Judges Expect Attorneys to Act Reasonably and Civilly Too
As I posted yesterday, judges want parties to act reasonably in their Family Court cases. However, judges also want attorneys to do the same. As discussed in my post today at the South Carolina Personal Injury Law blog, some judges have made it clear that they will not tolerate uncivil or unreasonable conduct from attorneys appearing before them.
For instance, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin, Texas issued an Order in 2004 in which he said that he felt like he is supervising kindergarten, because the lawyers involved in a civil suit in his court were acting like they never learned how to get along with others. Judge Sparks' Order expressed his "disgust" at the lawyers' conduct, and said "The Court simply wants to scream to these lawyers, 'Get a life' or 'Do you have any other cases?' or 'When is the last time you registered for anger management classes?'"
Fortunately, while there are exceptions, the vast marjority of attorneys in South Carolina are civil to one another and do abide by the rules, both in word and in sprit. I detest working with attorneys who do not, and I make every effort to avoid having them involved in my cases whenever possible.
Those cases in which the parties and attorneys work in good faith toward a fair and equitable resolution are the ones that tend to (a) settle amicably, (b) get resolved sooner rather than later, (c) tend to be less expensive, and (d) give the parties the best chance to have a working relationship with each other after the case is concluded.
You can read more about the outrageous conduct of the attorneys in the Texas case as well as Judge Sparks' full opinion by reading my post, "Judge Condemns Attorneys for Outrageous Behavior" at my South Carolina Personal Injury Law blog.
