The San Francisco Code of Ethics
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bar are admonished
action or proceeding, merely to vex,
that code provisions and rules of court
harass or annoy the opposite party, or to put him to needless expense; nor to make use of the delays necessary or
members of the
regulating pleadings, practice and procedure are intended to facilitate and
speed the administration of justice. Those in existence are recognized by
the bar as adaptable to that purpose if their spirit is insisted upon and obeyed by both bench and bar. To the same end, the Association declares it to be not professional for a lawyer to take advantage of any im perfections in the machinery of the law,
with the intent thereby to retard, delay or restrict the speedy trial and con clusion of civil and criminal actions and proceedings, or the hearing of any
demurrer.
motion or matter therein
possible in the law for the purpose of wearing out an antagonist or forcing him to a compromise.
It is the duty of the bench and bar to be punctual in attendance upon court.
It is the lawyer's duty, in the trial of causes, to expedite the work of the court by admitting the truth of all
matters which he knows to be true, and not to consume its time by requiring proof, in the hope of discovering and obtaining advantage from technical defects in an opponent's preparation
requiring a hearing.
or procedure.
It is not professional to interpose demurrers for the purpose of securing
The lawyer is ethically obligated, not only to his clients, but also to the bar, to take upon himself no more business than he can properly and
delay, nor to carp at triw'al defects in a pleading not going to the merits; nor to move to strike out parts of a
pleading where no useful purpose will be subserved thereby;
nor to obtain
by stipulation or by order more time to plead than is reasonably and fairly
speedily dispatch. While reasonable courtesies in the matter of continuances are essential in the experience of every
lawyer, it is inethical to expect, or to seek to obtain, postponements or delays
nor to neglect to demand
in the trial of causes which are either
a jury trial until on or near the day of
unreasonable in number or duration, or which are not absolutely necessary.
necessary;
trial; nor ever to demand a jury trial where the purpose of the demand is to delay the cause; nor to move or request a court to grant a continuance of a cause on statutory grounds without
X. Responsibility of the Bar Relative to the jury System The bar must hold its own apathy
making a strictly legal showing, or
largely responsible for the disrespect
upon any other grounds without making or causing to be made to the court and opposing counsel a full, truthful and unexaggerated statement of the reason therefor; nor to refrain from notifying the court and opposing counsel, as tar
into which the jury system has fallen. In all cases a lawyer is responsible to his
in advance of the time set for trial as the circumstances of the case will admit, of an intent to move for a con
professional brethren for his own con duct and the conduct of his employees in relation to the jury. Existing con
ditions demand that he also be held prima facie responsible for any mis
tinuance; nor to move for a. change of
conduct in the same regard by his client or his client’s employees. To that end it is declared that henceforth the
venue or to make any other motion in an
lawyer representing the side employing
