What percentage of lawyers are really ethical?

Answer 1

This is an interesting question. For the most part, lawyers are some of the most honest and upstanding people on the planet. It is that 10-20%, however, that give lawyers a bad name with their lying and deceptive acts to win their case.

Answer 2

Don't take this the wrong way, I speak for my experiences alone. I have yet to meet an honest & worthy Lawyer. About '99' or so I was arrested twice in as many weeks. 4 misdemeanors & 1 felony & my girlfriend was arrested the second time for my prior 4 counts. Barney Fife & company hauled off almost all my possessions. While gathering bond for us both, the cops destroyed, damaged, stole most of my things. My attorney could have had the charges dropped on our 1st appearance, he stated this as we left the courtroom. I've paid about $20,000 to date for him and he has screwed up REPEATEDLY. I think he kept us in this BS because he hadn't been paid yet. My girl & I spent about 5-6 years jumping through more hoops than we should've ie.. DA Counseling, parenting classes, AA 2 x week, these were 2 x 20mi. 5 days a week. and still had to work to pay -Child support x 3, 3 houses I bought prior to my arrest, fuel, ins., auto maintenance, any visitation was supervised, so another 40 mi trip per child. After about 2yrs of harassment and lies I went off on all these PUNKS! The one cop recieved a BEER BOTTLE to the forehead (I hit him at about 25', in the dark, while he was running.) The next day I went to the PD and told the acting chief what I did, & assured him there would be no more tolerance from me. We drove to court again and asked our Atty. for a restraining order. When he refused to even ask I told him how this cop was going to be dealt with. BTW, we caught a bit of luck when the OSBI was tipped to another man he did the same way who had my Atty. as a judge, and was able to prove it with a receipt that Barney himself wrote. The Atty. has still not fixed all this mess. GUESS WE'LL HAVE A CHAT & A BEER and see if I can line him out. The legal system we have is no better than the MAFIA. Every JUDGE, Atty., DA & almost every cop is 10 times worse than the criminals. They don't care about guilt YOU'D BETTER HAVE CASH. I'm surprised noone has gone "POSTAL" on the Mickey Mouse Justice Dept. The only honest atty. is 1 that's been buried. I don't recall ever having my paycheck before the boss could watch me screw up his job. WORTHLESS SLACKERS. The whole lot of 'em!!!!

Answer 3

The vast majority of lawyers are ethical. It's another one of those careers that people make fun of and talk bad about because some of the attorneys make a very good living doing what they do and yes, a small minority may be unethical, just like in many other professions, some of them are weasels. If you spent many years in school to further your education and then take a very difficult exam just so you can practice your chosen profession and then work very hard and turn out to be very good at what you do, wouldn't you want to be paid well for your efforts? Doctors get paid alot of money too, but do you know how expensive it is to go to college these days? My twins got accepted to a private college in LA so they can learn more about the theater and dance in particular, and it costs $47,000.00 each per year for tuition ,housing, books etc.
So, attorneys aren't guarenteed a huge salary when they graduate law school. They aren't guarenteed the ability to practice law if they don't pass the Bar exam, which they have to pay for each time they take it.
I think people make jokes about attorneys because for some reason, they have this idea that all of them are in it for the money. I bet if someone who previously despised attorneys, was accused of a serious crime, they would want the best attorney that they could get.
It's like other professions that people talk bad about, like police officers and physicians and plumbers. They don't like them but when they really need them , all of a sudden , they wish they were their best friends. And then when they get what they need from the lawyer or doctor or plumber, they don't want to pay them, like these people should work for free. It costs money to be the best and to get the best.

Answer 4

My best, serious guess, probably around 70 or 80%.
It's the minority, greedy dirt bags that tend to make me want to paint them all with the same brush - but I try to resist this temptation and give most of them the benefit of the doubt.

Answer 5

I personally have had no luck when it comes to hiring a Attorney! The problem I find is they all want to "plea-bargain," even if your Innocent.
Then they have the audacity to expect you to be grateful that through"plea-bargaining" they were able to get you a lesser charge for a crime you did not commit!!!
It is almost impossible to find that Attorney that will go in that court room and fight for you-well, I haven't found one yet. . .
What I want to know is WHERE are all those Attorney's that were all pumped up about going to law school to fight for justice in the courtrooms??

Answer 6

How do you define ethics?

Ethical _guidelines_ are provided by the bar association but decisions and philosophies on how to practice are up to the individual. What one person considers unethical, another may not.

Answer 7

Most of them are. The ones that aren't give rise to all the lawyer jokes.

Answer 8

Probably 95% or more. Most people confuse ethics with morals, and they are NOT the same.

Answer 9

A lawyer was deep-sea fishing in shark-infested waters and fell overboard. The sharks did not attack him. Why?
Professional courtesy.

Answer 10

Probably no more than 15%. They are trained to make deals.