From the Yld President
| Publication year | 2016 |
| Pages | 0010 |
JENNIFER C. MOCK, YLD President
State Bar of Georgia
jennifer@mocklaw.com
Respecting the Profession
Reflecting on his stellar career in the 1980s and 1990s, Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg once said, “I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.”
That philosophy can easily be translated from the baseball diamond to serve as a basis for the ideal of professionalism in the practice of law. We have all been taught to never, ever disrespect our opposing counsel, our colleagues, our law firm, our judges or our courts and never, ever the privilege we have to represent our clients as members of the legal profession.
Most of us consider ethical and professional conduct a “given” in the practice of law. Professionalism comes to mind only when it is time to fulfill the annual CLE credit requirement and, on the unfortunate and hopefully rare occasions when we must deal with an uncooperative, unethical and, yes, unprofessional attorney.
In my opinion, clients are better served when their lawyers exhibit common courtesy and respect for their colleagues, including opposing counsel, instead of taking an arrogant, bullying “my-way-or-the-highway” approach.
Being a lawyer is so much more than fighting to win on every single issue. It also requires an ability to pick our battles and to ensure the outcome of each case is as fair and equitable as possible.
Fortunately, professionalism has long been a top priority in Georgia’s legal community. In 1989, the Supreme Court of Georgia created the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, the first of its kind in the nation. With representation from the organized bar, practicing bar, judiciary, law schools and the public, the commission serves as the institutional framework for sustaining an environment that fosters professionalism in the legal community.
The commission’s work focuses on educational programming; periodic recommendations to the State Bar, the judiciary and the law schools in Georgia; and coordination of professionalism activities of the organized bar, courts, law schools and law firms.
The Supreme Court also amended Georgia’s mandatory CLE rule to require all active Georgia lawyers to complete one h our of professionalism CLE each year. The requirement’s objective, according to the State Bar website, “is to create a forum in which lawyers, judges and legal educators can explore the meaning and aspirations of professionalism in contemporary legal practice and reflect upon the fundamental...
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