Nobody loves me

I think lawyers also have to be really careful when making laws which suit themselves. As Kerr says, there is a perception that we are a “closed shop” and that we make rules for our own benefit.

As for the problem of representing unpleasant people - I think that’s just something that lawyers have to explain better - everyone deserves a quality representation. And it’s not for the lawyer to decide whether or not their client’s story is true or not. That’s the job of the judge or jury.

As I said in my “Mad, Bad and Sad” post:

I think every lawyer (if they are honest with themselves) has been in a situation where he or she has not been entirely comfortable with representing a client, and in fact, lawyers may have been in situations where they are very uncomfortable with instructions. I guess that I saw my job as to not only represent the client, but try and make sure that the client made appropriate and sensible arguments. But I know there are other lawyers who disagree with my point of view - I had a heated argument one day with another lawyer who insisted that it is our duty to put any argument in the strongest manner possible, no matter how repugnant it may seem, because that is what we are being paid to do.

To be a lawyer, you have to divorce yourself from your own personal instincts and morality to an extent. That’s something that “normal” people find creepy and unpleasant, hence the jokes about blood-suckers and sharks and so on. But this objectivity does allow us to see both sides of the argument. And usually, there are two sides of the argument - it’s very rare that things are clear-cut.

Put yourself in a defendant’s shoes. If you hire a lawyer, do you want one who presents a half-baked defence because she thinks you’re guilty? Or do you want one who does the best job she can regardless? The fact is that lawyers are paid by clients to put the best argument forward that they can, and if they don’t feel they can do that, they shouldn’t accept the client’s money.

In conclusion, I think there are things lawyers can do to make the law more approachable to laypeople, and in the process, improve their own standing and esteem in the community. I think the measures I’ve mentioned above would be good for the community and good for lawyers themselves.

But ultimately, I think we’ll always be regarded with a little distrust because of our ability to twist words and facts, and our ability to make the indefensible defensible. People don’t like to see the foundations of their assumptions rocked like that. It’s just something we have to live with