A favorite book of mine is Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work, by Paul Babiak, PhD and Robert Hare, PhD.
The authors discuss the fact we live in a society in which psychopaths are often rewarded in business; they are charismatic and successful and before we can find out they are ruthless backstabbers without a conscience, it is often too late.
I would think many of them are attracted to the legal field, particularly in defense, in that it is often neccesary to suspend one's conscience in order to properly represent a client that is likely pretty reprehensible. If they don't start out being sociopaths, then the very discipline of defending horrible people and suspending ethics in order to argue in their favor might erode a lot of their conscience. Law school tends to rewire people's brains. Scott Turows One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School is a great read, as is Take the Bar and Beat Me: An Irreverent Look at Law School and Career Choices for Prelaws, Law Students, Advanced Paralegals - And the People Who Once Loved Them , by Raymond L. Woodcock (out of print now), which chronicles his time at Yale.
I would imagine that, to compensate for the rather yukky feeling one would get trying to procure a Not Guilty verdict for people, many of whom are equally yukky, one would try to find something redeemable about the profession - other than the fact that it's a job that somebody has to do in order to live in a fair and just society - and that might be adopting a cause to champion that IS high-minded and moral, such as the abolishment of the death penalty in states which still use it, as AL has done.
I am not defending AL or her actions in any way, shape or form. I was just thinking about how corroding it must be to one's conscience to continually do this as a living and how she may be grasping at the one decent thing she has to make her feel she is slightly above the slime she represents.
I also think that those who are highly successful in the profession certainly may either be psychopaths or could easily be influenced to behave like them, is another occupational hazard that clouds their judgement, especially when it comes to using any means to justify their goal.
It's truly sad when winning at all costs is sanctioned by a profession. It happens in business all the time (Wall Street and the real estate and insurance industries are prime examples), and apparently it happens it law as well.
I worry about young people in school today, regardless of their profession, not getting enough ethics taught as they learn their trade. It translates into the detriment of society on all levels.