Starting next month, each of California’s 286,000 attorneys will have to swear each year to “strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy and integrity” or risk losing their license to practice law. Unless, that is, the oath is found to unduly restrict freedom of speech, an argument that may find some support in the state Supreme Court, which would have the last word.
The “civility” oath was first proposed in 2013 by then-State Bar President Patrick Kelly and was required by the bar for all new lawyers in 2014. The latest action by the bar’s Board of Trustees, approved Feb. 27 and taking effect on April 1, will add the civility pledge to the oath every lawyer in California must take, when renewing their license each year, to “support the Constitution of the United States and the State of California” and “perform my duties as an attorney to the best of my ability.”
Several other states require newly licensed attorneys to swear that they will act with civility, but California is apparently the first to require an annual civility oath for all of its lawyers. Last year, the state also added civility instruction to the educational and ethics courses that practicing lawyers are required to take every three years.
“It’s very important for lawyers to make civility a part of their DNA,” Kelly told the Chronicle. After practicing law in Los Angeles for nearly 50 years, he now works as a mediator to help opposing sides negotiate legal agreements.
The state Supreme Court said in September that it would allow the State Bar, whose actions the court supervises, to add a civility pledge to the oath taken by all licensed attorneys each year.
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-lawyers-civility-pledge-22071681.php
