Four members of Colorado’s U.S. District Court introduced lawyers on Tuesday to a new, nonbinding “civility code” and expressed frustration about overly belligerent behavior they are seeing more frequently from attorneys.

“It feeds on itself. One lawyer in a case starts with snarky comments in the briefs or the motions, the other side may try to sneak in something,” said Senior Judge William J. Martínez. “Unfortunately, where I see it most often is with out-of-town counsel.”

Colorado’s federal trial court has posted a “statement of policy” on its website — a 23-page document published by the American College of Trial Lawyers. While the court only “encourages” lawyers to read it, the guidance contains a foreword by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and directs attorneys how to balance obligations to their clients with the range of duties they must fulfill while remaining professional.

Senior Judge John L. Kane said he presented the document to the district court’s chief judge after learning about civility guidelines adopted by the Northern District of California. The members of Colorado’s court wound up adopting it as an aspirational statement, separate from the enforceable code of conduct.

“The key to success in litigation, including trials and negotiations, is persuasion. That is indeed the art of advocacy,” Kane said. “And no one is ever persuaded by incivility. It is not a sign of weakness to be respected and admired by your opponent, the judge, the jury …. It is, rather, a sign of dignity and confidence.”

The discussion at the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in Denver featured judges of varying tenures: Kane, who was appointed in 1977; Martínez, who joined in 2010; Judge S. Kato Crews, who began in 2024 but was previously a magistrate judge; and Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter, who started in 2018.

“When I became a magistrate judge, people would say, ‘How do you like it?’ I said, ‘It’s a lot less stressful than the job of litigating’,” Neureiter recalled, “‘because I don’t have to win to get paid. I don’t have to win to get clients.'”

The judges spoke of examples in which attorneys behaved unprofessionally without good reason, such as arguing against an opposing counsel’s request for more time to file a document. Neureiter described one attorney asking for an extension due to a power outage affecting their ability to file, only for the other side to oppose the accommodation.

“You need to predict what the judge will do. And the judge will always grant the extension. And you will look like a real jerk,” Neureiter said.

“Does it hurt my client? Does it hurt the administration of justice?” asked Kane. If the answer is no, “don’t worry about it and don’t get into a spitting match.”

Martínez recalled presiding over a prolonged class-action lawsuit in which one set of counsel belonged to a national firm with a Denver presence, but the specific lawyers came from Texas. After becoming frustrated with the out-of-state attorneys’ behavior, he held a hearing where he ordered the firm’s local representatives to come in.

“We talked about how I was going to institute a new requirement going forward, and that was that the Houston lawyer had to run a draft of the motion or the brief or whatever it was by the Denver attorney in that national law firm. And the Denver attorney had to certify that in his or her opinion, the arguments and the positions taken in the brief passed local muster in terms of how we handle things civilly here,” he said. “And it worked. The tone, the tenor, the approach of the filings dramatically changed.”

Martínez added he has also required lawyers to meet outside of email or text exchanges when things have gotten out of hand, and to certify to him that they had a face-to-face or phone conversation.

A 2017 national report from the American Bar Association suggested civility has declined in the legal profession. Moreover, high job demands and lack of control are associated with psychological issues and alcohol abuse, and law students felt deterred from seeking help for their own depression or drug use.

Carolyn Fairless, an attorney and member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, said the nonbinding civility guidance was aimed at ensuring people not only comply with the letter of the code of conduct, but with the underlying values that demand professionalism in all settings.

“I have a personal concern that I am seeing lawyers retire. Not that they wanted to retire necessarily. But at a fairly early age, due to incivility in the legal profession and feeling this is not something they want to do anymore,” she said.

The panelists also mentioned another risk of incivility: Eventually the judge or jury will find out.

Jurors “pick up on any kind of comment or attitude or rolling of the eyes that a lawyer does toward the judge. And that has an effect — probably larger than it should — but it has an effect on their consideration of the trial,” said Martínez.

Crews recalled being in trial and taking a recess. He had ordered the attorneys to complete a task during the break and had left the courtroom. He then received a message from a staff member in the courtroom who was uncomfortable with the way a male attorney was speaking to the opposing female attorney.

“Just remember that our court staff is listening. They’re observing. They’re letting us know about attorney conduct that’s happening in our courtrooms,” Crews said.

Finally, some of the judges complimented the lawyers at the U.S. Attorney’s Office who represent the federal government in lawsuits brought by incarcerated plaintiffs who often do not have a lawyer.

At the outset, “I would tell (the plaintiffs), ‘That lawyer is an officer of the court and they have obligations to this court to treat you with courtesy and respect’,” said Crews. “It’s important because it helps them relax a little bit about the notion of having to talk to you guys as lawyers. And also, I felt it was a reminder to the lawyer in the courtroom that, ‘Hey, remember, this is your obligation. These are my expectations in terms of how you treat this litigant.'”

The discussion was sponsored by the Faculty of Federal Advocates.