When quoting Shakespeare on the practice of law, nearly everyone quotes the line, “The first thing we do, let us kill all the lawyers” (Henry VI, Part II). Yawn. But a trial judge in Pennsylvania dug a little deeper for a more favorable lawyer quote from Taming of the Shrew.
The Legal Intelligencer, which heralds itself the oldest law journal in the United States, reported on a recent Pennsylvania federal district court order which called upon feuding lawyers to attend a professionalism CLE and eat lunch together — as a sanction for calling each other “asshole” during a deposition. The ABA Journal Mobile likewise picked up the story.
Our setting is ridiculous: two African American lawyers, involved in a racial discrimination case, got into a dispute where one lawyer called the other one “asshole” four times and, in response, the other lawyer shot back at him, calling him.. “boy.” The situation becomes more bizarre since the use of the word “boy” was at the heart of the lawsuit — since there were allegations a white female supervisor had referred to the minority plaintiff in such tones.
Ruling on motions for sanctions in Huggins v. Coatesville Area School District, the trial judge spent 12 pages discussing the issue, borrowing the Shakespeare quote, “[a]nd do as adversaries do in law, Strive mightily but eat and drink as friends.” According to this literature commentary, however, the character who says that line… is lying.