Circuit Wide Professionalism Programs

The Commission assists judicial circuits in the design and development of local professionalism programs. The goal of a circuit wide professionalism program is to engage the members of a judicial circuit in an attempt to articulate the ideal professional standards for lawyers and judges to strive for, and, eventually, to adopt plans to implement those standards. The program is focused on the ideals of behavior well above the Model Rules or any basis for discipline.

The role of the Commission on Professionalism is to support program development by facilitating discussions and by providing and sharing resources to and among circuits. To be successful, the momentum of a professionalism program must come from legal community stakeholders in the circuit. The process is more important than the product. We have seen that the process of widespread dialogue and discussion is the predicate to agreement upon aspirational standards.

In recognition that the ideals of professionalism cannot be imposed but must instead be inspired on a local and personal level, the Commission asked the 17th Judicial Circuit to pilot a professionalism program on a circuit wide basis. Under the leadership of former Chief Judge Kathryn Zenoff, representatives of the major stakeholders in the legal community were invited to come together and begin considering this work. A Professionalism Advisory Council was formed and months later, a drafting committee produced a document stating the ideals of professional behavior in the circuit, Statement of Professional Aspirations for the Legal Profession in the 17th Judicial Circuit as well as a document providing the non-disciplinary context for the statement of ideal behavior, 17th Judicial Circuit Aspirational Code—Statement of Purpose. Eventually, both statements were adopted by all the stakeholder organizations in the circuit.

In 2008, under the leadership of Chief Judge Janet Holmgren, the Professionalism Advisory Council considered implementation, or ways to transform the stated aspirations into action. The Professionalism Advisory Council chose to follow the same procedure as used in adopting the Code, i.e., to elicit wide opinions and ideas and arrive at a consensus for their legal community.

In order to determine what next steps the legal community wished to take to encourage behavior consistent with the Aspirational Code, a survey was circulated and several meetings were held by the Education and Implementation Committee. The Committee recommendations included: adding the Aspirational Code in the subject matter of the Basic Skills Course offered by the Bar Associations; provide informal professional guidance to new attorneys through mentoring; and provide non-disciplinary guidance to violators through a peer review mechanism. By late 2008, the 17th Judicial Circuit Attorney Mentoring Program and the Peer Review Council to provide voluntary compliance with the Aspirational Code had taken shape. The Commission supported these developments by providing a survey instrument and our Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Guide, by facilitating two half-day training sessions for mentors, and by sharing information, recommendations, and survey outcomes with the Chief Judge and the Professionalism Advisory Council.

News of the success of the pilot program in the 17th Judicial Circuit is spreading to other judicial circuits. The Commission will reach out to and similarly support professionalism initiatives in other circuits, including discussions already underway in the 3rd and 11th judicial circuits.