Whenever I tell someone that I am a lawyer I brace myself for the onslaught of lawyer jokes. Sometimes it seems that everyone loves to hate lawyers — until they need one.
My response to lawyer-haters is simple: There are places in this world where there are relatively few lawyers. That is because in those places no one pays attention to the law. If you want to open a business in some places that have few lawyers you have to hire a burly guy with an automatic weapon to sit in your lobby. He is the law. And the government does whatever it wants to you and with you. Just ask the Russian oligarchs who offended their government and ended up in cages.
We have a lot of lawyers in our country because we care about the law.
And that is a good thing.
A very good thing, indeed.
Lawyers have one overarching duty: Ensure that the law is fully and fairly applied in order to protect their clients.
And that is a good thing.
A very good thing, indeed.