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Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar and Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg are ending the year with a flurry of appreciation in the legal blogosphere. They each sent an e-mail to three bloggers asking them to write a post to their blogs beginning with the words: "Lawyers Appreciate . . .then pass the  baton on to three more bloggers. The countdown will last until the last day of the year." 

My contribution follows, after "tapping" the following bloggers to join in -- Between Lawyers, Workplaces that Work, and Florida Arbitration Law. 

Thanks Julie and Stephanie for the great idea. 

That said. 

Lawyers appreciate integrity.  

Wikipedia, which lawyers appreciate for its admirable effort to be inclusive, comprehensive, multi-vocal and "true," defines integrity in its popular sense as:

holding true to one's values [or] being one's word; doing what you said you would do (by when)/(how) you said you would do it. Integrity is knowing what is important to you and living your actions accordingly. .  .  Integrity is how you allow others to see you. 

Lawyers appreciate it when their colleagues act with integrity. 

1. Litigators appreciate adversaries who do what they say they will do.        
2. Judges appreciate lawyers who answer questions directly and state the facts and law as accurately as possible.  
3. Mediators appreciate disputants who will in fact terminate negotiations after putting their "last penny" on the bargaining table if that is what they have told the mediator they will do.   See Ultimatum.  
4. Corporate clients appreciate legal counsel who are willing to write off time that was unproductive and, in hindsight, unnecessary.  See I'm Billing Time.
5. Advocates appreciate Judges who read the papers carefully, listen attentively and change their tentative rulings if they realize their tentative was wrong.     
6. Law professors appreciate students who are engaged rather than hiding behind their laptops surfing the internet. 
7. Associates appreciate peers who shoulder their fair share of the work, take their fair share of the blame and, when praised, acknowledge those who assisted them. 
8. Associates also appreciate partners who give them a pat on the back for a job well done and a measured dose of constructive criticism for a job poorly executed.   
9. Partners appreciate associates who demonstrate an eager dedication to the clients' cause and an honest assessment of their own abilities to forward it. 
10. And we all appreciate living in a professional culture in which we are not required to distrust everyone all the time on every point.   

As a litigator, I know that when I get up in the morning teams of people are beginning their business day with the goal of proving my position wrong, my client a wrongdoer, my perception of the "facts" cockeyed and my reading of the law simply incorrect. 

That's OK.  It's a high level sport.  

But good sports do not cheat.  They do not upset the game board when they lose.  They accept victory with humility and defeat with grace.  They genuinely wish one another well.   

Finally, Hugh McLeod of Gaping Void (sketch above) challenges us to live with integrity by inhabiting and expressing our full potential so that our "insides match our outsides."

And I am appreciative for the collaborative and reciprocal world of bloggers, though this does not appear on my husband's appreciation list.  (sorry honey, I'll make a much greater effort to be more attentive to you TODAY and every day thereafter).