Posted by Orin Kerr:
Explaining the Unpopularity of Lawyers:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_23-2009_08_29.shtml#1251126409
A recent [1]Gallup poll on public opinion towards various professions
has the legal field once again near the bottom: Only 25% of people
polled had a positive view of lawyers. I thought I would blog a bit on
some of the reasons why, and whether those reasons are justified.
I'm no expert on this question, but my sense is that the low public
regard for lawyers has some origins that are justified and others that
are less so. On one hand, I think lawyers are properly criticized for
how they often use their power to protect the guild. Get a group of
lawyers together and have them craft some new laws, and the chances
are pretty good that the new laws will be favorable to lawyers. Given
how much power lawyers can exercise, I think it's often fair for
non-lawyers to look askance at the legal profession for this reason.
On the other hand, I suspect that the low public regard for lawyers
is partly explained by [2]isolation effects that result when lawyers
take on advocacy roles in controversial disputes. Lawyers represent
clients. And if you have a high-profile dispute with popular and
unpopular sides, people are likely to remember the person who took the
unpopular side. That person will often be a lawyer for the unpopular
side, fostering a very negative impression of lawyers.
Think about a legal dispute in which you identify really strongly
with one side -- perhaps a criminal case in which the crime is heinous
and evidence of guilt is overwhelming. Imagine you turn on your TV and
you see a show about the case, and the lawyer for the other side is on
the show. You're likely to think that lawyer is a [3]shyster: He keeps
ignoring the evidence, changing the subject, and saying all these
implausible things to try to help a very evil client. The sheer
audacity of the lawyer representing the defendant slimeball with a
straight face can leave a bad taste in your mouth -- a bad taste about
lawyers.
Sure, the good guys have a lawyer, too. And you'll agree 100% with
what that their lawyer says. But you won't remember that as much as
you will the lawyer who took the side you find so offensive. I'm no
expert in the question, but I suspect that this sort of reaction helps
explain part of the low public regard for lawyers.
References
1.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/122342/Automobile-Banking-Industry-Images-Slide-Further.aspx
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Restorff_effect
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyster
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