Are Lawyers Good?: A Debate
The village lawyer, looking as shifty as ever. Wikimedia Commons
Thesis: Lawyers do more harm than good.
For by Yoong Tran
Lawyers are supposed to be guardians of the law and protect citizens. However, we as a society have so many laws in place to bring harmony that we have inadvertently made lawyers a necessity who have brought more harm than justice. [1] A lawyer’s job is to solve the legal problems of a client, but they often fail to consider all of the available options and evaluate those options according to what the client is seeking. [2]
There is a saying in the medical field: ‘solve the patient, not the issue’. Despite this, a common legal solution to many problems is litigation. Litigation is not always the solution and should be the last course of action, as it is costly and mentally draining on all parties involved. Yet so many cases go to court. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration are all forms of alternative dispute resolution one can use to aid a client in their case and more effectively bring about desirable outcomes, without expensive and mental consequences. [3] However, this is not currently the reality.
Lawyers create unrealistic expectations for their clients, using highly misleading gimmicks such as ‘divorce in a day’. However, in Australia, a couple must be separated from each other for 12 months and a further four months for a divorce application to be reviewed. [4] Whether it is through unnecessary litigation or misleading statements, lawyers only create more problems than solutions. But why do lawyers do this?
One possible answer is the profit motive. Lawyers already provide highly expensive services. [5] But there are lawyers who are also paid through billable hours, meaning that the more problems there are, the more hours they can get paid. [6] In this way, lawyers are incentivised to work inefficiently and prolong a legal issue. [7] Even so, surely if a lawyer does their job correctly and wins the case for their client, all is good with the world? No. Because the party that lost not only hates their own lawyer but the lawyer that won on the other side. For these reasons, lawyers are one of the most despised professions. Even lawyers hate other lawyers. [8] It is clear that they do not have the best reputation.
These points paint a very bleak picture of the legal profession, highlighting flaws and ethical challenges faced by lawyers. As the negative perception of litigation grows, clients increasingly are turning to alternative dispute resolution methods, forcing lawyers to adopt these skills to transform the role of a lawyer from litigator to problem-solver or facilitator. [9]
However, should these measures not be enacted, the public trust and reputation of lawyers will continue to degrade. [10] With the increasing usage of artificial intelligence, lawyers may even be out of the job, as new technology solutions may offer more affordable, efficient, and accessible legal services. Public pressure and the negative perception of lawyers could also lead to calls for stricter regulation and oversight. There may be reforms aimed at preventing unethical practices, ensuring better access to justice, and holding lawyers more accountable for their conduct. [11]
Be it as it may, currently, lawyers bring more harm than good.
Against by Nirvana Prasad
When was the last time you heard someone say something good about a lawyer? It’s always either a complaint about how obscene the fees are, or how they’re only in it for their own benefit. Rarely, if ever, do you get to hear someone say: ‘I’m so grateful for my lawyer’. That is why I ask you to imagine a world without lawyers. One where the only remaining option is self-representation.
This is exactly what Silver and Hyman considered when conducting a study of bodily injury claims in Texas. Their research revealed that ‘virtually every paid claimant who filed suit had legal counsel’ – which means that claimants opting for self-representation were far less likely to succeed in receiving payment. Furthermore, they expand on another well-known argument that most cases are settled outside of court.
This brings up a major issue when considering whether lawyers are inherently harmful or beneficial – what exactly is the purpose of a lawyer, and what can they do for you that you cannot do for yourself? In their article on divorce law, Mnookin and Kornhauser outlined the main functions lawyers serve and why they are useful. It is thanks to these that one may argue that despite how expensive lawyers are, they definitely do more good than bad.
Firstly, lawyers are experts in their chosen fields and have spent years studying the material they practise. They know the cases and legislation relevant to client issues, and perhaps most importantly, they know the limitations of the law as it is a common mistake for non-lawyers to consider the law as infallible. In an article about the detrimental effects of self-representation, Sarah Allen highlights how lawyers are necessary for cases to be fought on equal footing, and how without lawyers, the application of law against people who are arguing for themselves without knowing the law becomes very difficult.
This leads to the next function of a lawyer – to be both a confidant and a negotiator. Legal matters are almost always emotionally draining, and the last thing a party wants is to face the other party without any support. Of course, you may know what you want and have ideas as to how to get it, however personal attachments can often make negotiation difficult, which is why lawyers are essential. They can be a client’s strength and can employ various methods that a self-represented party may never have considered.
Lawyers also function as litigators. They are advocates by profession, and when it comes to the daunting idea of court, it is best to pay a lawyer to increase your chances of winning your case, than to temporarily save money in fees, but end up paying more if you lose. Consider the example of a leaking pipe – you could spend your time, effort and money buying a new part and trying to change it, or you could spend a bit more and call a plumber.
Overall, lawyering is a thankless job, because for all the fees a lawyer takes home, no one really sees how much hard work and effort they put into their cases. It is a well-accepted idea that where one’s wages are high, their workload, capabilities, and the expenses they incur are often proportional. However, when no one sees the work that goes on behind the scenes, it is easy to say that lawyers are only there to take your money. But the truth is that lawyers provide a necessary service that does more good than harm.
[1] John D. Ayer, 'Do Lawyers Do More Harm than Good?' (Pt American Bar Association) (1979) 65(7) American Bar Association journal 1053-1057.
[2] Jacqui Brauman (Jacqui Brauman), 'Lawyers can make the problem
worse' (LinkedIn, 25 August 2020) <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lawyers-can-make-problem-worse-jacqui-brauman/>.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Emma Musgrave, 'Some family lawyers causing more harm than good' (2017) Lawyers Weekly.
[5] Ayer (n 1).
[6] Brauman (n 2).
[7] Ibid.
[8] Felicity Nelson, 'Why do people hate lawyers so much?' (2015) Lawyers Weekly.
[9] Brauman (n 2).
[10] Steven Vaughan, 'Existential Ethics: Thinking Hard About Lawyer Responsibility for Clients’ Environmental Harms' (Pt Oxford University Press) (2023) 76(1) Current legal problems 1-34.
[11] Ibid.
This article was originally published under the title ‘Thesis: Lawyers do more harm than good.’ in The Brief Edition 3, 2024 — Ad Aeternitatem.