Civility rules need teeth, so say survey respondents
For Milwaukee attorney Karri Fritz-Klaus, the findings on civility in
the 1997 Bench-Bar Survey stir feelings of déjà vu. "One of
the primary projects the Bench-Bar Committee has been involved with in
years past is the civility rules," notes Fritz-Klaus, immediate past
chair of the committee and a current member. "The need for standards for
civility and decorum came out of a previous survey we did in which we
asked, 'Is there a problem out there, and is it getting worse?' In fact,
those respondents indicated it was getting worse."
SCR 62.02(3) Specifically
Targets Lawyers
Lawyers shall do all of the following:
(a) Make all reasonable efforts to reach informal agreement on
preliminary and procedural matters.
(b) Attempt expeditiously to reconcile differences through
negotiation, without needless expense and waste of time.
(c) Abstain from pursuing or opposing discovery arbitrarily or for
the purpose of harassment or undue delay.
(d) If an adversary is entitled to assistance, information or
documents, provide them to the adversary without unnecessary
formalities.
(e) Abstain from knowingly deceiving or misleading another lawyer or
the court.
(f) Clearly identify for the court and other counsel changes that he
or she has made in documents submitted to him or her by counsel or by
the court.
(g) Act in good faith and honor promises and commitments to other
lawyers and to the court.
Because of that finding, the Bench-Bar Committee urged the State Bar
Board of Governors to advocate for new civility rules. "One of the
biggest obstacles we had to deal with was the enforcement mechanism,"
Fritz-Klaus recalls. "The board was very clear that they did not want an
enforcement mechanism, period."
In the end, the Bar and the Wisconsin Judicial Conference jointly
petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt new - but voluntary -
standards of professional courtesy and decorum. The supreme court
approved the new civility rules, spelled out in SCR chapter 62, which
apply to all parties appearing in court: judges, court commissioners,
lawyers, staff and the public. The rules touch on attire, demeanor,
punctuality and cooperation on court matters. SCR 62.02(1) forbids
"conduct that may be characterized as uncivil, abrasive, abusive,
hostile or obstructive."
SCR chapter 62 took effect in June 1996. A year later, nearly
three-fourths of respondents to the 1997 Bench-Bar Survey believe the
rules should not remain voluntary. (See accompanying article for
additional details.)
"I think of all the questions in this survey," says Madison attorney
Donald Leo Bach, who chaired the Survey Subcommittee and is current
chair of the Bench-Bar Committee and of the Survey Subcommittee, "the
key questions are the ones on civility. What this survey is telling us
is that lawyers and judges believe lack of civility is still a problem,
and that we have to put teeth into the new rules through some type of
enforcement mechanism."
Wisconsin
Lawyer
