EDITORIAL
2 Obiter Dicta
The Roots of Legal-Hate
I
law school, there is no shortage of attention
dedicated to the problems with the legal system.
There are students, lawyers, and faculty working on access to justice, legal innovation, legal
system reform, and legal aid projects. Ample opportunities exist to hear speakers, engage in workshops,
and participate in conferences all aimed at improving the legal system. And yet, despite all these meaningful, well-intentioned opportunities, I find myself
hard pressed to find any evidence that the negative
reputation lawyers have been saddled with for generations has improved whatsoever.
Do the public not know about these efforts? Do
they not care? Something tells me, though both these
questions may very well have an affirmative answer,
they are beside the point. The disconnect between
lawyers and the public continues, wedging a firm
and uncomfortable mistrust between practitioners
and our beloved potential clients. Unfortunately,
this is our problem. Since it is our salaries on the line,
brushing off the public for their ignorance to internal
efforts to improve the legal system will not suffice. A
hard look into the mirror, to acknowledge and accept
the root causes of “legal-hate”, is well overdue.
At the outset, it’s valuable to recognize that legalhate is an old game. Shakespeare famously wrote
“let’s kill all the lawyers,” and over the centuries
many who have read the quote, without the context,
have nodded approvingly at the proposal. To this
day, everything from Disney movies to HBO dramas
depict lawyers as greedy, conniving, and manipulative. Unfortunately, most aspects of the law do
involve either conflict or control, which are inherently uncomfortable subjects. Couple this with our
global history of elitist corruption and abuse of legal
power, and it is no surprise legal-hate runs deep.
However, as a new member to the legal community, exposed as I am to all the positive efforts to
improve the legal system, I find myself wondering if
the “evil lawyer” depictions are accurate. I’ll go as far
as to say that some lawyers are pompous, arrogant,
and egotistical. But downright “evil”? Maybe I’m still
yet to meet the worst lawyers, but fortunately, none
of the encounters I’ve made so far have been with
such distasteful individuals. In fact, many of the lawyers I’ve met are actually quite the opposite of what
Hollywood would have us believe. They are caring,
intelligent, and ethical, with a desire to use their
positions for socially beneficial purposes. It is true
that the power and authority of the legal profession
attracts some individuals for selfish reasons. But, by
the same token, it is equally attractive to those who
want to make positive, tangible social change.
Given my personal experience, if I were to wager,
I would say that the population of downright “evil”
lawyers is, at best, only slightly higher than what
one would find in any other industry. But even if
the “good-evil-spectrum” of lawyers isn’t as bleak
as it may be suggested, I suppose legal-hate can still
be partially blamed on the bad lawyers. After