Can lawyers adopt a Trump style of lawyering? No formal rule of professional conduct prohibits incivility in the practice of law, in part because historically an informal mix of professional norms, law firm values, and market controls have protected civility. As these informal protections have eroded and attacks on the rule of law have escalated, should lawyers role-model civil, respectful interaction to shore up public trust in the rule of law? The Article explores and dismisses four obstacles on the road to a civility rule of conduct— lawyer exceptionalism (“everybody is uncivil, this is not a problem lawyers can or should solve”), loyalty to clients (“civility is inconsistent with zealous advocacy”), subjectivity (“nobody knows what civility means and it cannot be enforced”), and legality (“name-calling and derogatory remarks are protected by the First Amendment and lawyers’ free speech rights”)—and advances a proposal for civility rules designed to protect the rule of law.

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