They say, lawyers are considered to be liars then, that is because their own mindsets and reasoning are not like that of ordinary people. the statement, “Lawyers are liars” is made by people to undermine the profession.
Basically lawyers are people who defend you in front of court and helps you to win the case. They are not doing so for them , they are doing this for their client to win the case. Lawyers aren’t always “liars”.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the statement “Lawyers are liars” is false but I believe by the time you finished reading this article, you would judge it yourself if “Lawyers are actually liars or not”.
Before I proceed, I would like to define what the profession lawyer is;
Who is a Lawyer? A lawyer is a professional individual who has attended law school, earned a J.D., passed a bar exam and has been admitted to practice law in a specific jurisdiction.
Why Lawyers Are Called Liars
According to Jennifer Ellis, A Lawyer in PA, USA. (Dec 21, 2016)
I think lawyers are considered to be liars mainly because people do not understand the legal profession and how it works.
- They do not understand our ethical obligations to refrain from lying, but at the same time, to put forth the best arguments we can for our clients.
- They also don’t understand our confidentiality requirements, meaning that there is some information we simply cannot share.
- They don’t understand our obligation to bring the best case we can to support our clients, which yes, sometimes mean pointing the finger at another person.
- They don’t understand sometimes our clients refuse to settle or accept responsibility when they should, and that makes them angry too.
And frequently, people blame us for things that really have nothing to do with us. (She Said)
- They get angry if we defend someone they don’t like. Especially if we win.
- They think we are ambulance chasers and bring frivolous lawsuits, because the media and tort reformers tell them so. Not understanding that this is actually quite rare.
- When there are large verdicts, they don’t understand why they are large and that they are normally reduced and/or meant to punish businesses for being bad actors. They misunderstand that a million dollars really isn’t very much when you have to live on it for the rest of your life because you can never work again, and it will have to cover medical care and who knows what else. So they see a million dollar verdict and get angry about those greedy lawyers asking for so much money.
- Incidentally, most frivolous lawsuits are brought by people who are pro se (representing themselves.)
- They are angry because they think we are responsible or partially responsible for the cost of health insurance increases, which is frankly, absurd, given the number of medical malpractice suits brought each year (i.e. not that many.) Here in PA, we have about 1500 – 1600 medical malpractice lawsuits per year. Most of them are lost. Yet medical negligence in hospitals (not necessarily rising to the level of malpractice) is the 3rd highest cause of death in the United States.
I think they also look at politicians, most of whom are lawyers, and somewhat blame all lawyers for the behavior of politicians. And yes, politicians sure do lie.
In the end, I think the average person just doesn’t understand our profession, the legal system, or the importance of the work we do. And for that, I blame the lack of civics classes in school.
According to Johann Spies, A Commercial Lawyer, Attorney and Notary (South Africa)
Because what people believe to the facts of any particular matter are a construct of the story teller.
I am a commercial attorney, so any disputes I do deal with (not my primary field) falls in the financial or regulatory disputes side, rather than criminal or family which can at times be far more life and death.
I can tell you that few people instructing attorneys to either institute action or defend action actually believe that they are wrong. Both parties tend to believe that they represent the side of truth and justice, and have no idea what the law says either which way. On top of that, they both remember slightly different spins on that history. The consequence is that two sets of attorneys get instructed, and side with, versions that seem like the just side.
To the other side, however, the attorneys, just like the person they represent, seem to be the essence of evil. Simply, it is because they believe that they are just and true, and therefore opposition to that is evil. An attorney that (according to their worldview) acts for the evil is purely a mercenary who knows he/she is acting for evil and does it without conscience.
The reality, however, is a closer shave (as a general rule). Where it get to the point that both sides are appointing attorneys, chances are that both sides have a point and it is necessary to seek clarity from an external arbiter (court/arbitration). Whether it is quantum or merits, as a general rule (at least in my world), it only gets to court where the merits aren’t clear, eg the facts aren’t simply extrapolable or the law has not yet clarified an interpretation of a statute.
But lawyers still end with the bum rap.
Are Lawyers Liars?
Ask youself this question you will get answer much better not to misconcept the proffesion as lawyer.
People often accuse lawyers of lying because they are advocates, constantly working for the benefit of their clients. Perhaps you might have heard over and over the everyday saying that, “lawyers are liars” or better still, “good liars make good lawyers”. As a lawyer or law student, what to do when the society at large refers by such “derogatory name(s)”?
Most lawyers laugh over them maybe because they get busy things to do than to spend so much time explaining or justifying their profession which is not understood by the common man.
Basically lawyers are people who defend you in front of court and helps you to win the case. They are not doing so for them, they are doing this for their client to win the case.
Lawyers aren’t always “liars”. But they have to master the art of manipulation to defend their clients. But that can be done by dealing with facts in different ways.
Don’t try to defend yourself in court if u consider lawyer as a liar because he/she is the only one who defend you in a court .
Lets take example, if you were charged with a crime Which u did not commit, could you defend yourself in court without a lawyer/advocate? Obviously not , u want lawyer because u want justice Because the lawyes helps us to prove innocent in court.
And It totally depends on lawyer to take the case or not. So you cant tell this to all lawyers that they are liars. Are all Lawyers Liars? Of course not! And lawyers are the only one who help the guilty people who are actually innocent.
As a round off, this article was put together from the ideas of Lawyers, Law professors & Attorney, Law students and ofcourse an ordinary man’s ideas.
In light of this, I believe this article has answered the long heartweakening question of whether lawyers are liars or not.
Feel free to contribute your quota of ideas using the comment section below.