Professional Courtesy and Civility

by Marguerite (Meg) E Shaw

When I was interviewed by Barbara Young, QC for the usual “meet the new president” article that was published in The Advocate, Barbara asked me, “If you could change one thing about the profession of law, what would it be?” My answer was that I would increase the professionalism and collegiality in the bar.

I am not alone in believing that there seems to have been a decline in the professional courtesy and civility in our profession. “For many years now, there has been a perception that incivility, rudeness and the use of offensive tactics among lawyers are on the rise.”¹ We see the comments in the media echoing a common perception of the public that the justice system is in crisis.

Our profession’s apparently increasing departure from the tenets of civility and professional courtesy by conduct such as adversarial excess, personal attacks on other lawyers and hostility, all diminish the profession in the eyes of each other and the public. It adds to the perception of the public that the justice system is faltering.

The cost of such behaviour, even if by only a few, is enormous to the profession, to the justice system, to the public, to the client and to the individual lawyer. Lawyers state in our opinion polls that one of the important issues they want addressed by this organization is to have the public image of lawyers improved.

One of the most important factors in creating public image is how we, as individual lawyers, conduct ourselves.

As lawyers, we need to maintain the core values of this profession: truth, integrity, honesty, honour, courtesy, and professionalism. And on the whole we do a good job. But we all get caught up in what seems like exponential demands of daily practice. To ensure that the profession continues to maintain these core values we must consciously take the time and make the effort to pass on this critical knowledge and skill to our successors.

Our youngest and newest colleagues who are entering into the daily responsibilities of the practice of law must be initiated into the civility and courtesy that the profession of law exemplifies. Senior lawyers must not become complacent or distracted by “bottom line” pressures, but must ensure that they continue to share their experience and wise guidance. These senior members of the Bar have enormous influence on the junior members, and they must continue to make the time to network with members of their firms and other colleagues in law-related activities. I invite you to take the time to come to a section meeting of the CBABC, for example – the junior members benefit from your attendance.

It is the development of personal relationships and networking that has a direct impact on the quality of professional courtesy between counsel. It is observing first hand an admired colleague or senior member of the Bar exemplifying professional civility and unparalleled courtesy that influences the conduct of other colleagues. All of us in the profession need to stay vigilant and continue to conduct ourselves as the professionals that we are.

1 Thomas P. Sukowicz & Thomas P. McGarry, “Feathers May Fly for Using Foul Language,” Chi. Law., December 2002, at 14.

This article was published in the April 2006 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.