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Chapter 8 Sample
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The Trouble With Lawyers "...I would say that probably the best way to deal with lawyers is not to deal with them at all." --- from the book by Mark McCormack The Terrible Truth About Lawyers, Beech Tree Books: William Morrow, New York, 1987 ,p. 15 The Psychopathic Nature of Being A Lawyer There is something definitely disturbing to the psyche about the roles that lawyers must play in our society. Often they are conflicted individuals, who really do not relish what they must do. Think about it. They may have to defend the guilty; or try to convict the innocent. They may try to defend a company or one of its current business practices, whether they think it is right or not. Or they may try to legally and vigorously attack a company or its products, even if they think the company and/or its products are not that "bad." So what we are saying is that lawyers often have to go against their basic beliefs and principles In many respects they have to play very deceptive "games," not only to win cases or arguments; but just to even do (perform) the normally expected duties of their jobs. It is for the abovementioned reasons that I think a lawyer's occupation is essentially a psycho pathogenic one. That is, if one "plays" it long enough and well enough, after awhile it is in the main bad for the psyche. Just the normal course of events in the occupation, itself, will eventually cause psychological trauma. If it doesn't; or even if it never becomes apparent to a particular lawyer; then I really would begin to wonder about the overall psychological well-being of that particular lawyer. In any case, lawyers are not members of the only occupational group which is inherently psycho pathogenic. We could also similarly classify used car salespersons, and in many cases salespersons in general. And we could also add politicians to the list.
Salespersons are in the psycho pathogenic occupational category because they often must or will lie about the products they represent or are trying to sell, in order to be successful and "make the sale." In the very least, in order to be effective; they will exaggerate, if not altogether, make-up the advantages of whatever product they are trying to sell or represent. In the same vein; they will most often not tell you about, or at least they will "play down" the significance of any defects or disadvantages in the products or services they are trying to sell. Well, lawyers and politicians, in a manner of speaking, do the same. They will not dwell on the disadvantages of their case or arguments. And they will only extol the virtues of their side whenever possible, and whenever they can get away with it. If they don't; they probably won't be very successful as either lawyers or politicians. It's not that members of every other occupational group or career don't ever lie, exaggerate, or play down problems which go against whatever they are trying to represent. It's just that lawyers, politicians, and used car salespersons are inherently occupationally exposed to have to do it more often, and with much more intensity than members of other occupational groups. I don't have research and statistics to prove the above. But common sense and the results of analyzing our experiences tell us that this is true. Lawyers have a psycho pathogenic job. What they will or must do will often "fly in the face" of what they know or feel is actually true, good, just, fair, or correct. Take the case of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing of the federal building. Can you imagine having to defend the perpetrators? Can you imagine having to try to lessen their punishment? Probably not; and I'm sure most of you would not want to. But still because of the way the "game" is played; some lawyer has to defend them, and take all possible actions to mitigate their culpability and punishment. The lawyer has to try to "get them off"; even if they are scum. Do you think a normal, well-adjusted person would want that job? And the pathological examples are not restricted to violent crime. When the corporate lawyer pulls out every legal technicality he can find; or invokes every semantic word game trick he can muster to protect his company or give it some legal advantage; even when it is clearly wrong, or not in the best interests of society. When that happens, the lawyer is behaving psychopathological, whether he/she likes it or not.
The Image of Lawyers There must be something to the alleged inherent psychopathology of the occupation for lawyers, because lawyers of recent times certainly do not have a very good image of themselves. This section presents evidence and examples to support this contention. On 11/11/94, KCBS News Radio in Los Angeles announced the results of a new survey of lawyers, what they thought of themselves, and their careers. The survey was released by Donald Fishback, president of The American State Bar, in their official, professional journal. Responding to questions like, "Do you feel you chose a good career? If you had it to do over again, would you still choose to be a lawyer?"; the survey yielded the following results:
Can you imagine, almost half of the respondent lawyers either would not choose to be a lawyer again; or were uncertain if they would again do so! If that does not smack of an occupation with a "poor" self-image; I don't know what does. Queried about these survey findings, the state bar representative said, "... most lawyers believe they're doing a good job, [it's just that] ... nobody likes us."1 Judging from comments like this; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that many lawyers have serious doubts about how worthwhile their profession is. In fact, as I have been trying to make the case for in this book; I believe many of them are beginning to see that something is terribly wrong with the way their profession is currently practiced in America, today. Gloria Borger, writing for the June 19, 1995 issue of U.S. News & World Report, reported that even noted O.J. Simpson case prosecutor, Christopher Darden, intimated he now has serious doubts about his profession, particularly the cynical, "win-at-any-cost" and forget justice, image put forth by the trial participants.2 Borger goes on to point out, "Maybe it's no coincidence that law school applications dropped 13 percent nationally this year [1995]."3 Would that such good news should continue. It's not their imagination. Like it or not, many lawyers are "reading the tea leaves" correctly. We may hopefully, indeed, be upon the dawning of a new day for lawyers in America --- a day when society actually begins to get what it really wants from them. Thus, the day may be coming when America gets the service it wants and deserves from its lawyers, as opposed to the way it is today whereby lawyers have America servicing them. Mark McCormack, the already earlier cited ex-lawyer turned successful businessman, reinforces this noted image problem for lawyers. He tells us, "... [lawyers] go through life knowing they are complained about and mistrusted by most of the general populace."4 Then there's the 3/26/95, Los Angeles Times news story by Michael Hill, titled: Be Teddy Bears, Not Sharks, Oft-Criticized Lawyers Told. It starts off: "Forked tongues, sharp suits, slippery ethics," that is the image of lawyers as typically presented in prime-time TV. This seems to be a particularly true characterization in the case of highly publicized, media events like the current O.J. Simpson case. The article goes on to caution that many lawyers are concerned that such intense scrutiny of cases will ultimately hurt the image of lawyers. (Excuse me, but does this assume they have a positive one?). The Trouble With Lawyers Sample Endnotes 1.Donald Fishback, quoted by KCBS News Radio, 11/11/94, see text for this Endnote 2.This came from an article written for U.S. News & World Report, by Gloria Borger, which appeared in the On Politics section, entitled: "When winning is the only thing," June, 19, 1995, p. 39 3.This is from the same reference as cited in endnote 2. 4.Mark H. McCormack, The Terrible Truth About Lawyers, subtitled: How Lawyers Really Work, and How to Deal with Them Successfully, Beech Tree Books: William Morrow, New York, 1987, p 28
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