Ethics in a Divided Country
Most of you know that former President Trump faced his third federal indictment yesterday related to the events on January 6th. Some people think this is a great injustice, a weaponization of the DOJ against political opponents, some think it is holding true to the ideal that no one is above the law, and some are waiting to see where the chips fall. I don’t care which category you fall into. This post isn’t going to be about politics.
Instead, it is going to be about the trust the public places in the legal profession. Several of the co-conspirators in the indictment were Trump’s lawyers or DoJ lawyers during the Trump administration. This has caused some to question the ethics of those lawyers. The results of these trials might very well be blamed on the lawyers who are handling the case.
Indeed, we’ve probably all heard the jokes before. Jokes about how lawyers are snake oil salesmen who would sell their own soul and their mother’s soul to get a favorable verdict. The public’s view of the law, of the Department of Justice, and of the legal profession, will be impacted by these trials and some of those stereotypes will be reinforced.
And apart from the many impacts this will have on our system of government, this also might have an impact on the way lawyers view themselves. This might be especially true for individuals who might want to work for the federal government or clerk for a federal judge.
In my own career, working on environmental issues, I often got called a tree hugger. I got accused of hating private property rights. Then working for corporate america came with its own stereotypes about being a sell out, etc. And yes, this is different then having your choice of career vilified in the public square so to speak, but it still took its own toll.
The truth is that lawyers are like anyone else. There are some unethical ones out there who give the profession a bad name. And there are a lot of good ones out there trying to use this profession to make the world better. We can’t control them. We can’t control the public’s opinion of our profession. We can control our own actions.
For me, ignoring the noise and negativity that some view my profession with meant defining my own priorities and staying true to them. This meant saying no to bosses at times. This meant prioritizing my mental health and my bonding time with family and friends. It meant defining my own rules for ethical function above and beyond the ethical rules established by the bar exam.
There will likely always be people in our lives who judge our choices and people in our society who judge our profession. This noise can get the better of you and can can be a reason why some struggle so much with their mental health, one of many factors. Yet all we can do at the end of the day is focus on our own actions. And if that is something you struggle with, especially in a court of public opinion that is so sharply split, know that we are here to help.