Donna De Paola

Orion Inskip

Orion's remarks

"There’s nothing that can replace actually being together working on a project together for days and days at a time with a common goal and common interest despite the fact that you may all be coming from very different backgrounds and different practice areas and experiences. In fact those differences add a lot to the end product because everybody has their own separate piece to add to the overall picture the result of everyone participating, everybody taking part and adding their own individuality but not in a vacuum, you know the synergy of each person in their individuality added together made it obvious that the sum was greater than the parts."

"It really does validate what you really do know in the back of your mind which is those rules that [we] were brought up to follow, those rules of civility, those rules of our society. By following them you’re going to be more successful."

"The one big change that I’ve made since I’ve been back is to truly stop and take a moment. And I’m much better reminding myself to do that instead of reacting I really can stop the process and say, hey you know, let’s think about this before we move on."

Tim Kosnoff

Tim's remarks

"Well, I think like everybody um it looked like a boondoggle in Tuscany and a great way to get all 45 credits for your three-year reporting period. And it was that but it was much more than that. The Civility Promise in Tuscany was one of the best, maybe the best professional experience that I’ve had and certainly the greatest continuing legal education program I’ve ever participated in."

"And I came into it cynical and I came out of it absolutely convinced that something profound had changed in me in the way I wanted a lawyer when I got back here. And I think it happened because of the setting, it’s a beautiful, peaceful setting where a group of colleagues can get together in an informal, comfortable place and let their hair down and really expose themselves in a way that you couldn’t back home on a weekend or even on multi-day CLE. It takes you probably ten to twelve days to finally get down to where you’re ready to absorb the lessons of what you’ve been hearing."

"It is a consciousness raising experience, it’s hard to explain. It’s not just somebody talking to you um or giving you materials or information. It’s a dynamic that’s created and interaction with other participants some of whom are gonna be quite different from you and have quite different perspectives about the subject and about you and invariably there are some very powerful interactions that take place between the participants that at times could be very stressful but ultimately very gratifying because of what they illuminate and those who participate in that see that are impacted by it."

Patty Lally

Patty's remarks

"It was transformational because it changed forever how I conduct myself as a lawyer. It also gave me a much deeper appreciation for that concept of civility. For example, until that class I did not really understand the science of civility. I did not understand the correlation between being uncivil and attorneys having a very high percentage of substance abuse. I also did not appreciate incivility and the high rate for depression."

"I really started thinking about how civility has this impact in all parts of our life. It affects us mentally, it affects us physically, it affects us emotionally in our personal relationships as well as our professional relationships. That was transformational because it was in that class or shortly after that I realized I want to live a certain way and I don’t want it to be an instance or a new idea you know my diet of the weak. I wanted [it] to be a permanent transformation. I want to be the person that I respect the most and my time in that class, my time there really advanced my understanding."

Fred Langer

Karen Murray

Craig Sims

Sumeer Singla

Mary I. Yu

Sovana, Italy, is an ideal location for this eight-day Seminar on Civility for lawyers

Civility in Sovana

Written by James E. Hadley

Being in Sovana, in this beautiful setting, provided an opportunity for such contemplation that was enhanced by the quality of discourse shared with the other participants.  This time away -- away from families, clients, the stress of legal practice -- creates a window to reflect, to contemplate, and then to explore new or altered ways of conducting ourselves and influencing others in our chosen profession. 

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Civility and the law

Civility and the law

Written by Stacy Heard, Esq.
Published in the January 2012 edition of the Washington Chapter Association of Family & Conciliation Courts.

In October 2011, I had the extraordinary opportunity to attend and participate in an eight-day CLE in Sovana, Italy, with approximately 40 other attendees. The program is called “The Civility Promise in Italy: Experience Consciousness, Creativity, and Community,” conducted by the Seattle University School of Law and Robert’s Fund, founded by the president of Robert’s Fund and Seattle University Law School Professor, Paula Lustbader. The seminar is particularly unique because the participants stay in a small Tuscan town, one block long.

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Civility: Life lessons in Tuscany

Civility: Life lessons in Tuscany

Written by Karen Murray, Italy CLE Participant October 2011

After having several months to reflect upon both my seminar take-aways and the ten relaxing days I stayed in the beautiful countryside of Tuscany, I fully realize that the civility promise could not have happened in Seattle or any other place that I or the other participants reside.  It was crucial for all of us to travel across an ocean in order to immerse ourselves in the conversation of civility without any distractions in order to begin our exploration into the civility promise of consciousness.

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