Lawyers and professionalism

Ernie Svenson has a post on lawyers and professionalism referencing a particularly ugly deposition. Ernie aptly says “Needless to say, this is why people (judges, especially) don’t like lawyers.”

After being on the outside for 7 years now, after practicing law for 17 years, I can tell you that a significant number of lawyers live in a world all their own. They have really lost touch with what is going on out here in the real business world.

They’ll routinely get in petty arguments losing site of the big picture. They’ll make demands on others stressing people out to no end. They’ll nit pick over nuances that only a lawyer could come close to appreciating. For what? Ego? To belittle someone else? I am not sure.

While practicing as a trial lawyer, I can look back on many instances where I was guilty of some of the above. But since 1999, it’s been a joy to pick up the phone and not have a lawyer telling me he was going to ‘notice up’ a client for a deposition, move the court for sanctions because they did not get everything they demanded in a request for production, and God knows what else. Now I pick up the phone and I am working on building things, not tearing each other down.

The majority of lawyers are some of the finest people you would ever want to meet. I mentored under them. They helped me personally and professionally in times of need. They give of their time freely in helping charities and causes.

But not a week goes by that I am not talking to a marketing professional in a law firm who is getting all types of hell for not jumping at the whim some lawyer. In addition, having practiced law, I am always joking with LexBlog client’s and prospects about some sob lawyer they are dealing with.

To these sob lawyers, give it up. Get a life. Get a light on your bike. Step out of the practice for six months into the business world and see how most business people act. The legal profession deserves it.

Technorati Tags: lawyers