Tjoflat: ethics and professionalism lead to independence.

If American lawyers want to remain independent, much of their fate remains in their own hands through following high standards of ethics and professionalism, according to 11th U.S. Circuit Court Judge Gerald Tjoflat.

Judge Tjoflat delivered the annual lecture on the Independence of the American Lawyer at the Trial Lawyer Section's Annual Chester Bedell Memorial Luncheon at the Bar's recent convention.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

He turned to the legendary Bedell as an example, noting he litigated cases against him, heard his cases while on the bench, and for many years was a neighbor.

"Chester Bedell was the quintessential role model. He firmly believed that how he conducted himself from day to day, in his law office, in the courtroom, or in his private affairs affected in some way, perhaps imperceptibly, how other lawyers conducted themselves," Tjoflat said.

He noted the Biblical story of Cain and Abel and how Cain, after killing his brother, answered God's query on Abel's whereabouts with "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

"Chester Bedell thought of himself as his brother's keeper, his brother being a fellow lawyer. To him, everyone is somebody's role model, somebody's keeper. So it is with all of us."

As a member of America's "Greatest Generation," Bedell and most of his peers adhered to a high standard of ethics and civility, Tjoflat said, and they passed that along to younger lawyers they hired and mentored. With much lower beginning salaries, young lawyers were frequently taken along on complex cases or business deals at the firm's expense as a way of teaching and mentoring them, he said.

The explosive growth of the legal profession in the 1960s and beyond overburdened that model of bringing younger lawyers along, Tjoflat said. Instead of there being one or two young lawyers for each senior lawyer, the ratio grew to five or 10 to one.

The result was lesser experienced lawyers took over mentoring, if any mentoring was done. Younger lawyers resort to the law of the jungle, or are ill-equipped to resist a client who pushes for unethical tactics.

"The lack of mentoring--and the blind leading the blind scenario--is nowhere more manifest than it is in the public sector, especially in the state criminal courts. The circuit judges assigned to the criminal docket will tell you that in lots of cases--especially those with indigent defendants represented by court-appointed counsel--it is all the court can do to keep a proceeding on track...