Professionalism Page
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0065 |
You Can't Make This Stuff Up
The next time you hear a presumably far-fetched fact pattern in a professionalism CLE or you wonder why a professionalism presenter is talking about something that is apparently obvious, remember there is a reason why.
BY KARLISE Y. GRIER
Often when I present for professionalism CLE trainings, I use hypothetical problems. There are times when attendees seem to feel that the hypothetical problems are "unrealistic" despite the fact that they are usually taken from real life fact patterns where the names have been changed.
Many times, the hypotheticals I use come from disciplinary cases or from reading the pages of the Daily Report or other legal news. Let's look at a few examples, but before I begin, I want to reiterate the late Justice Harold Clarke's now iconic words regarding the difference between ethics and professionalism. Justice Clarke wrote: "[E]thics is a minimum standard required of all lawyers while professionalism is a higher standard expected of all lawyers."[1] I try to use hypothetical that either ask lawyers to consider the difference between ethics or professionalism or that ask lawyers to consider the choices they make when aspiring to act with professionalism. So, let's consider a few examples.
In December 2021 and January 2022, I had conversations with two individuals in very distinct areas of practice that informed me they were seeing increased incivility in emails. As a result, I did a search for lawyer
email incivility. I was shocked by what I discovered. For example, in a Dec. 11, 2019, ABA Journal article, an attorney in California faced sanctions for language he used in emails that made me blush.[2] Since I train on professionalism, not ethics, I created a hypothetical problem based on this article by cutting and pasting toned-down, non-profane words for some of the actual language the attorney used in his emails. One part of the hypothetical problem I created, however, quoted directly from the article because the attorney facing sanctions told one lawyer in a written email "I know where you live[.]" You can't make this stuff up. Note that the lawyer who was the subject of the article sent the emails before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since the pandemic began more than two years ago, I believe we are all a bit more tired and a bit more stressed. My nerves are frayed and I suspect yours are...
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