The people who are responsible for keeping justice and sending those uncivilized people to jail are the lawyer says this Harvard professor. And lawyers cannot fulfill their role in society unless they remain independent from public opinion, their clients, and the government. Given that the government is sensitive to rights of individuals and ensuring a fair process, in order for lawyers to do their work, they must be independent in thought and action.
When we fail to be independent we would not only degrade ourselves professionally and impair our ability to discharge our duties to clients, but we also would not be able to engage in various types of socially desirable work whether it is aiding the disadvantaged or participating in the policy issues of the day. It is important to remember that there are four major types of independence that lawyers must adhere to. The types are independence in the practice of law, independence from public opinion, independence from clients, and independence from government. Due to the fact that most lawyers do not fit the old pattern of the free professional, implying the independent attorney working in a rural or small community, Independence in the practice in law is not less common.
In that environment, the lawyer was self-employed without long term ties to particular clients and rather free to pick and choose among the cases offered to him. These days a lot of law firms and large corporations have hired many lawyers which allow them less freedom to choose the cases they can work on. They are subjected to pressure such as a preoccupation with billable hours and the bottom line.
These days practicing law has become a business then it is a profession. Currently there are a lot of people who are looking to reduce costs and delays, which often leads to a preference for avoiding trials at all costs. More often than not, lawyers are somehow dominated by some other lawyer but the important domination will come from the judicial pressure or client pressure.
Although compromise is desirable, sometimes going to trial to achieve a result on the merits is best for the client and, depending on the issues involved, may be best for the community. Another thing lawyers should do is to be independent from public opinion. But we are also a society that respects the rights of unpopular individuals and groups and ideas, and it is the lawyer who must strive to protect them.
During colonial times, the press helped whip the public into frenzy over what was termed the Boston Massacre, where British troops fired into ruckus a mob killing five colonists. The lawyer, who went on to help write the Declaration of Independence and served as the nation’s second president, defended the soldiers, an unpopular choice for him. Yet it was this lawyer’s belief that no person in a free society should be denied the right to counsel or denied a fair trial. In time however, his representation of the British increased his public standing, making him in the long run more respected than ever. With the total of six soldiers that were charged, four were acquitted and two were convicted only of manslaughter.
For this lawyer, the case was one of the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of his whole life and one of the best pieces of service he ever rendered to his country. Sometimes listening to what the public has to say is not the best way to get a great payoff. Lawyers always need to remember that they have an adversarial system in which fairness depends on spirited advocacy on both sides. Moreover, lawyers must never give in to the desire to be liked, to compromise their independence, their willingness to stand up for their clients.
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