Posted: August 5th, 2022

Does Poor Writing and Failure to Follow Court Rules

Does Poor Writing and Failure to Follow Court Rules Violate Attorney Ethics Rules and, If So, What Discipline is Appropriate?

Legal writing is usually concerned with competence and adherence to legal ethics. Legal ethics plays a very important role in ensuring that the lawyer meets and understand their obligations and responsibilities. It is necessary to ensure that the public is protected from fraudulent and unscrupulous activities. Fruehwald (2008) identifies that a lawyer is required by law to be competent in offering their representation to their client. Legal writing is part of what makes up competence. This requires adequate knowledge and skills, meticulousness, proper research and adequate preparation. All this work to offer the client reasonable representation within the jurisdiction of the court.
Within the court the client, should officially register a representative as required under the law. Judges have the power to accept or deny the ability for clients to represent themselves within a case. All controversies within the court remain justiciable or subject to an elaborate trial in a recognized court of law. The judge and the lawyer remain to be one of the important and mostly recognized parties within any court of law. Legal writing is defined to go hand in hand with what is defined as a good lawyer. Woodworth (2017) identifies that most judges do acknowledge competence in legal writing as an ethical obligation; stating further that judicial sanctions may be triggered through poor legal writing as well as professional ethics violations. These violations show incompetence and inability to adequately represent the client.
Finally, judges normally will not be obliged to preside over cases that they deem are not ripe. The “controversy” within a case will be deemed not to be concrete. A lawyer who violates court rules on ethics, may more than likely be incompetent in court’s procedures (Woodworth, 2017). As already identified a lawyer that violates court rule is liable for sanctions. Based on their misconduct they may be reprimanded, suspended, fined, admonition, face a public reprimand or have their license suspended within a court’s jurisdiction (Jrank, 2019). Attorneys should aim to achieve greater formalized training in understanding legal writing and court procedures to be able to constantly practice.

References
Fruehwald, Edwin S., (2008) Legal Writing, Professionalism, and Legal Ethics.
Hofstra Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-20, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1238484 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1238484
Jrank. (2019). Attorney Misconduct – Other Types Of Misconduct. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://law.jrank.org/pages/4553/Attorney-Misconduct-Other-Types-Misconduct.html
Woodworth, W. (2017). THE ETHICS AND SCIENCE OF THE LEGAL WRITING ART: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH. Syracuse Law Review, 67(329), 330-355. doi: https://lawreview.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Vol-67.1-Woodworth.pdf

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