And how many times have you written that scathing letter to an opponent, put it in your desk overnight and realized the next day that it was much too harsh. Unfortunately, there are a few lawyers who do not put that letter in their desk overnight and who confuse zealous advocacy with sharp words or personal attacks. We must admit that in a profession that promotes advocacy and by definition involves adversarial relationships, we sometimes can be overwhelmed by emotion while arguing our client's cause. It can be a very natural and human reaction. However, we do not need to be unprofessional to be zealous advocates and we do our profession a terrible disservice when we are.
Civility improves the way justice happens.
The way we interact with each other and others impacts on justice itself. These are critical times in terms of what the population at large thinks of lawyers and the justice system. We cannot improve our public image unless we maintain and improve our individual conduct. As individuals, the best thing that we can do to improve the public image of lawyers is to behave professionally and civilly in our daily interactions with clients, colleagues, court personnel and the public. You may think that you do not need a formal Code of Civility.