President’s Message, FALL 2024

Welcome to the WLIB Fall Newsletter! I am so grateful to the members who contribute to the newsletter each season. Thank you for putting your time and effort into wonderful articles about things that are important to all our members. And – of course – thanks to Linda Spiegel for her dedication as our Editor in Chief!

Times in our country are difficult. There is no avoiding it. Our country is divided and divisive. One simple social media post asking a mundane question elicits torrents of irrelevant commentary attacking the person for asking a question. We see people trying to voice their opinions only to be personally attacked as opposed to talking about the issues. There is no constructive discourse – even the smallest issues become adversarial. The climate brings us down and weighs heavy on everyone.

You may be asking – what does this have to do with WLIB? Friends – the answer is COLLEGIALITY…collegiality in our professional lives and in our personal lives. The Oxford dictionary defines collegiality as “companionship and cooperation between colleagues who share responsibility.”

Let’s first talk about collegiality in our personal lives. We may not be “colleagues” in the literal sense with our friends and neighbors like we are at work, but we do share a responsibility to each other. We share a responsibility to be respectful. We are all here on this big ball that is turning and rotating through space. At least for now, Earth is everyone’s home. We must live together on this planet unless and until there is an alternative. That does not mean that we have to all like each other, we just need to learn to respect each other – including our differences – whatever those differences may be. We are not clones. Every person is different in some way. You may not like it. You may not appreciate it. But alas we are here, together. If we cannot respect each other, then maybe we just need to leave each other alone – maybe that is the way to have collegiality so that we can all live and thrive on this big ball in space.

WLIB is a professional organization, so let’s switch the discussion to collegiality in our professional lives. Our legal system is an adversarial one: One side pitted against the other for whatever reason – criminal, civil, family, etc., etc. It is the nature of what we do for a living. That being said – do we as attorneys involved in an adversarial system need to treat each other adversarially? Or can we treat each other with respect – like colleagues? There is that saying that you get more with honey than vinegar. Even more relevant are two other sayings: Be like a duck (aka let it roll off your back); and No response is a response. Can’t these same concepts be applied in our day-today dealings with each other? Does there need to be animosity to get the job done? I say NO! We can agree to disagree, and that may be the case because we all have clients on opposite sides of the proverbial “v”. Whether we agree with each other or not – can we at a minimum be collegial? We can listen to our adversaries even if we don’t agree. We can engage in discourse without resorting to personal attacks. I can assure you that your “adversary” is likely going to be someone that you come across in the future – even more likely that he/she knows attorneys who are or will be your adversaries in another case. I suggest that your collegiality will precede you and pave the way for you to have respectful and professional dealings in the future.

You may be saying “But Tamra – what about the other side? There are so many attorneys who are not collegial, but I am supposed to be collegial with them?” I say YES! We cannot control the behavior of others. We can hope that our brethren in the legal community will be collegial and professional, but we all know that sometimes such behavior is lacking. Again – we cannot control the behavior (or personalities) of others, we can only control ourselves and ultimately this will lead to YOU having a good reputation among your peers while that other individual is likely not to be so fortunate.

I find that judges are the ultimate arbiters of collegiality in our system. In other words, if you and your adversary cannot agree, then you bring your issues to court. There is no reason for petty bickering – let the judge decide – that is their “job”.

This leads to another area of collegiality in our justice system – collegiality between the court (read – judges) and the attorneys. It is imperative for our legal system to work for everyone to get along and be collegial. Our judges were once practicing attorneys. Thus, are they not our colleagues in a way? Isn’t the need for collegiality amongst adversaries just as important to have between counsel and the court? There is a level of professionalism and reasonableness that comes with collegiality. The public looks to the courts to be so. Parties come before the court hoping for an objective analysis of the issues such that disagreements can be resolved in a respectful manner. For this reason, it is imperative that judges also consider their behavior when carrying out their duties and being collegial with litigants and attorneys alike. Collegiality in the way of reasonableness and appreciating that we are all running around and doing our jobs and doing our best to accomplish the goals of our daily routines. We hope that a collegial and not adversarial environment is what we find when we walk into a court room. Again, there are those courtrooms where, unfortunately, the adversarial environment controls. Such behaviors are unnecessary – just like they are unnecessary between attorneys on either side of a case. We look to judges to bring down the animus that may be present in a case – not to add to it. Collegiality should be the rule and not the exception. But, again, we cannot control the behaviors of others.

So, WLIB – where does this leave us as members of this wonderful, growing organization and as members of the legal community? I say that we must strive in our own dealings with each other to be collegial – ALWAYS. We must work together and support each other. We must be positive and encouraging. We must pat each other on the back for what we have accomplished and forgo the need to send a zing when one small thing goes awry, like a misspelled word or a minor error. Our organization will only grow if we continue on a positive trajectory. We are all here together – on this big ball in space – BE KIND, BE MINDFUL, BE COLLEGIAL.

Until next time…. Namaste.