Civility in Appellate Practice

I‘d like to believe that we appellate people confine our incivility to the occasional snarky use of sic.  After all, we win on the strength of our arguments, not on personal attacks bestowed upon another attorney.  In general, incivility in the legal profession is a problem, and civility in the legal profession is a noble endeavor. 

The role of civility in appellate advocacy is the same as its role in any endeavor, including any phase of litigation. It is a key ingredient in efficient, economical, expeditious, harmonious, and respected problem solving. Restated, it is a vital component of the art of advocacy. Uncivil appellate advocacy is poor appellate advocacy.

The Honorable Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, The Role of Civility in Appellate Advocacy, 50 S.C. L. Rev. 573, 574 (1999). 

ABA’s Guidelines for Litigation Conduct provide an “ABA-endorsed model code” of civility, intended to address the decline in civility among lawyers. As the preamble to the Guidelines states, “[t]he problem of incivility is more pervasive, and insidious, than its impact on the legal profession alone. As Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has stressed: ‘[c]ivility is the mark of an accomplished and superb professional, but it is more even than this. It is an end in itself. Civility has deep roots in the idea of respect for the individual.'”

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