LETTERS: Lawyers with Civility born, not Legislated
Chicago Sun-Times, 10/15/1997By Robert A. Clifford
The image of lawyers in America certainly can be improved, as Andrew Herrmann wrote in his Sept. 23 column ["An ugly turn for civilized society"]. As Hermann pointed out, when people get in trouble they want a pit bull, not a poodle, to represent them in court.
After recently having completed round-the-clock negotiations on behalf of the families of the victims of the Roselawn, Ind., plane crash against a tough-as-nails defense team, I can attest to Herrmann's questioning the need for imposing standards of civility on lawyers. Legislating it simply isn't going to make it happen. Either you got it or you don't.
Emotionally drained from the ordeal, the families of the air crash victims counted on their lawyers to get the settlement that would be fair and reasonable but at the same time would make a statement to American Airlines and foreign manufacturers' responsible for the Halloween, 1994, crash. But for many, they would not rest until they received a formal apology from the defendants. Such an apology became part of the $110 million settlement.
In a rare moment in my legal career, I witnessed a heart-wrenching apology from a man who had been one of my toughest opponents, Anton Valukas. He fought back tears in telling the families just how "terribly sorry" he was for their irreplaceable losses [news story, Sept. 23].
It was a rare moment, indeed, in Federal District Court in Chicago. But it demonstrated that one case and a group of victims, who knew they were right, can bring out the best in lawyers-without the onus of an ethical code of conduct.
