In anticipation of the Toledo Law Review 2025-26 Legal Symposium “Civility & Professionalism in a Changing Legal World,” Professor David Grenardo wrote “Why Civility?” – now published on SSRN and forthcoming in the Toledo Law Review.

In this article, Prof. Grenardo honestly and humorously recounts the life experiences which led him to become a zealous advocate of civility. He provides a broad overview of the benefits of civility in both an academic and a practice setting, laying out a compelling case for the importance of mandatory civility rules.

Please see the abstract below:

I spent the last fifteen years writing about civility, presenting on civility, and promoting civility for lawyers. Why have I devoted over a decade and a half to studying and advocating for civility in the legal profession? Why civility? Simply put: “Civility is the cornerstone of the legal profession.” This brief Essay highlights a number of my experiences as a practitioner and as a law professor that illustrate both the importance of civility and the costs of incivility to help answer the question of why civility.
Part I of this Essay provides a definition and brief overview of civility. Part II of this Essay takes a practical look at civility and how it has manifested in my experiences as a practicing lawyer for nearly a decade and as a law professor for the past fifteen years. This Essay concludes that civility is essential to the practice of law for every lawyer, and more states should adopt mandatory civility beyond the handful of states that already require civility from their lawyers.

We hope you will read the full article on SSRN!