Attorneys in Georgia must acquire approximately a week’s worth of continuing education each year. Two of those hours have to be in “professionalism� and “ethics.� While we all see this training as necessary, the lectures are usually either entertaining “war� stories, and are often either not very practical or extremely boring. Every now and then, however, there is a little shaft of brilliance.

I was privileged to be a witness to just one such instance, in a recent professionalism lecture by Justice Robert Benham, of the Georgia Supreme Court. Justice Benham has been an attorney for more than thirty years, having served as a Supreme Court Justice for nearly twenty of those years. He related to a group of attorneys a few of his personal experiences to illustrate the role of lawyers, the law, and the public. In print, I cannot do justice to his eloquence, but I thought I would share some of his musings.

Justice Benham started practicing law in the early 1970s up in the Georgia mountains. He described appearing in front of the local judge and having a rough experience. Later, the judge’s assistant gave Justice Benham a piece of her mind, demanding to know why he had been so argumentative with her judge. She revealed that the generous anonymous donation that permitted Justice Benham to afford law school came from none other than her judge. Ouch.

Another instance, Justice Benham was traveling to a local municipality to represent a client on a traffic ticket, where “court� was held by the Mayor in a trailer. Justice Benham carried with him a tape recorder to record the proceedings in case something needed to be appealed. The Mayor pulled him aside and they worked things out without the necessity of a messy trial and a tape recorder.

Finally, Justice Benham told of the court clerk in his hometown handing him the keys to the court house. This was done with every lawyer in the county. The clerk told Justice Benham that this was a reminder that the courthouse belonged to the local citizens and that they ought to have a right to go into the courthouse with their attorney, anytime, to see the courtroom and learn the mechanics of the judicial process.

Lawyers are trained to fight. The genesis of our profession reflects back to a more barbaric time, when armed combat was used to resolve disputes. Lawyers are the offspring of this medieval system of dispute resolution. Because of the role we have in society, lawyers find themselves constantly being dragged into an adversarial, combative, nasty business.

Justice Benham’s point is that lawyers should not celebrate the battle. Our true calling is to help our clients resolve disputes. We have ties to our judges and our fellow attorneys that will survive a particular case and we often walk a fine line. We bring to the table our experience, knowledge of the law, and, hopefully, some dispassionate detachment from our clients’ emotional entanglements. Sometimes, this makes it difficult for our clients to listen to us; they think we are not being tough enough. It might help our clients to remember our goal is to achieve resolution, not alienation.

Some might consider Justice Benham’s notion quaint. In an increasingly complicated and busy world, the Bar is not as fraternal as it once was. It is hard to slough off our combat persona; yet, Justice Benham is right: it should still be the goal of every attorney to celebrate the cause of justice, not the cause of battle.