Collegiality

The word collegiality can connote respect for another's commitment to the common purpose and ability to work toward it.  Sometimes lawyers on opposing sides of a case lose sight of the fact that they're supposed to be working together to further the cause of justice, a/k/a the establishment or determination of rights according to the rules of law or equity. I mean, that is what I went to law school to do.  It's really nice when two lawyers can work together to make sure the court gets all the facts necessary to make an appropriate decision, that all the evidence goes in correctly and that the judge understands the parties' positions.  That was today.  The case is really contentious, one unreasonably angry party fighting just because he can.  It'd be easy for the issues to get lost in the fight, except they didn't.  The other attorney and I worked together to present the facts and documentation to the judge so she could sift through the chaff and find the wheat.   It made a long, tiring day in court less exhausting.