Bench & Bar May/June 2026

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

CONDUCT TO AVOID FOR A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL CAREER THE DON’TS GOOD PRACTICE: OF

2 NEVER TALK BAD ABOUT THE JUDGE. Never speak ill of the judge to your clients. Judges are entitled to make their rulings and be respected. I’ve disagreed with many rul ings, but I’ve never told a client that a judge was “crazy,” “crooked,” or even agreed with such a comment. Lawyers and judges are part of the justice system and must support each other. If your client receives a bad decision, appeal it! A good judge won’t mind. As lawyers, we are used to being told we are wrong anyway.

BY ROBERT STEPHEN MCGINNIS

T he beauty of being a “mature” lawyer is seeing, and in some cases experienc ing, a myriad of practice pitfalls. Some of the traps that I have listed below will seem basic to most of you, but unfortunately, over the years, I’ve seen lots of lawyers fall into them. In my final article for the Bench and Bar as my tenure serving on the CLE Commission comes to an end, I wanted to share a few things to avoid so you can have a long and successful career practicing law.

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DON’T FORGET TO PAY YOUR DUES AND GET YOUR CLE COMPLETED ON TIME! Like it or not, practicing law costs money and requires con tinuing education. Those are the rules of the Supreme Court. In my three years on the CLE Commission, I’ve seen too many attorneys get suspended who didn’t keep up with their CLE requirement and/or didn’t pay their bar dues. The CLE Commission and CLE staff try everything, including personal letters and phone calls, to keep this from happening.

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DON’T HAVE SEX WITH YOUR CLIENTS! It’s prohibited by our ethical rules. In my opinion, it is an actionable tort that your malpractice coverage prob ably doesn’t cover. It’s number one on the list because it’s probably the worst thing you could do.

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BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TEXT! This wasn’t a problem when I first started practicing law. You could write a letter with all the anger and moral indignation you could muster. Then, you would put the letter on your desk and not send it. Modern commu nication methods, however, allow us to send out our fury immediately. Don’t do it! I promise you it will end up in a pleading, and you will regret it. You will burn a bridge you never intended to burn. Texting is great for minimal communication, but I would hesitate to use it for anything more than that, whether it be with clients or fellow bar members.

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