Happy Law Day! Can We Bring Civility Into Law?

By Jeena Cho

41 Comments /

216 Shares

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linkedin
• Google +

/ May 1, 2015 at 3:00 PM

Jeena Cho

Did you know that today is Law Day, marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta? The ABA suggests lawyers should “rededicate ourselves to advancing the principle of rule of law here and abroad.” Lawyers are one of few professions where we must take an oath. In California, part of our oath is to “strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy, and integrity.”
It is no secret that civility is at an all time low among lawyers. In fact, it was California’s former state bar president Patrick Kelly who sought the new language because of what he perceived as increasing incivility in the profession.
In an interview, Kelly stated:

“Unfortunately, as a litigator,” he wrote, “I have all too often witnessed attorneys who claim to be zealously representing their clients but who in fact cross the civility line. Such activities include needless and ineffective histrionics during depositions, refusal to grant the other side an extension of time for no good reason, confirming in writing positions that were never taken and even trying to bully the judge in his or her own courtroom. And the list goes on.”

As I said before, we need to stop training lawyers to be jerks. Of course, acting like a jerk is somewhat subjective. You may be zealously advocating for your client but your opposing counsel may think you’ve crossed the civility line. Often, there’s no litmus test to determine whether one party has crossed the line and as most litigators know, there is nothing judges hate more than two lawyers whining over a discovery dispute.
Which brings me to awareness. I believe that you can engage in jerk-like behaviors and cross the civility line, but that will only get you so far. As Keith Lee and I discussed on this Resilient Lawyer podcast, a lawyer’s most important asset is her reputation. If you’re known to be difficult to work with, unnecessarily aggressive, can’t check your emotions, or are constantly looking to win every interaction — you probably will not survive and make it to the end of your legal career without being completely miserable.
I recently sat down to interview Karen Johnson-McKewan, who is a partner at Orrick. I was surprised to hear her approach to her law practice (and life). She shared that she approaches each interaction as though she’s going to get the very best out of the person. This to me is the foundation of civility. Showing up as your best self and expecting the same in return. Standing by your oath and your own personal integrity.
So, how do you recognize when you’re crossing the civility line or engaging in jerk-like behavior? One way to know this is by increasing Emotional Intelligence.
Daniel Goldman defines Emotional Intelligence as:

1. Self-awareness – the ability to know one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and goals, and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
2. Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one’s disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
3. Social skill – managing relationships to move people in the desired direction
4. Empathy – considering other people’s feelings especially when making decision
5. Motivation – being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement.

One way to increase self-awareness and self-regulation is by practicing mindfulness, which is the practice of noticing what is, in the moment without preference or judgement.
On my recent trip to Chicago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Christina Martini, a partner at DLA Piper, to talk about her mindfulness and meditation on the Chicago Law Bulletin Network. You can watch the videos below.

PS: I am going on a five-week road trip across U.S. to connect with lawyers to talk about finding a better way to practice law, wellness, self-care, EQ, resiliency, and of course, mindfulness. I’d love to connect with you on my trip! Drop me a line: smile@theanxiouslawyer.com

---

Jeena Cho is co-founder of JC Law Group PC, a bankruptcy law firm in San Francisco, CA. She is also the author of the upcoming American Bar Association book, The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Happier, Saner Law Practice Using Meditation (affiliate link), as well as How to Manage Your Law Office with LexisNexis. She offers training programs on using mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress while increasing focus and productivity. She’s the co-host of the Resilient Lawyer podcast. You can reach her at smile@theanxiouslawyer.com or on Twitter at @jeena_cho.

Topics

Advice, Awareness, Career Advice, Civility, Emotional Intelligence, Health Care / Medicine, Jeena Cho, Law Day, Magna Carta, Mindfulness

Crime, Health Care / Medicine, United Kingdom / Great Britain

Man Fakes Coma To Get Out Of Going To Court

By Staci Zaretsky

The ‘coma patient’ (Photo credit: Wales News Service)

Going to court is a huge pain in the ass.
Come on, who really wants to do that? Nobody — especially not the guy who pretended to be in a coma for two years, just so he could avoid having to go in the first place.
Who is the man who pulled off this most impressive feat?

Here’s the scoop, courtesy of the Daily Mail:

A fraudster who pretended to be in a coma for two years was caught by police going on shopping trips and holidays with his family.
Conman Alan Knight of Swansea, South Wales, faked being in a vegetative state after he scammed his next door neighbour out of £40,000.
The 47-year-old tried to beat justice by claiming he was a quadriplegic – his family said he was hooked up to oxygen and had no movement from the neck down.

As it turns out, Knight was caught because he thought he could just walk around in public. FYI, Mr. Knight, quadriplegics can’t do that, but we suppose you live and you learn (he’s the one with the shaved head):
 
What’s the worst excuse you’ve ever given to get out of going to court?
Fraudster pretended to be in a coma for TWO YEARS to avoid court over £40,000 scam but was caught walking around Tesco after police traced him using loyalty card [Daily Mail]

27 Feb 2014 at 1:37 PM

Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Health Care / Medicine

Eric Holder Goes To Extraordinary Lengths To Prove Obamacare’s Viabilty

By Elie Mystal

Attorney General Eric Holder was hospitalized today after experiencing faintness and shortness of breath, as noted by the ABA Journal. According to Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon, Holder was taken to the hospital as a precaution, after experiencing symptoms during a morning staff meeting.
When reached for comment, Holder said, “Please God, let me use my Covington & Burling health care. Don’t send me to a death panel.”
Just kidding. Holder is fine (I hope, or else this post is going to look like very poor taste). Let’s wish him the best for a speedy recovery. Those drones can’t figure out whom to strike by themselves.
Attorney General Holder Is hospitalized [ABA Journal]

16 May 2013 at 1:40 PM

Health Care / Medicine, Law Professors, Law Schools

Sociopath Law Professor Admits To Being A Sociopath

By Elie Mystal

Have you ever thought that your law professor was a sadistic bastard? Have you ever felt like the prosecutor across the table was an emotional black hole? Would it freak you out if you turned out to be clinically right?
We’ve talked a lot about mental health recently, from panic buttons to Asperger’s (or autism spectrum disorder, if you prefer). But today we’ve come across a truly chilling article from a law professor who admits that she’s a sociopath and writes about how law is the perfect field for people like her.
I’m turning the snark meter way down on this post because, well, I don’t want to be murdered…

The sociopathtic attorney is apparently barred somewhere in California. She’s a law professor and has been a prosecutor and an associate of some kind. She also teaches Sunday school at a Mormon Church, because apparently “[t]he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a sociopath’s dream.”
The woman has decided to keep herself anonymous — for somewhat obvious reasons — and I’m not particularly interested in figuring out where she works. She says that she’s non-violent and has never physically hurt anybody (not that she’s never thought about it), but I don’t exactly want to test her (or him; sometimes anonymous authors mix their gender up).
In fact, I’m only posting about it because she says stuff like this:

I loved getting high marks in school; it meant I could get away with things other students couldn’t. When I was young, what thrilled me was the risk of figuring out just how little I could study and still pull off the A. It was the same for being an attorney. During the California bar exam, people were crying from the stress. The convention center where the exam took place looked like a disaster relief center; people made desperate attempts to recall everything they had memorized over the prior eight weeks—weeks that I spent vacationing in Mexico. Despite being woefully ill-prepared by many standards, I was able to maintain calm and focus enough to maximize the knowledge I did have. I passed while others failed.
Regardless of my laziness and general lack of interest, I was actually a great lawyer when I was trying. At one point, I worked as a prosecutor in the misdemeanor department of the district attorney’s office. My sociopathic traits make me a particularly excellent trial lawyer. I’m cool under pressure. I feel no guilt or compunction, which is handy in such a dirty business. Misdemeanor prosecutors almost always have to walk into a trial with cases they’ve never worked on before. All you can do is bluff and hope that you’ll be able to scramble through it. The thing with sociopaths is that we are largely unaffected by fear. Besides, the nature of the crime is of no moral concern to me; I am interested only in winning the legal game.

Whatever buddy, you don’t have to be crazy to be only interested in winning the legal game. “Needing money” works just as well.
There’s also this lovely story about working at a law firm:

When I was at one law firm, I was assigned to work for a senior associate named Jane. I was based in one of the firm’s satellite offices, so I saw her once every few weeks. In law firms, you are supposed to treat your senior associate as if she is the ultimate authority, and Jane took this hierarchy seriously. You could tell that she never enjoyed such power in any other social sphere. Her pale skin mottled with age, poor diet, and middling hygiene was evidence of a lifetime spent outside the social elite. She wanted to wear her power well, but she was clumsy with it — heavy-handed in certain circumstances and a pushover in others. She was an entertaining blend of power and self-doubt.
I was not her best associate, and Jane believed that I was undeserving of all that I had accomplished. She put much effort into dressing appropriately, while I wore flip-flops and T-shirts at every semi-reasonable opportunity. While she billed as many hours as humanly possible, I exploited the nonexistent vacation policy by taking three-day weekends and weeks-long holidays.

Later, she describes breaking this senior associate down in a way that is almost Cartman-esque.
Mind you, I don’t know if I believe all of these stories. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a sociopath, but I’ve certainly met a lot of people who were “off” in some way who had an outsized belief in their effects on people. Then again, when “not” having an effect on people means that you lose focus before you kill them, maybe the occasional delusion of grandeur is just fine:

In explaining their horrible actions, people often say that they “just snapped.” I know that feeling. I stood there for a moment, letting my rage reach that decision-making part of my brain, and I suddenly became filled with a sense of calm purpose. I blinked my eyes and set my jaw. I started following him. Adrenaline started flowing; my mouth tasted metallic. I fought to keep my peripheral vision in focus, hyperaware of everything around me, trying to predict the movement of the crowd. I was hoping that he would walk into a deserted hallway where I would find him alone. I felt so sure of myself, so focused on this one thing I had to do. An image sprang to mind: my hands wrapped around his neck, my thumbs digging deep into his throat, his life slipping away under my unrelenting grasp. How right that would feel. But I know I had been caught in a megalomaniacal fantasy. And in the end it didn’t matter; I lost sight of him.

She doesn’t tell any stories about teaching law students, but I can’t imagine that she’s the kind of professor you want to go to complaining about a B-minus.
People who don’t feel remorse when their actions cause suffering scare me. Be they “sociopaths,” “the NRA” or “Joakim Noah,” feeling bad when you cause suffering is one of those prerequisites to the social contract.
I would certainly not want a sociopath on my law school faculty or in my firm. But you can’t punish people for what they might do or how they could be feeling. If this lady had outed herself and said what school she teaches at, it’s not like she could or should be fired. People would just have to deal and try not to totally freak out when she gave them what she calls her “predator stare.”
That said, man, wouldn’t law school and the practice of law be better if it was a place where sociopaths don’t thrive? She has a whole section subtitled “Why Trial Law Is a Sociopath’s Fancy.” That’s not good. Does it have to be that way? Couldn’t war be a sociopath’s fancy and trial law be more like an “inefficient use” of a sociopath’s talents?
In any event, don’t murder me. I like living. I hope giving law students C’s is enough like strangling the life out of a man’s body that you don’t get bored or anything.
Confessions of a Sociopath [Psychology Today]
Earlier: Does Your Law School Need A Panic Button?
The Decision: Should A Minority With Asperger’s Even Bother?

33 Comments

• Tags: Health Care, Health Care / Medicine, Law Professors, Law Schools, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Prosecutors, Scary stuff, Sociopaths