Lately, I've been in the library a whole lot more than I'd like to be. It's been years, but I had to do research for a paper.
As a random tangent in a conversation, the librarian asked me what my educational background was. For some reason, she thought I was a nurse. I told her I graduated from law school a few years ago. She then guessed that my undergrad major was English (which is also wrong). She told me I should be a doctor. Then she said "or a pharmacist. Pharmacists help people." After a short discussion about why I thought it would probably take too long for me to do either of those, she said "You should be either a doctor or a pharmacist. You should be a benefit to society." Subtlely implying that lawyers are of no benefit to society. I actually laughed a little. I can't recall the last time that someone who knew I was an attorney didn't say something positive about it. Of course, there are people who make lawyer jokes, but never anything serious.
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Lawyers do benefit society, but not in an obvious way. Law provides a framework for people to fight out their differences without resorting to violence, and lawyers are basically hired guns for fighting in this non-violent arena. Without lawyers, the system would not function because people would attack each other to resolve disputes.
ReplyDeleteLawyers do not create tangible, measurable increases in societal wealth. Lawyers help maintain the system, while skimming some of the wealth the system creates as overhead cost. For example, a corporation that creates useful products will make a lot of money, and spend some of that money for legal costs like patent filings and defense against employment lawsuits or class actions. The law firm itself did not create anything of value, but enabled the client to do so. I view the role of bankers and wall street similarly. They don't create wealth, but they enable it through the flow of credit and transactions.
A separate question is whether there are too many lawyers. I think the answer is yes, judging by the number people I know who either couldn't find jobs or couldn't find enough clients to sustain a business. The lies published by the law schools have contributed to the oversupply of attorneys.
I agree wholeheartedly that having a certain amount of lawyers in society is beneficial. There are obvious examples of prosecutors, or even defense attorneys (including defense of corporations that make necessary products). Obviously, if a pharmacist benefits society, then the attorney that helps a pharmacist or pharmaceutical company is a part of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the abstract concept that attorneys help society by transforming possibly physical fights into merely verbal ones in court. Though, an ancillary problem might occur when there are too many attorneys. Oddly enough, people might actually be MORE prone to confrontation with attorneys involved. An incident that people might not deem important enough to devolve into fisticuffs over might warrant a lawsuit. Or at least the threat of one. Arguably, frivolous lawsuits start flying when attorneys urge people to sue others for minor transgressions. Top it off with couple who might otherwise resolve a divorce more amicably if not for their attorneys pushing hard to "represent their clients best interests." Not that all attorneys add fuel to the fire, but many do.