TIME FOR MORE LEGAL CIVILITY; VENTURA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION DRAFTS CODE OF CONDUCT.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer Court can sometimes be a very uncivilized place. Messy divorce cases, high-stakes criminal trials and nasty lawsuits can push some lawyers to the verge of a street fight. And if there's one thing lawyers know how to do, it's fight. Some wait until Friday afternoon to serve a complicated motion, forcing the opponent to labor over the weekend to draft a response. Others like to bury the opposition in a blizzard blizzard, winter storm characterized by high winds, low temperatures, and driving snow; according to the official definition given in 1958 by the U.S. Weather Bureau, the winds must exceed 35 mi (56 km) per hr and the temperature 20°F; (−7°C;) or lower. of unnecessary interrogatories Written questions submitted to a party from his or her adversary to ascertain answers that are prepared in writing and signed under oath and that have relevance to the issues in a lawsuit. , written questions that a client must answer under oath. Then there are the ``wars of financial attrition,'' a sort of legal poker game in which one side raises the ante and makes the case so expensive that the other side can't afford to continue. These tactics probably wouldn't get a lawyer disbarred, but they certainly wouldn't score points with Miss Manners. So the Ventura County Bar Association has drafted a proposed civility code, a seven-page set of guidelines that go beyond the ethical cannons of the profession. ``You can be a very ethical lawyer and be very uncivil,'' Michael W. Case, a lawyer and co-founder of the Ventura County Bar Association's Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, which drafted the code. ``We see lawsuits where people will tell their lawyers, `All right, the merits are one thing, but I'm going to hurt that person as much as I can,' '' said Case, a partner with the law firm of Ferguson, Case, Orr, Patterson & Cunningham. ``You might have a $40,000 lawsuit in which you have $100,000 in fees because of the unnecessary layers of emotion. Or people spending $1,000 to argue over the rights to a $10 beer mug.'' Stephen Millich, Simi Valley's assistant city attorney, said the draft is intended to be a statement of common principles that have been eroded e·rode v. e·rod·ed, e·rod·ing, e·rodes v.tr. 1. To wear (something) away by or as if by abrasion: Waves eroded the shore. 2. To eat into; corrode. in part by ``litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. terrorists.'' ``We're trying to address the win-at-all-costs attitude that the legal profession has been gravitating toward over the years,'' said Millich, a member of the bar's ethics committee ethics committee A multidisciplinary hospital body composed of a broad spectrum of personnel–eg, physicians, nurses, social workers, priests, and others, which addresses the moral and ethical issues within the hospital. See DNR, Institutional review board. . Although Millich, Case and others say the vast majority of lawyers behave in a professional and civil way, the competitiveness of the profession can sometimes push attorneys to stray out of bounds. ``We're saying, work hard for your client. Be aggressive. But remember that there are rules of professional decency that need to be followed so that, in the end, the case is decided by the merits rather than some procedural fluke fluke, parasitic flatworm of the trematoda class, related to the tapeworm. Instead of the cilia, external sense organs, and epidermis of the free-living flatworms, adult flukes have sucking disks with which they cling to their hosts and an external cuticle that ,'' Case said. The proposed civility code, which is now up for public comment, also aims to curb rude behavior and denigrating den·i·grate tr.v. den·i·grat·ed, den·i·grat·ing, den·i·grates 1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame. 2. comments - sometimes made in documents and even in open court. The draft code encourages lawyers to explore out-of-court settlements An agreement reached between the parties in a pending lawsuit that resolves the dispute to their mutual satisfaction and occurs without judicial intervention, supervision, or approval. and mediation, while refraining from personal attacks and using private matters to gain advantage in a case. If the code is adopted, it will serve largely as an instructional model. Unlike the California Bar Association, county bar associations have no power to punish wayward way·ward adj. 1. Given to or marked by willful, often perverse deviation from what is desired, expected, or required in order to gratify one's own impulses or inclinations. See Synonyms at unruly. 2. lawyers. Some say a civility code without teeth is irrelevant. But advocates say the code could be adopted as a local court rule and cited when a judge sanctions a lawyer for misconduct. The code also would serve to communicate the local legal culture to young attorneys and those from outside the area who practice only occasionally in Ventura County. ``Sometimes when you're just learning, it's hard to have the confidence to grant some courtesies to others because you don't want to appear weak. Sometimes your clients think if you exhibit professional courtesy professional courtesy Professional discount Medtalk The practice by a physician of waiving of all, or a part, of the fee for services provided to a physician's office staff, other physicians and/or their families; PC has been extended to include the waiver of that you're not really a strong lawyer,'' Case said, adding: ``Television!'' |
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