Biglaw

Playing Career Jeopardy

How many admonishments is one judge permitted?

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(Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty)

It’s not often you read about a lawyer willingly playing the game with his career. One attorney, a member (but not for much longer) of the D.C. bar urged the Office of the D.C. Disciplinary Counsel to disbar him. (Talk about being proactive.) How many times have you seen an attorney in trouble with the bar actively ask for disbarment? Rather than throwing himself on the mercy of the disciplinary counsel, Glenn Stephens III threw himself under the bus, by requesting that he be disbarred. The D.C Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility granted his request by issuing an OSC why he should not be disbarred.

Meanwhile, here in La La land, Tom Girardi, the plaintiff’s lawyer in a world of hurt who is temporarily conserved and in bankruptcy, offered to resign from the bar. However, the State Bar said not so fast since disciplinary charges are pending, including misappropriation of client funds. A report from the Chapter 7 trustee says that between $15 million and $20 million cannot be accounted for, and she’s not done yet.

In another example of career jeopardy, the California Commission on Judicial Performance has publicly admonished Patrick E. Connolly, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge for, in essence, not playing nice.

One of the instances arose at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic when two defense attorneys requested to appear telephonically rather than in person. (Remember a year ago when things were at sixes and sevens for courts trying to figure out the best way to handle criminal matters which have statutory time requirements?) While they were permitted to appear telephonically, due to the stay-at-home order and that one counsel was showing COVID-19 symptoms, Connolly was irritated and impatient with the two counsel.

During the hearing, the court mentioned on four separate occasions that one of the counsel had not appeared in court for the hearing. The commission found that there was no justification for the judge’s impatience and irritation and found that the judge’s demeanor violated the judicial canon of ethics.

In another criminal case, after a jury had acquitted the defendant of the charge, Connolly commented to the acquitted defendant that there was no doubt in the court’s mind that the defendant was guilty of the charge. Thank you, your honor, for sharing. The commission found the judge’s remarks to be “gratuitous, undignified and improper,” also violating the canons of judicial ethics.

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This was not the judge’s first rodeo, as he had been previously publicly admonished a few years before, and before that, he had received a private admonishment. How many admonishments is one judge permitted?

So, let’s play Jeopardy!, the TV game show version. What’s the Final Jeopardy question to this answer: atelophobia? The correct question is “What is fear of imperfection?”

I had never heard the term before. Lots of lawyers (and others) suffer from it. The fear of not being perfect is a trait that many lawyers share and which can be the downfall of many of us. Mistakes happen. Last time I checked, we are still human, although AI is stalking us.

While the phobia is extreme perfectionism, it shows up in many facets of our working and personal lives. It’s the fear of making a mistake that can be so extreme that it deters us from doing anything, for fear of doing it wrong. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The symptoms can be any emotional distress. Let’s name a few: worrying about whether the statute of limitations has run on a particular matter; worrying about whether the brief you submitted on a critical issue is perfect, worrying about whether the jurors chosen in a particular case don’t like you or your client, perseverating to the nth degree about anything and everything that lawyers tend to worry about. Worrying about being sued for malpractice, no matter how remote the possibility.

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This is where self-medication often kicks in: the drinking, the use of substances to get through the day, the week, the month, the year. This phobia is different from the fear of failure, another phobia that we have.

The perfectionism phobia often is the result of upbringing and other environmental factors that play upon a person’s insecurity and fears. If you were raised in an environment where A grades were expected and anything lower than that met with disapproval, that could be a trigger for adult behavior where anything less than perfection is unacceptable.

It’s also possible that you are “hardwired” for this phobia. Are you sensitive? Insecure? Two traits that are tough to handle as a lawyer. How many times have you revised a brief? It’s easier nowadays to do that than it was in dinosaur times, but the facility with which revisions can be made don’t necessarily justify endless revisions. Stressing out over a typo or a word choice should not be the end of the world or cause you to fall into a funk or depression because the work wasn’t perfect. Been there.

Do you procrastinate? Another sign of perfectionism. You don’t want to do a less than perfect job, so what do you do? You do nothing, and that gets you into trouble when work isn’t finished on time.

Learning how to let go, to stop worrying about never being good enough (although I wonder whose definition of “good enough” is “good enough,”) stopping the voices in your head that constantly natter about your need to improve is essential, not just for the practice of law specifically, but in your life in general.

We struggle with alcohol use, depression, and anxiety more so than the general population. I know lawyers (and other professionals) who proclaim their perfectionism as a badge of honor. I disagree.

Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at [email protected].

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