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Bar News - January 21, 2005 President's Perspective: Professionalism Is More Than A Goal: It is a Journey By: James D. Gleason Professionalism is a journey, not a destination. It must be nurtured, honored, and respected daily in our practices. Professional civility is not a core value, but grows out of honesty and truthfulness, which are core values; such civility is a professional and public obligation. The obligation to engage in professional conduct is not exclusively limited to attorneys who litigate. Attorneys working in transactional, governmental, corporate, and public-service settings all need to be mindful of their ethical duty to conduct daily business with professional dignity, as well. Strong, effective advocacy does not necessitate misleading or dishonest conduct. In any matter, be it criminal, civil, or some other area of law, a balance must be maintained between energetic advocacy and civility. Counsel need not disclose client confidences or retreat from a reasonable and fair position in order to preserve professionalism. But neither are deception and sharp practices necessary to achieve a successful resolution for a client. No client, however important economically to a firm, is bigger than our profession. No case or fee, however large, is bigger than our profession. The client must never dictate our conduct; we must exercise our own independent judgment on how a matter should be handled. We bear the ultimate responsibility for any engagement we accept, and it is incumbent upon us to ensure that our representation reflects a deep respect for our ethical obligation as lawyers. As Professionalism Day approaches, let us consider how we all benefit when lawyers conduct their daily business with a high degree of professionalism: clients benefit individually; the public and court system benefit generally; and the profession benefits tremendously. Our New Hampshire courts recognize the importance of celebrating and endorsing our professionalism. That is why they have joined the New Hampshire Bar Association in encouraging our members to participate in the upcoming Statewide Professionalism Day gatherings taking place at 11 locations (in each county, including at both superior court sites in Hillsborough County) for facilitated dialogues on professionalism in practice. I urge all of you to take time from your busy lives to attend one of these events. Our quest for professionalism need not be limited to scheduled once-a-year events. The journey can be acknowledged in our daily contacts and enlivened in periodic social gatherings. That is why I have established a presidential initiative to promote professionalism through sports. My idea is to initiate an opportunity to participate in a sport for every season, which will bring some of us together just for the fun of it. As currently envisioned, in the winter we will play ice hockey, in the spring there will be a road race/trail run and breakfast, in the summer there will be slow-pitch softball, and in the fall there will be coed soccer. Details for each seasonal event will be timely announced. There will undoubtedly be sprained ankles, sore backs, scraped knees, bruised egos, and perhaps a suture or two, but I suspect there may be some new friendships arising from these events. This sports initiative will complement the dialogue that will take place on Statewide Professionalism Day on February 11, 2005. I am looking forward to another year of enthusiastic participation at my home county's Professionalism Day event. I also look forward to seeing many of you on the playing field. James D. Gleason is the President of the New Hampshire Bar Association for 2004-2005. He practices at the Gleason Law Office in Henniker. |
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