“The trouble with the legal profession is that 98% of its members give the rest a bad name.” That is a joke, correct? Lawyers who take their ethical duties seriously and care about client interests know it is. Unfortunately, some lawyers and the public do not. Beyond endless pejorative lawyer quips, public perception of lawyers is extremely low even though practicing law was once and still should be thought of as a noble profession.The disconnect between how some lawyers practice law and the public’s perception of how most lawyers practice law raises two simple but significant questions: What is the cause and how do we fix it? Although the answer is not so simple, I explore a major cause and propose a cure below.
LINKSRead “‘Constructive Adversarialism’ — Legal Advocacy That Does Not Harm Client Interests, the American Adversary System, and a Noble Profession,” authored by David G. Thomas, published by the American Bar Association. (subscription)