Why do lawyers feel they can get away with degrading there clients?

Answer 1

SOME lawyers feel themselve superior to their clients, as do some doctors, and people in other professions. The practice of certain job skills over time makes it second nature to people, and they actually can't figure out why others don't know what they know, so no respect. I tend to not do business with these types of people and encourage you to do the same. There are people out there who are not arrogant.

Answer 2

First and foremost, consider why it is that you've employed your lawyer. If it's for a criminal case than chances are, you've got yourself some arrogant person unsure about their own code of ethics and whether or not they agree with what they're defending. Yeah, that's a sweeping generalization but I've worked as a legal secretary for several years and I've known criminal defense attorneys to be the haughtiest.

Most lawyers who treat their clients like poop probably already have a non-refundable retainer from the client so even if they get fired, they've already got the money. I'd look over your attorney-client fee agreement and see if you can get out of the situation if he/she is really treating you that badly. If you're well into the case, I wouldn't recommend switching attorneys only because your attorney is already familiar with your case and the transition from one attorney to the next is usually a timely process and can really slow down the momentum of your case. If you can afford to let go of your current attorney and hire a new one, you'll have to do a thing called a "Substitution of Attorney" although that's just California procedure. I'm sure there are similar procedures in other states. In any event, you'd better start off by having a personal conversation with your lawyer and make him/her aware of how you expect to be treated. Try to be civilized about it.

Answer 3

I have seen at least one very unproffessional lawyer that has yelled at and degraded her client she is a court appointed lawyer, she has a reputation for doing so and has no problem treating other lawyers the same way. I have observed her dressing down the spouse of a client publicly for asking a simple question. I have also observed other lawyers protecting her when her clients complain. so how do you handle a lawyer that is helping the other side so to speak?

Answer 4

I am an attorney, so I am acquainted with literally hundreds of attorneys. I know of NO attorneys who degrade their clients. I do know some arrogant attorneys who feel superior to their clients, but if the situation has risen to actually being degrading, you may want to look at the behavior of the client. The only time I have ever been tempted to "tell a client off" was when he had been incredibly difficult to deal with, very arrogant, with an "I'm paying you so you handle it" kind of attitude - which just doesn't hack it when we're dealing with answering interrogatories as part of the discovery process. He HAD to be involved, and he was "too busy" to answer the questions posed by opposing counsel - which ran the risk of the opposing counsel filing a Motion to Compel Discovery - which no respectable attorney wants to try to defend. So yes, I was very tempted to fire my client, and if we hadn't settled the case, I probably would have.

Answer 5

I don't think I've ever worked for any attorneys who treated their clients this way. It is, afterall, the client who puts food on the attorney's plate. :)

Maybe if it's the type of attorney who has clients come and go (personal injury) and are known for being ambulance chasers, immoral, etc., THEY would treat their clients poorly because there's always someone else who has had an accident and needs help, so if they lose one client, it's no big deal?

Don't judge all attorneys by the way one single attorney acts...they're not all like this. :)

Answer 6

Most smart lawyer realize that they lose clients that way. It's well know. The problem is that many take on too much work and they run around chasing their tail

Answer 7

Well actually they work for you so you can fire them if you feel like youre being disrespected by them. I have never had anything like that happen to me in my run ins with lawyers.

Answer 8

most of the time they are much more educated than their clients

Answer 9

Oh my, Alot of them walk as though they have a chip on their shoulder. One way to get to these book boy's, is to put them in their place. TELL them, I hired you and will fire you and report you to the "Bar" if you dont shape up mister.

Answer 10

i dunno