BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam On-Demand
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Ethics and Specialty Credits
  • schedule 60 minutes

Practicing Civility: Balancing Zealous Advocacy and Professional Respect

$197.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL
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Description

Going beyond politeness, civility underpins ethical lawyering and attorney well-being. The panel will distinguish civility from weakness, passive lawyering, and excessive deference and examine the roots of uncivil behavior in implicit bias, unmanaged trauma, and emotional reactivity. The webinar examines how to identify and confront incivility by balancing zealous advocacy with professional courtesy and personal integrity.  

Listen as our expert panel discusses the meaning, challenges, and future of civility in law. The panel will offer actionable strategies, tools for improving communication and professionalism, and a framework for mentoring and modeling civility in the legal community. 

Presented By

Jeanne M. Huey
Managing Shareholder
Hunt Huey PLLC

Ms. Huey is a trial lawyer and mediator with 27 years of experience in civil litigation, including discovery, pretrial proceedings, trial, and appellate work. Her Civil Litigation experience includes 7 years at a large regional firm and the past 20 years at Hunt Huey PLLC. Since 2017, Ms. Huey's practice has been focused on contract disputes, legal ethics, professional responsibility, and legal malpractice; she defends lawyers in disciplinary matters, acts as an expert witness on ethics issues, consults on ethics compliance, and litigates cases involving allegations of attorney misconduct. She serves as an ethics consultant to lawyers nationwide, advising on compliance with the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the ABA Model Rules. 

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Jon Schmidt
Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge
Minnesota Judicial Branch

Judge Schmidt was appointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals by Governor Walz in September 2023. Before he joined the court of appeals, his legal career included public service, private practice, clerking for two distinguished appellate jurists, and teaching appellate advocacy. As a Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge, he is committed to ensuring fairness and equal justice for all people.

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Credit Information

  • This 60-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.0 CLE credits.

  • An excellent opportunity to earn Ethics CLE credits. Note: BARBRI cannot guarantee that this course will be approved for ethics credits in all states. To confirm, please contact our CLE department at pdservice@barbri.com.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Tuesday, September 9, 2025

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT

I. Introduction: a call to civility 

A. Why it matters: polarization, well-being

II. Defining what civility is and isn't 

A. Civility vs. politeness and compliance

B. Relation to model rules

C. Uncivil conduct examples: Rambo lawyering," emotional triggers, reactive language

III. Civility: communication, conduct, and attitude

A. Written: legal writing, social media

B. Spoken: court, depositions, hearings

C. Behavior: demeanor, body language, interrupting, hostility, escalation 

IV. Advocacy vs. aggression

A. Zealous representation, respectful restraint 

B. Cousins: professionalism and civility 

C. Civility's relationship to bias

V. Mental health, emotional triggers, and trauma

A. Civility's role in maintaining healthy practice

B. Behavioral techniques: mindfulness, breathing, pausing, reframing

VI. Renewed commitment and resources

A. Formal civility pledges: Illinois' 2Civility.org, California Rule of Court 9.7, Georgia's "A Lawyer's Creed," etc.

B. Resources 

VII. Conclusion

The panel will discuss these and other key issues:

  • Civility as a foundational principle under the Model Rules and state MCLE ethics/professionalism guidelines
  • Distinguishing zealous advocacy from incivility
  • Improving emotional regulation in stressful interactions
  • Communicating professionally in writing, in person, and online
  • Connecting civility, trauma, and attorney well-being
  • Personal commitments to promote civility in practice and mentoring