The Codification of Professionalism: Can You Sanction Lawyers Into Being Nice?

On October 31, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court in The Florida Bar v. Norkin made it clear that "it wants the trend of escalating incivility among lawyers to stop." With that decision, in which a lawyer was suspended and publicly reprimanded for his behavior, the court urged that "[m]embers of The Florida Bar, law professors, and law students should study" this case "as a glaring example of unprofessional behavior." This article heeds the court's directive to do so, but also places it in the context of the movement to enhance professionalism statewide.