Law Practice
Nov. 24, 2020
Officer of the court
The lawyer’s job description is this: officer of the court. This is true without regard to whether the lawyer ever steps foot in the courthouse.
Curtis E.A. Karnow
Judge (ret.)
San Francisco County Superior Court
Judge Karnow is author of "Litigation in Practice" (2017) and current co-author of Weil & Brown et al., "California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial" (Rutter).
Most lawyers, even those few who really do spend much of their time in trial, do not do most of their work in front of a judge. They do it in offices and conference rooms; and no judge is watching. Under one of the central rules of behavioral economics -- salience -- lawyers may be forgiven for thinking their job is primarily a function of their relationship with clients, and not the court. Most lawyers indeed never enter a courthouse, and clients are the sine qua non...
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