Law and Tall Order

Ever hear the old joke about why sharks don’t eat lawyers? Answer: Professional courtesy.

Or what about the group of lawyers who got together and devised a set of rules to encourage lawyers to be nice to each other? Answer: That’s no joke.

The Ventura County Bar Assn. earlier this year began an effort to rein in the gladiator-like mentality that attorneys say has grown increasingly commonplace locally.

For years, members of the bar association who faced off in court remained courteous and accommodating to one another. They avoided the harsh ways of the big city and practiced law more politely.

But in the past 10 years, as the number of local attorneys has increased, so has the number of lawyers being just plain rude.

The association’s ethics committee responded by drawing up a set of civility rules--hoping to save the county from a shark infestation.

Attorney David Praver, who helped draft the rules, said lawyers who behave in an aggressive and hostile manner quickly earn a bad reputation in the county. “Now [the county bar is] too big,” said Praver, who has practiced law in Ventura for 21 years. “People come here and they don’t care what kind of trail they leave.”

About 1,500 people practice law in Ventura County and two-thirds of them belong to the bar association, which has a voluntary membership. That is up from 800 members three years ago.

Praver said the preliminary civility rules, which the association’s board endorsed in May, instruct lawyers to try a little of the proverbial honey, instead of vinegar.

For example, the rules suggest attorneys avoid serving papers late Friday afternoons just to ruin an opposing counsel’s weekend. And when an opposing counsel requests a single document, a courteous lawyer should not send boxes and boxes of superfluous information just to eat up the other attorney’s time--and the other client’s money.

And attorneys should remain courteous and respectful toward everyone involved in a legal proceeding, from the judge and witnesses to the person suing their client, even if everyone else is rude in return.

Bar association President Jo Ann Wedding said the rules are a response to the erosion of civility in all areas of life. “We’re all at-risk in the area of civility,” she said.

Lawyers cannot be sanctioned for violating the association rules--the State Bar of California handles such disciplinary matters--but Praver hopes local judges will adopt them as part of their court rules.

“It’s pretty silly to have to tell people you need to be a decent human being,” said Praver, a partner with Taylor McCord. But, he said, younger lawyers and those moving into the county from larger metropolitan areas seem to be in need of a refresher course.

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Marc Adelman, past president of the State Bar of California, agrees that young lawyers and those in bigger cities tend to be more aggressive. Beginning lawyers are shouldering a mountain of student loans incurred in law school, and, Adelman said, they will often do anything to get ahead.

At the same time, he said, big-city lawyers get away with being rude because the legal community is so large. In Los Angeles County, for instance, where more than 50,000 people practice law, “it’s very unlikely that lawyers will run into each other again, so they are less cordial with each other than lawyers in smaller bars,” said Adelman, who now practices in San Diego.

Across the state, enlightened members of the profession are seeking ways to encourage civility among attorneys, he said, and the rules in Ventura County are part of that movement.

When Adelman was bar president, he helped create a program that teaches attorneys the basic ins and outs of civil behavior.

Still, even with all this talk of the need for nice, polite lawyers, some people may still prefer a tough and feisty one.

Steve Henderson, executive director of the Ventura County Bar Assn., said his organization often fields calls from people looking for an aggressive and uncompromising attorney, particularly people seeking a divorce lawyer.

“We’ll get calls where the person will say, ‘I want someone who is very aggressive and who will go after my ex-wife and the opposing counsel,’ ” he said.

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Praver, an active trial lawyer, also receives calls from people looking for a tough lawyer. He noted, ironically, that what the public dislikes about lawyers in general is precisely what some people want in their personal attorneys. “People who complain the most about lawyers chase the biggest shark they can when they need one.”

Praver said he prefers to get along with the lawyers he is opposing, so when people call wanting a “scorched-earth” kind of lawyer, he tells them to go elsewhere.

“People say they want a shark, but they may be mistaken,” he said. “I get a better result when I get along with the other attorney.”

While Praver himself may already live by the civility rules, he does not expect them to have any more of an impact on the lawyers who thumb their noses at everybody else than on the attorneys who are already courteous.

“Hopefully, for the in-between group, it will make a difference,” he said.

FYI

A sampling of the Ventura County Bar Assn.’s new civility code for lawyers practicing in the county:

On serving legal documents:

* Papers should not be served in order to take advantage of an opponent’s known absence from the office or at a time or in a manner designed to inconvenience an adversary, such as late on a Friday afternoon or the day preceding a secular or religious holiday.

On communications with other lawyers, judges and witnesses:

* A lawyer should be civil, courteous and as accurate as possible when communicating with adversaries and the court. Accordingly, professional courtesy and civility requires all lawyers to:

* Argue only that which is clearly supported by the law or facts of the case.

* Show respect and dignity to all judicial officers, parties, counsel and witnesses.

* Promptly respond to telephone calls, letters or other communications.

On discovery, the process by which attorneys obtain information in preparation for trial:

A lawyer should refrain from:

* Conducting discovery designed to harass or to embarrass another, or which is intended to impose an inordinate burden or expense.

* Producing documents in such a disorganized or unintelligible fashion calculated to hide or to obscure the existence of a document of information.

On trials and hearings:

Lawyers should at trial and during hearings conduct themselves in a manner consistent with promoting the positive image of the profession and with respect and dignity to the judicial process. Accordingly, professional courtesy and civility requires all lawyers to:

* Be punctual and prepared for all court appearances.

* Extend courtesy, civility and respect to anyone involved in the judicial process.

* Make objections during a proceeding for legitimate and good faith reasons and not solely for the purpose of harassment, delay or any other improper purpose.