ivegotthemic
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- Jun 21, 2017
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I don't know that I would say narcissism, although there's plenty of that, IME it tends to be more entitlement. There are rules of professional conduct lawyers are required to follow, but there's no sort of oversight once an attorney passes the bar. People only get caught if another attorney or a Judge turns them in and NO ONE wants to be the person to rat out their friend. Unfortunately, that's why when the news does pick up a story about a bad lawyer, it's always the worst of the worst. The legal community is small, everyone knows everyone and reputation is everything. So lawyers take it very seriously when the file a compliant on another attorney and IME a hunch or suspicion isn't really enough to turn someone in, I would personally want actual proof another attorney was engaged in misconduct before Id be willing to file a complaint simply because, even if innocent, that will follow them around for the rest of their career and I can promise you lawyers are a judgy crowd. Its absolutely, not the best system sometimes.
Also back to the entitlement. The vast majority of lawyers have close family members that are also lawyers, its a generational thing. I, personally am a first-gen, which means no one I know or am related to is a lawyer and it's actually still decently rare. On our first day of class, they had everyone with a relative working in the legal field raise their hand and I'd say a solid 80-90% of the people in my class raised their hand. (they say its not a big deal, but if its not a big deal why do I get my own special label?) In law school, we get told how important and honorable it is to work as a lawyer. "Its a noble and dignified profession" (please note I was absolutely using air quotes as I typed that). People buy into it. They get cocky and they feel special and important. In general, attorneys are considered trustworthy especially among each other. We tend to give other attorneys/future legal professionals the benefit of the doubt alot more than we would a client or even a friend. I mean I personally can't think of a single thing that I would ever be willing to risk losing my license over (assuming im lucky enough to get it one day soonish) So even though it looks really bad, Im holding out hope theres gotta be some sort of reasonable explanation.... I mean $150,000 for twoish weeks of work is just Ludacris. The realist in me, however, says once someone starts pressing the ethical lines and they don't get caught, they may be more willing to do it the next time until eventually its no longer a big deal because they assume no one will ever find out. I mean if this were any other case, and some no-name client I bet the family would have a really hard time getting anyone to listen that an attorney was keeping funds and a Judge would not want to investigate it unless there was clear and convincing evidence. Im definitely not saying any of this is right, or that I agree with any of that mindset, Im just trying to provide insight as to why discipline hasnt been handed out/doesnt get handed out as often as it seems it should. And also not every attorney is bad or entitled, its just the ones that are bad are really bad and they give us all a bad name. (honestly, lawyers deal with real heavy stuff literally every day of work, so most attorneys youll meet have a really good sense of humor because its the only way to get through it) Sorry for rambling... avoiding a working on a paper lol
