Saw an article today in “The Colorado Lawyer,” the journal of the state’s bar association. It’s called “Laughter – the Antidote for Those Days When You Hate Being a Lawyer.” I like laughter. There isn’t nearly enough of it, anywhere in the world. But I didn’t like the title of this article.
I’ve never had one of those days where I hate being a lawyer. There are plenty of things I hate, but that isn’t one of them. This is what I really hate:
Police who lie on the witness stand (or anyplace else for that matter).
District attorneys who somehow can’t look past the law to see the person who has allegedly violated that law.
Judges whose scales of justice bend more weightily toward re-election than actual justice.
Lawyers whose first loyalty is to their wallets rather than to their clients.
Clients who think they can outsmart their lawyers (they probably can, but the people you want to outsmart sit on the other side of the courtroom).
And what do I really love? When I can get a cop, a DA, a judge, a lawyer, or a client to remember their humanity, and respect the long line of experiences, choices, and mistakes that brought all of them to that particular point in time we call, now.
