The Law: Words for a Contentious Profession

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Excerpts from Chief Justice Burger's speech:

WITH passing time I am developing a deep conviction as to the necessity for civility if we are to keep the jungle from closing in on us and taking over all that the hand and brain of man has created in thousands of years, by way of rational discourse and in deliberative processes, including the trial of cases in the courts.

Yet all too often, overzealous advocates seem to think the zeal and effectiveness of a lawyer depend on how thoroughly he can disrupt the proceedings or how loud he can shout or how close he can come to insulting all those he encounters, including the judges.

At the drop of a hat—or less—adrenaline-fueled lawyers cry out that theirs is a "political trial." This seems to mean in today's context, to some, that rules of evidence, canons of ethics and codes of professional conduct—the necessity for civility—all become irrelevant.

Civility is to the courtroom and adversary process what antisepsis is to a hospital. The best medical brains cannot outwit soiled linen or dirty scalpels, and the best legal skills cannot either justify or offset bad manners.

With all deference, I submit that lawyers who know how to think but have not learned how to behave are a menace and a liability, not an asset, to the administration of justice.

We must make some basic decisions in terms of allocating the responsibility for regulating what is inherently a contentious profession and then place rigorous powers of discipline wherever we place the responsibility. Lawyers, judges and law professors must see that an undisciplined and unregulated profession will destroy itself, will fail in its mission and will not restore public confidence in the profession.