Be kind. Many CALL classes heard a prominent local judge describe that as the most important characteristic to display on the bench, and for lawyers to display in his courtroom.

Note that he did not say, “be weak.” Nor did he say, “be ineffective.” He certainly isn’t. His message was that being an effective decision-maker or advocate does not require acting in ways we would not otherwise tolerate of ourselves or others. Bullying and unpleasantness are not job requirements. Consideration, decency, and empathy have their place among competitors. Being mean does not make us more tough or tenacious.

Experience teaches that inconsiderate behavior is not only wrong, but terribly counterproductive. We do not serve our clients when behavior obscures our message or when we lack the trust to communicate across the table persuasively. We do not serve our clients or ourselves by squandering goodwill and burning bridges.

Chances are high that you agree. Cincinnati’s bar has a well-deserved reputation for collegiality. It would be naive to think we lack outliers. Having litigated in many other jurisdictions, however, I will attest that the Cincinnati bar is special. 

This is no accident. We teach the next generation. Nothing leaves a greater impression on a newer lawyer than the example of a mentor or an adversary extending a courtesy, refusing to take unwarranted advantage, or acting respectfully in the heat of a tough negotiation or dispute.

Not surprisingly for this space, we also have a bar association that organizes around such principles. We honor exemplars at every Annual Meeting with the John P. Kiely Professionalism Award. In the following pages, you will read about a few ways we foster civility, professionalism, and ethics every day. You will also read about how we go further through programs like Lawyers Connecting Beyond the Law that, like CALL, build personal connections among lawyers that would not exist but for these efforts. 

These are high value propositions for our community and the individual lawyers the CBA serves. They are the intangible building blocks that pay in tangible ways over the course of a career.

All of us must keep Cincinnati’s legal culture thriving. It takes vigilance. We have seen far too often in the wider world that important norms and institutions once taken for granted erode and crumble before we quite realize what happened. Sometimes, we need to stop and remind ourselves of the kind of practice we want to have, and not let the least admirable examples from culture, media, and politics change who we are and how we act.

I am optimistic we will take care of our profession in Cincinnati without succumbing to baser instincts. The trend lines make me far less confident that others will follow suit in their spheres. Lawyers must, therefore, lead the way by example that sets the tone and holds the line.

We are equipped better than most to speak out when that line is breached, even (especially) by someone on our side. Decency is decency, after all. Sadly, I write in the shadow of great pain in one of my spheres after the President of the United States called a political opponent the “R-word,” a slur that seeks to belittle by comparison to wonderful people, like my son, who happen to live with a developmental disability. Will we ignore the example of such behavior, only to see it become normalized as acceptable adversarial discourse? Or will we insist on kindness as a norm that we know to work better? There is nothing inevitable about the outcome. We must choose it every day.