If Lawyers are Evil, Murderers are Saints

 It has been pointed out to me on numerous occasions, generally in jest, that lawyers are inherently evil, and that I, for choosing to pursue this profession, am also evil. I never understood how stereotypes can be followed so religiously. In fact, I feel as though more people follow stereotypes than the basic values of their own religion, and that is, in and of itself, sad.

This is more of an article against stereotypes and generalization than it is in defense of being an attorney because lawyers certainly don’t need my words for their defense. Surely, any one of them is able to stand up and proudly state that he or she is an attorney because there is a sense of accomplishment in earning a Juris Doctorate and gaining admission into the bar association that not everyone gets to feel.

A lawyer is no more evil than a politician is greedy, or a movie star is conceited. I could just as easily say that all writers are arrogant because I know a few that are, or that people who do things online are lazy. These are generalizations which may represent a few in those professions, but they certainly shouldn’t represent the whole. After all, Gandhi was a lawyer. I’d be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks Gandhi is evil. Abraham Lincoln was also a lawyer, and he did more than a few good things in his time. No matter who you are, you probably know of a few lawyers who aren’t bad, by any means. For me, I know one very close to me. My father is an attorney who is one of the most selfless persons I know. I can’t look at him and think to myself that being a lawyer makes you a bad person. He rarely thinks about himself and shows his care through his actions towards others.

Countless lawyers volunteer their time through representing lesser fortunate clients, performing pro-bono work for charities, offering their time to charities, or working with clinics throughout the world. My father is involved with several local charity organizations throughout his community as well. Though I am not a lawyer yet, I don’t think becoming one will change me to the extent that the world will no longer want me around. I’ve volunteered countless hours over the past four years taking care of the elderly, being a camp counselor for terminally ill children, raising money for the local schools, raising money for other various causes, and many other various things to benefit others. Would becoming a lawyer negate these things simply because there are bad connotations attached to the word?

Stereotypes are a form of intolerance, which is, by most standards considered more evil than a strict adherence to the law. Lawyers are bound by an oath to uphold the law. Before they’re a lawyer to their clients, they’re bound to be an office of the court, and courts are established to protect people. In that extent, a lawyer’s primary purpose is to provide protection through the law, whether it is protection from criminals, or in the case of defense attorneys, defense for the wrongfully accused. If acting as an officer of the law is evil, then acting in total disregard for it must be saintly.

Another appropriate point to be made is that supply and demand run our economy, and if lawyers are still making large sums of money, it must mean that either there is too small of a supply, or a large demand. Too small of a supply is fairly straight forward, but having a large demand would mean that public opinion is crying out for more lawyers. It’s quite an in interesting thing to say that lawyers are inherently bad people and then demand more of them, or show that we have too few of them.

There are generalizations about everything, and everyone. If you want to make the world a better place, start with yourself, and make your own life better through your actions and beliefs. In the words of a famous lawyer, “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Eliminate intolerance through your own actions by first eliminating stereotypes and prejudice.