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S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School

By Jeralyn, Section Law Related
Posted on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:12:02 PM EST
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Civil and domestic lawyers frequently complain about the rudeness and lack of civility among their peers. I've even heard Judges remark on it. In South Carolina, things have gotten so bad that lawyers have to take a one-hour civility class and re-take their oath, with the added passage:

"To opposing parties and their counsel, I pledge fairness, integrity, and civility, not only in court, but also in all written and oral communications."

If this is representative of how lawyers treat witnesses in South Carolina, a career change rather than an oath might be in order:

A witness complained that a lawyer told her before a deposition, "You are a mean-spirited, vicious witch and I don't like your face and I don't like your voice."

Apparently, the tradition of rudeness and worse has a long history in South Carolina:

In 1856, a cane-wielding South Carolina lawyer who was a member of Congress beat an anti-slavery senator from Massachusetts unconscious on the Senate floor. In 1897, Will Thurmond, a prosecutor and father of the late Senator Strom Thurmond, shot and killed a political enemy who had insulted him on the street.

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    • S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#1)
    by Rich on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 10:39:14 PM EST
    Southern politeness is eomething you encounter from old moneyed urban folks an blue collar rural fols. Basically, you're taling abiut a world of neo-feudal scum, which is probably the root of much of the legal community.

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#2)
    by cp on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:07:23 PM EST
    bear in mind, you are talking about the state who's planter elite started the civil war. my folks live in charleston, consistently voted the most polite city in the nation. i can attest to this overall sense of civility, which is most evident as they attempt to run you off the road. while they may try to kill you, they will do so while exhibiting that discrete southern charm!

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:14:41 PM EST
    To anyone interested, it should be noted in the caning story that it was not merely someone who was lost in the moment. Preston Brooks beat an unsuspecting Charles Sumner three days after Sumner had delivered a speech in which he insulted Brooks' fellow SC senator. Sumner was beaten so badly he couldn't serve in the senate for the next three years. Also, Brooks was re-elected that year and served until his death. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#4)
    by Darryl Pearce on Fri Feb 25, 2005 at 11:24:27 PM EST
    Without a trace of historical perspective, Sen Lindsay Graham said, "The patriotism of South Carolina is unmatched."

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#5)
    by Ray Radlein on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 12:03:29 AM EST
    Perhaps he simply realizes that the word "unmatched" does not mean the same thing as the word "unsurpassed." After all, no other state of the union has ever initiated a civil war against the United States of America, right? So South Carolina's record will almost certainly continue to be unmatched in that regard.

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#6)
    by Rick B on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:04:24 AM EST
    You may notice that as a result of Nixon's Southern strategy, these people are the direct antecedents of the current Republican Party in the South. Gutter slime seems to be a genetic condition.

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:28:51 AM EST
    I used to live in SC, and served on a jury. The prosecutor of the case, was a state trooper, AND the arresting officer. It was amusing, to watch him cross examine himself, I kept expecting him to jump up and stand in front of the witness box, then go back and sit down in the witness chair. This situation has always struck me as strange, does anybody know why the arresting officer was the prosecutor too? And are there other states, assuming its a state decision, that do this?

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 06:06:23 AM EST
    et al - The problem is we know you damnyankees put sugar and milk in your grits. That is just so unspeakable... We try to be kind, but after awhile the rage and shock just can't be contained. Jane R - I used to live in Chicago. I kept a $50.00 bill stuck to my driver's license. Can you guess why? alan you aint - That was before the days of the Internet. Both insults, and replies, were delivered personally. It's kind of like concealed carry. Improves politness immensely. cp - Maybe it's because you weave in and out of traffic while giving folks the finger? Of course what probably happened was the waitress down at Denny's put a secret mark on your car that says: "Caution: Typical Damnyankee Bad Tipper." Rick - We just put'em down as damnyankee tourists or retirees. I mean, did you ever hear of anyone retiring to the North? "Where are you and the misses donna retire to, Joe?" "Oh, we've picked us out a place in Brooklyn. It's near a place called, "Hell's Kitchen."

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#9)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 09:47:37 AM EST
    Jane R, Have you ever seen the Woody Allen movie "Bananas"? He did exactly that. It's hilarious. Especially funny was the large black woman who played J. Edgar Hoover. But of course, Hoover never wore a dress.

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#10)
    by cp on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 12:39:35 PM EST
    ppj, i'm born and mostly raised in va, capital of the confederacy, and arbiter of the social standards by which all other southern states are judged. we tend to look down on both north and south carolina as wannabe's; y'all wannabe virginians. actually, you used to be virginians, we just graciously allowed you to become separate colonies, when we realized how ill mannered you had become. didn't want to have anyone mistaking you for us! had it been a va member of congress, he would have done the job correctly, and killed sumner. instead, it was an incompetent south carolinian. the same bunch that half-assedly started a war they had no hope in hell of winning. for the record, i put salt and butter on my grits! lol

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 04:31:21 PM EST
    cp - Salt and pepper? I am impressed. ;-)

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#12)
    by BigTex on Sat Feb 26, 2005 at 05:40:09 PM EST
    Egg and sausage are allowed t' be smothered in th' grace o' grits in this cow poke's abode. cp - VA is nice, I've got good friends up there that I visit occasionally, but it's been tainted by havin DC so close. You have t' travel south o' Fairfax county t' get into true southern terratory, which eliminates a big chunk o' th' population.

    Re: S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 01, 2005 at 10:30:21 AM EST
    PPJ (aka Jim)- "alan you aint - That was before the days of the Internet. Both insults, and replies, were delivered personally." Actually, when Sumner delivered the speech neither of the SC senators were present.

    S.C. Lawyers In Need of Charm School | 13 comments (13 topical)