Collegiality Is a Casualty in U.S. Legal Wars

Do as adversaries do in law, strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. -- William Shakespeare

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Prosecutors and defense attorneys battled in the courtroom during the day and drank together at night. They swapped tales over Scotch at local drinking holes -- and in makeshift bars in the district attorney’s office. They told jokes and made deals.

But that was in the old days.

Now, happy hour is a rare event. And in the courtroom, lawyers have lost much of the collegiality and trust that once guided the profession. Their relationships are not only adversarial, but antagonistic

“As bad as that drinking culture was, it helped bring people together,” said defense attorney Harland Braun. “It’s just not the same to say, ‘Let’s go to Starbucks for latte.’ ”

In an era when many lawyers try cases with a take-no-prisoners attitude, Braun is part of a new movement designed to return respect and civility to the criminal courthouse.

“Once upon a time, there was a lot more camaraderie,” said Los Angeles attorney George Bird, who helped form the Criminal Justice Inn of Court. “These artificial barriers have been erected between prosecutors and defense attorneys. People just don’t get along like they used to.”

The professional organization is part of a national movement aimed at improving lawyers’ ethics and advocacy skills, and making courtrooms more civil. Los Angeles held its inaugural meeting in February, bringing together about 70 prosecutors, defense attorneys, law professors, federal magistrate judges and state court judges. There are three other Inns in the county -- for noncriminal matters, for the South Bay and for Long Beach -- but this is the first that is exclusively criminal.

Bird said he realized that the goals were quixotic, especially in a county as large as Los Angeles, but he and others hope that the Inn of Court will at least open up lines of communication.

Some say defense attorneys and prosecutors have become more polarized and hostile simply because times have changed.

Prosecutors remember drinking at the end of the day with the late Dist. Atty. Joseph P. Busch, who they say had a bar in his office. Now, lawyers rarely socialize to mark the conclusion of a long trial, and are so concerned about following professional conduct rules and being politically correct that formality has replaced humor.

That isn’t the only reason attorneys have become more combative and less cooperative. Sentencing laws have raised the stakes for defendants, given judges less discretion and prompted lawyers to put all their resources into winning cases, no matter what. The number of attorneys has also increased, along with the caseloads.

“In the old days, lawyers knew each other by names, by reputation,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay, who started working in the district attorney’s office in 1965. “Today, it’s numbers.”

Livesay said young attorneys were coming out of law school with the necessary skills and competitive drive, but without the consideration and courtesy of their seasoned peers. As much as lawyers are hired guns, he said, the newest ones try to be “the straightest shot, the quickest draw in the neighborhood.”

“The good public defenders and prosecutors are the ones who get along and get the job done,” Livesay said.

Attorneys vex and annoy their opponents -- and judges -- by filing motions at the last minute, showing up late to court or attacking their rivals on live television. Don Stumbaugh, executive director of the Virginia-based American Inns of Court, said those actions aren’t always unethical, but are unpleasant.

“It’s just plain, old rudeness,” he said, adding that attorneys can be passionate advocates without being overly aggressive. Stumbaugh said teaching ethics in a fun atmosphere was “like getting a kid to take medicine: Make it candy-coated.”

“The public has lost a lot of respect in the judicial system,” said defense attorney Leonard Levine, who said he believed the Inn could improve the image of lawyers. “They feel it’s run by win-at-all-costs mentality. That’s not the way it should be.”

During the monthly gatherings, members meet for cocktails, dinner and creative lessons on civility, professionalism and ethics. The first meeting of the criminal Inn, held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, featured a game of Jeopardy, with questions about such topics as search and seizure, ethical dilemmas and law and the movies.

Several hands shot up before the host, Superior Court Judge Richard A. Stone, even finished asking one of the first questions: “Actor Gregory Peck played the role of this lawyer in the 1961 Academy Award-winning movie.” (Answer: Atticus Finch).

At first, everybody applauded when a team answered correctly. But the true competitive colors came out within a few minutes, when one team got several right answers in a row. “Only if you have a roomful of attorneys would you have this much argument,” joked Deputy Dist. Atty. Rebecca Noblin. And all for the prize, a bottle of champagne.

The Inns of Court date back to the Middle Ages in England, where they served as the gatekeepers of the British legal system. Young students lived at the Inns and studied under the guidance of experienced judges and barristers. In 1980, the late Chief Justice Warren Burger founded the American equivalent in Provo, Utah.

Inns of Court soon started popping up around the country. In the last decade, the number of active members and alumni has doubled, from about 35,000 in 1994 to 72,145 today. There are currently 342 Inns of Court. In California, there are 34 Inns and 8,000 members.

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices are honorary members, and three Inns are named for current seated justices. The criminal justice Inn is in memory of Stephen O’Neil, a former presiding judge of the Los Angeles County criminal courts and legal ethics professor who died in 2001.

The Inn’s membership is diverse in race and gender. Through the Inn, more experienced members can mentor younger members by sharing their war stories and passing along their knowledge.

“Maybe society as a whole has become less polite, and the courts are just a reflection of that,” said Superior Court Judge Tricia Ann Bigelow. “This will lead to people knowing one another and being more civil to one another.”