the legal profession, com - bined with extremely de- manding workloads and a field filled to the brim with perfectionists, lay the groundwork for attorneys to stray outside the realm of accepted professional behavior. “We get accolades for winning, not so much for losing,” she said. “We don’t really get positive rein - forcement from, ‘You did
are similarly overrepresented in perpetrating impactful and memorable acts of incivility. “They’re in a position where they’re hiring, they’re promot - ing,” she said. “When you have microaggression behavior, you notice it more in that setting, done by a white male attorney versus a minority counterpart, because a minority is most likely not in a position of power.” Williams said years of exposure to microaggressions and more direct forms of incivility can begin to chip away at attorneys. “They’re like little paper
cuts,” Williams said of mi- croaggressions. “But after getting a paper cut over and over again, year after year, you are bleeding to death.” However, she said that while deliberate incivility may serve as a power trip for some attorneys, “kar- ma is going to come back.” And as a strategy, it might not be so smart.
Diana Uchiyama
your best; you argued despite having a difficult case.’” Uchiyama suggested that incivility may offer temporary catharsis for attorneys experiencing “hydraulic rage,” but it is ultimately not a healthy coping mechanism. “It feels good to the person doing it because it’s a release,” she said. “It’s like a built-up explosion. But the problem is that you leave everyone in its wake decimated.” She added that while perpetrators of incivility typically de- flect from their wrongdoing, those who are victims of such behavior can’t brush it off quite as easily. Some leave the industry “because they can’t deal with incivility, aggression, high toxic anger.” “I would say that repeated incivility and repeated micro- aggressions lead to increased mental health [struggles], in - creased chronic stress and sometimes increased maladap- tive coping mechanisms in order to manage the overwhelming feeling of having to deal with that over and over again,” she said.
Sonni Choi Williams
“Every case that I’ve dealt with where the other side was a jerk, the attorney really didn’t advance their cli- ent’s case,” she said. “It was a waste of their client’s time. It really doesn’t bode well for advancing their client. And they may have a temporary feeling of ‘I won this by totally being a jerk and winning the shouting match,’ but winning the shouting match doesn’t mean you’re going to win the case.”
Lockport city attorney Sonni Choi Wil- liams echoed this sentiment and recounted her own experiences facing both misogynis - tic and racist incivility. “I was called the c-word in my office one time because I wasn’t agreeing to some - thing that [the opposing counsel] wanted me to agree to,” she said. “I was shocked. And this is an older male attorney ... who had great influence in the community. He was so used to getting his way and when I said ‘no,’ that’s when his true colors showed up.” Williams described another instance where an older male attorney began dis - cussing his recent visit to China with her, including describing adjusting to using chopsticks, even after she clarified that she is Korean. As the profession grows slow - ly more diverse, she said, such incidents should decrease. For now, the overrepresentation of white men in positions of authority — as firm part - ners and judges and the like — means they
30 LAW DAY 2023 • CHICAGO DAILY LAW BULLETIN
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