Trust Yourself
“What’s most important to a lawyer—whether it’s your first day of practice or your last day of practice—is to trust yourself, your instincts, your own innate intelligence and your own judgment,” Comiskey states. “You’ve learned the ethical guideposts, just as you learned the basics for tort law, contract law or property law in law school. The principles are very straightforward. Now it’s a matter of thinking about what you’re doing and applying your own common sense judgment.”
Be Alert to Conflicts
“Always be alert for potential conflicts of interest. Make a preliminary conflict check as soon as you know the name of the prospective client and the general subject matter of the representation. Resolve all potential conflicts before undertaking any representation,” he suggests.
“It’s the recognition of the potential conflict of interest that’s the hard part,” Comiskey notes. “Once identified, it’s usually a straightforward exercise to determine whether or not there is a conflict.”
Know Your Clients
“As lawyers, we should be focused on how we can best serve our clients,“ Comiskey stresses. “We should always be asking ourselves, ‘Is this something I can and should do for my client, or would my client be better served if some else did it?’”
“After each prospective client has told you their story, but before you tell them what you think, ask them what they want and why,” he advises. “Their responses may surprise you. After you’ve found out what they really want, tell them honestly and realistically whether or not you can help them get it.”
Comiskey is adamant: “Know who your client is. Remember who your client is. Only represent your client. Don’t surprise your client.”
He also cautions, “A lawyer must constantly monitor the appropriate proximity to maintain with each client. You want to balance the objectivity that distance provides with the subjectivity that closeness provides. That distance is different for each client. Don’t get sucked in.”
“You do your client a disservice if you cannot maintain your objectivity about their case. Be passionately objective, if you must, but be objective,” Comiskey emphasizes.
Guard Your Communications
“Question your client only at a time and in a place where the answers will remain attorney-client privileged information,” he counsels.
“Remember The Alamo: The Attorney-Client Privilege. Before accessing or sharing information, ask yourself, ‘Is there a “need to know?’ In naval parlance,
‘Loose lips sink ships.’”
As each case progresses, Comiskey recommends, “Share with your client your decisions and your thought processes concerning the moral and ethical issues presented, in addition to the legal and factual ones.”
He also advises, “No one but you should be providing any information at any time to anybody. Train your staff from the outset that their job is to take in information and write down questions to pass on to you; but only you should provide any information or answer any questions. This is true, regardless of whether the caller is a client or opposing counsel.”
Comiskey acknowledges that practicing in an electronic age presents additional challenges. “With the advent of e-mail, clients often expect a more rapid response.” He suggests, “Balance responsiveness with diligence. The best response is a precise response, but as it turns out, most situations don’t require a Supreme Court brief as a response. Use your own good judgment.”
He also cautions, “Avoid using the fax machine for sensitive material. If you must use it for expediency and your document contains attorney-client privileged information or anything you’d prefer not to see on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper, double-check the fax number with the prospective recipient to ensure it is correct. Then fax it yourself.”
Comiskey also suggests, “If you are dealing with sensitive matters, consider whether or not any document -- paper or electronic -- really needs to be created. Consider oral briefings in person with the client taking no notes.”
Be Diligent, Strive for Excellence
Comiskey is a strong advocate for diligence. “Have faith in the legal system, but remember it’s a hands-on operation, and the best results occur when they are your hands controlling it.”
Comiskey is a strong advocate for diligence. “Have faith in the legal system, but remember it’s a hands-on operation, and the best results occur when they are your hands controlling it.”
“Lawyering is difficult,” he notes. “It requires continuous thinking. One of the things we all find hardest to do.”
He also believes, “A lawyer has to be the detail person. Check and recheck everything. It is important that everyone that you deal with have universal faith in the accuracy of what you say and give them.”
“No loose pages,” he stresses. “For want of a nail, the Kingdom was lost.”
In fact, Comiskey suggests a good lawyer “Be over-prepared.”
“Refuse to accept less than your best from yourself. Keep rewriting until you get it right. If it’s important, be shamelessly persistent. Be relentless,” he urges.
Moreover, he adds, “Consider yourself the final reviewer of what you do. Even if your work will pass through several others’ hands before the finished product goes out the door. What you do should be correct and proper. You should always approach it as if it were the finished product.”
If you strive to be a good lawyer, Comiskey recommends, “Know your weaknesses. Work hard to make them your strengths.”
At the same time, he notes, “It’s the practice of law and practice makes perfect. Practice every thing you can, every time you can. Practice spontaneity. Practice extemporization. Practice everything.”
“Lawyering is an art, not a science. It takes study, observation and experience to master the art of lawyering,” Comiskey observes.
“Strive for excellence. Excellence without arrogance. Excellence with humility,” he urges.
Be a “Custodian of Society’s Ideals”
Comiskey believes a good lawyer is the custodian of society’s ideals. “Honor, courage and commitment are the heart and soul and the body of a lawyer,” he says. He offers these additional guideposts:
Comiskey believes a good lawyer is the custodian of society’s ideals. “Honor, courage and commitment are the heart and soul and the body of a lawyer,” he says. He offers these additional guideposts:
- “Be true to your word.”
- “By everything you say and do, ensure that your clients and your staff understand that you have no tolerance for dishonesty.”
- “Treat everyone the way you expect to be treated.”
- “Where honesty and integrity are concerned, permit yourself no rationalizations. Be vigilant. Honesty and integrity are lost insidiously.”
“Lawyering does not require or condone any distraction from your own high moral and ethical standards,” Comiskey observes. “Be true to yourself and to those standards. Always. Don’t let any misguided loyalty to your client undermine your loyalty to yourself, your ideals, your family and your profession.”
Ethics: Integral to Your Practice
“Ethics is an integral part of the practice of law. It’s a thread that’s woven through your life and your practice, not a separate or secondary consideration,” he says.
“Ethics is an integral part of the practice of law. It’s a thread that’s woven through your life and your practice, not a separate or secondary consideration,” he says.
“A lawyer needs to look at everything with two sets of eyes -- one set focusing on the substantive issues, the other set examining whether you should be doing this at all or handling the matter in a different way. It’s the way to practice law,” Comiskey concludes.
Stephen W. Comiskey is the managing partner of the law firm of Comiskey & Hunt in McLean, Virginia where he has a General Civil and Trial Practice. He is licensed to practice in all state and federal courts of Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland. A 1969 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he earned his J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University, graduating magnum *** laude in 1976, and was Managing Editor of the law review.
Mr. Comiskey published A Good Lawyer®, Secrets Good Lawyers [And Their Best Clients] Already Know on the Internet in 1996. Just 53 pages long, the book was created to give all who practice law what Strunk and White gave to writers with The Elements of Style, “a book by a lawyer for lawyers about the essence of lawyering.” He also “hoped to provide law students some guideposts for practicing law honorably and some compass points for ethics.”
After its initial publication, A Good Lawyer® was soon thereafter republished in the Journal of the New York State Bar Association followed by republications in the bar journals of many other states with the list continuing to grow each year.
A Good Lawyer
® is published on the Internet by the author at www.agoodlawyer.com. It is available for readers to print out themselves under the shareware concept for $10. A hardcopy edition is also available and readers should consult the Web site www.agoodlawyer.com