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Maridee F. Edwards discusses civility with Ed.

By Edward Poll, J.D., M.B.A., CMC

Maridee F. Edwards is an attorney and mediator in the area of professional licensing and ethics matters in Jefferson City, Missouri. She is former Bar counsel for the Missouri Bar and speaks with Ed about civility in the profession.

There has been a recent fervor about teaching lawyers "civility" when dealing with other counsel and adverse parties. Aren't these the principles we should have learned at our mother's (and father's) knees, but somehow seem not to have learned? Are more influenced by "everything is fair in love and war," believing that the adversary system, by definition, is akin to war?

Therefore, everything the lawyer does is "fair" as long as not prohibited by some code. With the fallout in the economy and corresponding pressure on the legal community, is this becoming more acute?

Is the legal profession guilty of misconduct or rather merely reflective of what is happening in the rest of our society?

Maridee and Ed elaborate on this issue and what lawyers need to do in order to both effectively represent clients and stay away from violating rules of professional conduct.

30 minutes, 05 seconds
7.1MB

Click here to listen.

Full post as published by Law Biz Blog on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).