Building Community Among Experienced Practitioners

Hi everyone. Lately I have heard of some unpleasant friction between some lawyers in our community. It seems some people are occasionally more testy or combative than we are used to, and some are unnecessarily obstructive or rude. Whether it’s a generational difference, or because we communicate online more often than we do by phone or in person, somehow the spirit of cooperation seems to go by the wayside for some. I have also heard that briefs or letters or especially emails are sometimes filled with very strong language and accusations, so much so that we can imagine the keys were smoking from being pounded on. And yet those same “combat typists” are very pleasant in person and in court. It’s almost like the “road rage” actions we see on the highways when some people are behind the wheel transfers into “typing rage” when they are at a keyboard. Please remember that we all can zealously represent our clients while at the same time being professional and cordial. And especially when dealing with contentious issues, edit and reread and make sure that you would want a Judge or Jury or your Mom reading out loud what you wrote. I can remember when a couple of our former politicians in decades past were notorious for sending letters to certain people they were mad at or disagreed with, where the letters contained just two words, the first word being four letters long and the second word being “you.” We don’t need that kind of theatrics in our legal community. Let’s all try to be nice and respectful to each other the way we are to our neighbors. Remember, it’s called “civil litigation.”