CHICAGO — Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Monday lauded “collegiality” in the legal profession, hailing it as what lets the judicial system work well despite its inherently combative nature.

She said she’s been “thinking a lot lately” about getting along and bridging disagreements.

“It occurs to me that law is a profession that, unlike some others, operates continually through the strain of disagreement,” Barrett said. “Doctors cooperate and coordinate to deal with patients. Engineers work together to build the bridge.

“But litigants and their lawyers are pitted against one another on opposite sides of the ‘V,’” she continued.

Her brief remarks came at the judicial conference for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which covers federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

She said the legal system relies on “zealous advocacy and professionalism, and careful and fair adjudication."

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