Checking your professionalism at the door is not a prerequisite to being an advocate for your clients. If anything, to be an excellent advocate for your clients, maintaining the highest degree of professionalism is a critical and necessary skill. While it is a skill that can be elusive at times and particularly so in contentious matters with difficult opposing counsel in trying seasons of life, it is not one that is out of reach. We can all be professional, civil and courteous and those can be our calling cards or our default settings. While battling across the "v.", we can all say and do what we need to do for our clients in ways that don't act as a disservice to our profession or to one another. Not only can we, but it is incumbent upon us to do so at every opportunity that we have.
Maintaining a high degree of professionalism and civility in challenging circumstances is crucial because of the invaluable message it sends and the example that it sets for other practitioners of the Bar—both novice and veteran—regarding the standard that we should all aspire to meet in how we interact with one another, not just as lawyers, but as human beings. How many of us have heard the old adage "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?" Probably all of us. How many of us in our cases have always followed that advice to a tee when dealing with that opposing counsel who goes out of his or her way to be a pain in our derriere? If we're being honest, probably far fewer of us.
If you have ever had a moment where a thorny opposing counsel got the better of you, take heart. That moment (or those moments) need not define you or the level of professionalism you are known for or exhibit. If you struggle when dealing with challenging opponents, find an accountability partner within your firm that can help you navigate those challenges, and try to remember that if you really want to get one over on that opposing counsel, you'll let him or her have it by not letting him or her have it. I know that's an effective strategy; I've seen it in action.
One of the most influential attorneys that I have crossed paths with over the course of my career is an attorney that I have yet to be on the same side of a case, and I admire and esteem her greatly. Our first case together was a high-stakes, emotionally draining and contentious case. At the time, I was an associate on the case working under a partner who, at times, did not exhibit the highest degree of professionalism in the case. Throughout the matter, this attorney always did, and she did so while advocating zealously for her client. Observing and learning how she handled the dynamics of that case and how she reached across that "v." into enemy territory so to speak and did so with grace, poise, and the full measure of professionalism, made a lasting impression on me. And I can only imagine how many others that have had the privilege of working with or on cases with this attorney that she has similarly influenced and inspired. I'm not a limelight person and don't intend to start being one now, but I do hope that someday, someone can say they saw the example that I set where professionalism and civility are concerned in tough situations and were inspired. In truth, I hope that there are scores of members of our Bar that will someday say that about the examples they have witnessed each and every one of us set.
Originally published by Wake County Bar Association | Tenth Judicial District Bar Blog, 2 December 2024
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