Why are lawyers disliked? Are most of them really unscrupulous?

Question

Always wanted to know this

Answer 1

People need lawyers to protect themselves from other lawyers.

They are the leeches of business. Sucking out $$$$$ and not providing a product in return.

Answer 2

Lawyers are disliked because of all the bad publicity they get. You hear about silly lawsuits and the lawyers who get the criminals off without any jail time, and people assume those lawyers are just money hungry and don't have any morals.

That is not the case. I've worked in the legal field for years, and I can honestly say that I've met very few lawyers who I wouldn't trust and thought were seedy. Many of them truly want to help people. Every profession has its bad examples; you've had a terrible server at a restaurant, but it doesn't make you think all servers are terrible. Because lawyers tend to make a lot of money, people assume they are swindling people out of their funds, but that is also not the case. Every lawsuit or potential lawsuit or issue is different, so fees would be different, the amount of time it takes would be different, and the amount of money you could get would be different. Lawyers do not deserve the bad reputation they have.

Answer 3

Most lawyers are not unscrupulous but there are plenty who are. People don't like lawyers because the unscrupulous ones get most of the attention. A lawyer doing something good and ethical is just not that interesting to most people.

Answer 4

Each era has an emotion attached to it- The Roaring Twenties was mania- the Depression- goes without saying. And this era, the primary emotion is anxiety.
Look at the work people have dedicated themselves to with a looming fear of legal risk. Not that they do their work better with this worry hanging on them. But with more anxiousness.
Lawyering is like any other profression with the good, the bad and the ugly.' But, they have an active self perpetuating role in the legal system.
The legal profession is in a double bind. Protect and advocate. Yet, as with many professions, instead of honouring the justice we, society at large included, honor the wins. Instead of honouring the scholar, we honor the aggressive showmanship. Something EASY to measure.

Jefferson thought lawyers should not be paid more than teachers. He wanted the profession to attract lovers of law. Not lovers of money. Not lovers of power. A lover of law would use the knowledge and advanced articulation to mediate, educate and challenge. To enhance our sense of safety and protection, not gnaw at it.
Have you seen ads that scream that a law office is trying to create conflict to keep their business going? As if society is obligated to create a need to support lawyers versus lawyers protecting us with needs we identify.

Think of how 'legal' feels in an every day life. It's scary. The overwhelming cost. The winner- loser set up. The intimidation of the legal system and the high poweredness of the lawyers- probably not the ones most of us can afford.
To enter the legal system would be a financial and emotional hardship for many of us. A crisis. Just another day at the office for the lawyer, but a life changing, possibly deteriorating, event for us. Most of us are legally unsophisticated because we try so hard to be decent and avoid the system.

How many professions think legal? Do teachers know the legal mentality? Do nurses? Do physicians?
But a huge part of their time and focus has to be legal. Not by choice- or they would have become lawyers, but because of a need to be defensive and self protective.

I think every profession helps to mold the mood of the era. Think about it: insurance companies advertise 'risk never sleeps.' We're 'what iffed to death by the industry. News reporters huff and puff drama- talk about crisis mongers. I have to laugh at the theatrical breathiness they give their voices. Last but not least, lawyers have definitely fueled society's anxiousness within the legal sytem.

Answer 5

Depends on the agenda of the attorney. I know a few prosecutors who can care less if the person they are trying to convict is innocent as long as they get another conviction under their hat. I also know of a great criminal defense attorney who is desperately trying to get laws changed that are unfair to children. Most people don't trust when "attorney" is used as the only criteria to get elected into office. Especially, since they know all the loopholes of how to put the screws to someone in order to achieve their agenda. The question is, will they?

Answer 6

It depends on the lawyer. There are lawyers that care about justice.

Answer 7

because they defend the guilty