The practice of law

by Robert C Brun

I have noticed the jurors always look a little confused when they first hear counsel referring to each other as “friends.” This is one of the great traditions of the bar and it should be maintained.

After what seems like a very brief 25 years of practice in the bar of British Columbia, I have been called upon to write my first President’s Column. It occurred to me, after some prompting, that the ideal topic would be to emphasise the importance of civility in the day to day practice of law.

In 1978, when I was called to the bar, we laboured without the benefit of word processors, fax machines or e-mail. Couriers were a rarity. Correspondence arrived at our office once a day and there was time for careful consideration before a reply was deemed necessary.

In today’s computer driven world e-mail messages can flow back and forth with the click of a mouse. Letters are faxed or e-mailed as attachments and responded to after the briefest of consideration. The age old admonition of “act in haste, repent in leisure” is often overlooked. The technologically imposed safeguards of a bygone era, when letters were dictated, then typed on actual typewriters and returned for revision at some later time, when passion had cooled, are gone.

At the recent Canadian Bar Association Annual Meeting in Montreal, Eugene Meehan, Q.C., a past National President of the CBA, pointed out that civility is not simply the proper thing to do but it is also strategically wise. He argues that civility is not only a shield, but also a sword.

As lawyers we are under enormous pressure to advance our clients’ cases. We should however not forget the importance of maintaining good relationships with our fellow adversaries. When lawyers start to take the issues under litigation personally then both counsel and client suffer.

While the technology may have advanced over the past 400 years, William Shakespeare was correct when he praised the ability of lawyers to remain true, not only to their client, but also to themselves and their profession. In Act 1, Scene 2 of The Taming of the Shrew he observed:

And do as adversaries do in law,
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

Since I was called to the bar the size of the profession in British Columbia has tripled. Nonetheless, in many ways we are still a small, closely knit group. Each lawyer’s personal reputation is one of their most important assets in the practice of law. As men and women fighting the good fight on behalf of our clients we must not lose sight of the fact that opposing counsel is also our “friend.”

When doing jury trials I have noticed the jurors always look a little confused when they first hear counsel referring to each other as “friends.” This is one of the great traditions of the bar and it should be maintained. For this reason I always explain to the members of the jury, the first time I refer to opposing counsel as my friend, that this is a tradition of the bar and that just as the Judges are “brothers” or “sisters,” counsel remain each others’ friends.

So, as the new President of the CBABC, I urge each and every one of you to strive mightily on behalf of your client but remember that your relationships with other lawyers will carry on long after the file has been closed. For your own health, as well as the health of those around you, make civility a part of your practice.

This article was published in the October 2003 issue of BarTalk. © 2003 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.