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Maybe people don't seem to appreciate the full scope of what it is lawyers do...but without them there would be no criminal justice system, no family court system (broken as that is), no juvenile court system...I could go on.  No one to probate your estate....no one to establish a guardianship for your dependent...no one to defend you if you were charged with a crime...

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ORIGINAL: candystripper

I've been aware of lawyer hatred all my adult life, and have always shrugged it off, even had my own collection of lawyer jokes, etc.  However, as a stray thought, I do wonder what incites such hatred in people.  In an era in which we are being raped by pharm companies, HMOs, oil speculators, and many other evil doers, lawyer hatred remains rampant.
 
Maybe people don't seem to appreciate the full scope of what it is lawyers do...but without them there would be no criminal justice system, no family court system (broken as that is), no juvenile court system...I could go on.  No one to probate your estate....no one to establish a guardianship for your dependent...no one to defend you if you were charged with a crime...
 
It is fun to poke at the profession I guess, and Lord knows it has its bad apples and excesses, but the purpose of the profession as a whole is to deliver order and justice to society and its members....is there any alternative?
 
candystripper

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IMO, the lenders who target the desperate and poor who have such bad credit they can't even get a bank account are truely evil; it's like the lottery.  They KNEW when they passed that legislation that many poor people would begin to gamble for the first time and they also KNEW they would take a dollar from education's general revenues for every dollar kicked in by the lottery...yet they passed it anyway.  A voluntary, regressive tax on the poor.

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ORIGINAL: candystripper
but the purpose of the profession as a whole is to deliver order and justice to society and its members...

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ORIGINAL: Honsoku

1: Because no one ever wants to need a lawyer.

My family and friends have had free access to my services since I first graduated, though some have foregone the offer.  Many have been delighted to tell some annoying person that unless the were made whole rather quickly they'd get their lawyer involved.  It can be empowering to feel that among your arsenal of problem-solving techniques, you have free and high quality legal services at your disposal, at all times. When I sent my UM away to college, my friend who lived in the city she was moving to gave her his card, with all his numbers on it and permission to call any of them 24/7....I knew she'd never, ever be left by the side of the road facing police wihout that card in her wallet. 
 
I agree...no one wishes to be in distress...but most of realise that our lives or the lives of those we love may be at some point.  It is a source of comfort to know someone will fight for you, if ever you need it.

2: The effective ones tend to exemplify personality traits that people hate. The most effective ones are nitpicking, anal-retentive, argumentative, stubborn, weaselly buggers.

I was highly effective, and so were my friends.  Some are highly successful, opening their own firms or rising to great heights within an organization.  It is a myth that a bad personality will aid a lawyer in succeeding....getting along with people is actually quite necessary.

3: The ones that get the most attention get it for all the wrong reasons. I don't know of many (if any) lawyers who are famous for their work in law, just infamous.

What about Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Povery Law Center?
 
Clarence Darrow, defender of the teacher who dared teach evolution in the 1920's?
 
But in the main you are right...television has made stars of lawyers who represent defendants like O. J. Simpson.  It is very hard not to demonize the lawyer who successfully defends such a repugnant and obviously guilty man.

4: They are horrendously expensive.

I never charged more than $75 an hour to make myself more accessible to the general public.  A great deal of my work was done for free...and what was done on salary was very poorly compensated if you factor in the 70 to 80 hour weeks I actually worked.  Most bar associations require lawyers to either work a certain number of hours free of charge or else contribute funds towards the Legal Aid Society.  Addiitionally, client funds in all states I'm familiar with must be kept in special accounts in which any interest paid is sent to the Bar Association for funding the Legal Aid Society.
 
Show me another profession with a similiar requirement.
 
The fact is, most people are unfamilar with legal matters and are taken aback at the price of legal services.....but the market is fierce and costs are commensurate with what a lawyer can 'command' by dint of his proficiency and reputation. 
 
It is no more ridiculous to pay a lawyer $150 an hour than it is to pay $150 for a visit to the family MD or dentist.

5: They profit off the misfortune of others.

Not neessarialy.  Many lawyers have what are known as 'office practices' and never make court appearances.  They draw up wills, provide tax planning advice, rearrange assets to protect an elderly person from having to 'spend down' all their assets before becoming eligible for Medicaid, etc.  In short, they enhance a client's security and well-being.
 
As for those who do litigate....they are not the CAUSE of the misfortune...and traumatic as it may be to be arrested...it would certainly be much more traumatic to be imprisioned because you were unable to obtain legal counsel.

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ORIGINAL: candystripper

Many MDs are also scientists, public health workers, policy wanks......your argument that the training one receives in law school renders one undesirable is specious.
 
candystripper

Mayhem, chaos and anarchy? 

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ORIGINAL: candystripper
....is there any alternative?
 
candystripper