President’s Message

CIVIL ACTION

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Jason H. Long

London Amburn

Forgive my fairly obvious bias, but Knoxville, and upper East Tennessee generally, is a pretty great place to practice law. In fairness, I am a born and bred Knoxvillian and, with the exception of a few early clerkships during law school, I have spent my entire professional life in Knoxville. That being said, I have been privileged to meet lawyers around the state and country and do feel I have some comparative basis for assessing the strengths of our bar.

Aside from the picturesque setting, the abundant opportunities to improve the lives of a generally thankful citizenry, and the high quality of our judiciary, there is one overall factor which I believe makes East Tennessee an attractive destination for lawyers: the civility of practitioners in this area. We have all heard stories from other bars about attorneys who abuse process, engage in unnecessarily argumentative and spiteful tactics, and generally believe that, in order to best represent a client, they must make life as uncomfortable as possible for opposing counsel. The practice of law is difficult to begin with. It becomes exponentially so when opposing counsel is noticing parties and attorneys to hearings and depositions without first consulting calendars or engaging in dilatory and obfuscating discovery tactics. (My apologies to my transactional brethren. I know you deal with your own set of headaches with contentious opposing counsel, but I am more familiar with irascible litigators.)

I have heard more than one attorney say “I am glad I don’t have to practice in [insert the name of local bar].” That phrase is usually preceded or followed by “We have it good in Knoxville.” I have said it myself on a number of occasions. I have often wondered why that statement is generally accepted as true. There is little to distinguish our bar from sister bars around the state. We offer similar services, deal with identical issues facing the practice, and, accounting for differences in size, are generally identical in form and function. Of course, some of the comments are probably attributable to simple pride in the community. Most lawyers (though not all) I speak with who extoll the virtues of our bar are Knoxville lawyers. It is natural to want to elevate one’s own community and display almost patriotic pride in the organization of which we are members. Still, I don’t think that accounts for all of the platitudes I hear. I have, on more than one occasion, heard lawyers from other bars speak wistfully about how they would prefer to practice in Knoxville because of our collegiality. I think there is something to the notion that lawyers in upper East Tennessee are uncommonly civil to one another. There must be other factors at play that make that so.

I can only surmise that we have benefitted over the years from true leaders and mentors within the bar who considered civility and collegiality to be of primary importance. Names like Bob Ritchie, Don Paine, and Pam Reeves come to mind. I recognize there are countless others, and I list those three only as an example and because I saw their approach to the practice with my own eyes. Bob Ritchie never missed a chance to say “hello” to a young attorney and make sure I was doing o.k. in my early years of practice, even though our paths never really crossed professionally. Don Paine would spend countless hours speaking with lawyers and educating us on how best to approach difficult legal questions. Pam Reeves never met a stranger and worked her entire life to be inclusive and constructive. I know everyone reading this column has their own mentors they would add to this list to the point that we could fill up an issue of Dicta with names and anecdotes of great mentorship on the gospel of civility.

In any event, these people who came before us valued civility and understood the administration of justice functioned best when all parties were professional and dedicated to the task at hand, rather than being wrapped up in the frustrations that arise when we pick on each other and try to play unnecessary games. Moreover, these people recognized that they had to live and work with one another on a regular basis and a civil approach was the best way to ensure good representation across all matters and for all clients. We are at our best when we can focus on the law, unfettered by concerns about difficult personalities. These leaders and mentors also structured a bar that fostered civility and professionalism. The Knoxville Bar Association has always shown commitment to and promotion of civility within our community, from our Professionalism Committee (thank you to Chancellor Weaver and James Stovall for your strong leadership of one of our most active committees), to CLE offerings on professionalism, to our formal statement of Guidelines for Professional Courtesy and Conduct (found in the front of your KBA Directory), to our social gatherings and celebrations designed to promote and foster relationships within the bar. All of these actions are intentional and designed in part to continue an atmosphere of civility and friendship amongst our lawyers. Like almost all functions of the KBA in which I take pride, Marsha and her staff should be acknowledged for their commitment to promoting civility and professionalism. They lead by example, treating our members and nonmembers with the courtesy and respect we want from one another, and develop programming and functions to further enhance our appreciation for a collegial bar.

I hope everyone had a chance to attend this year’s Law Day program and enjoy the panel discussion on civility in a polarizing era. Thank you to Judge Atchley, Rachel Hurt, Professor Teri Baxter, and Loretta Cravens, for presenting on this critical topic. In my opinion, there has never been a time when it has been more crucial for lawyers to demonstrate leadership through civility and professionalism. I am thankful for the leadership our bar has shown on this most important issue. It is the factor that distinguishes our bar and sets it apart. It should be a point of common pride for all of us.