justice Harry Lee Anstead, strongly supported by the chief justice and other colleagues. It is also a tribute to the protracted effort of The Florida Bar's Standing Committee on Professionalism which was successively led over several years of preliminary study by federal Judge William M. Hoeveler, Judge John T. Luzzo, Justice Anstead, and "Chip" Bachara. Former Florida Bar presidents John DeVault III and John W. Frost II likewise deserve great credit for their leadership in implementing the professionalism initiative.

A Commission on Professionalism, the members of which are jointly appointed by the Supreme Court and the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar, also is now in place. The commission oversees the center, which is funded by The Florida Bar and directed by Florida Bar staff member Paul Remillard. A small but dedicated staff is working with Remillard to develop a library of materials addressing professionalism issues, directing the Bar's ethics school program, speaking about professionalism to bar associations throughout the state, and implementing a series of regional symposia on that subject.

Why this seemingly sudden emphasis on professionalism, whatever it is? Actually, the emphasis is not so sudden. Our profession has long asserted a claim to high ideals and ethical practices as well as a commitment of unselfish service to the public and the profession. Interest in the subject of professionalism, however, is said to have been renewed by the Watergate scandal, in which a number of lawyers were implicated. Tragic though it was, Watergate had at least one salutary effect. It caused the profession to reflect on itself and to place increased emphasis on professional ethics and conduct. In law schools, for example, teaching legal ethics and professional responsibility gained respect as a scholarly pursuit.

But in the years following Watergate, the practice of law was also changing. Society in general was becoming more rights- and consumer-oriented. Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States altered longstanding professional practices regarding such matters as the employment of minimum fee schedules and prohibitions against lawyer advertising and solicitation. Public awareness of the law and lawyers was heightening. The law was becoming demystified and the number of lawyers was growing by geometric proportion. Competition for clients and fees was increasing. Practices once limited to commercial activities were becoming commonplace in the practice of law. Lawyers were more discourteous and uncivil in adversary proceedings. The billable hour and the bottom line threatened to replace completely the profession's proclaimed commitment to public service as the primary objective of lawyers.

These and other conditions caused concerned members of the legal profession to express fear that professionalism in the law was rapidly becoming commercialism. In their view, social, economic, and regulatory change was causing a severe decline, if not the actual demise, of shared professional ideals and practices. As they saw it, a crisis had developed.

Not all lawyers agreed. Some practitioners either didn't pay much attention to the alleged crisis or didn't care if professional mores were changing or, perhaps, didn't realize law practice once was different.

Some legal scholars expressed thoughtful skepticism about the professionalism alarm. Some asked whether the so-called crisis was new or merely a continuation of turmoil extant in the American legal profession...