The first day of business law class and an interesting question has been posed to use; what do we think of lawyers?
When growing up, much of the stereotype I’ve been fed about lawyers through the media has usually been negative. Bad lawyer jokes abound, TV shows and movies with lawyers as “bad guys” are fairly commonplace, and the news seems eager to vilify them when the real life ones screw up.
Personally, I see them as necessary. The general public usually knows very little about the laws, even though they govern much of their day to day. And though they may be ignorant of a law, if they break it, or are accused of breaking it, they are still responsible. Thus, lawyers are necessary to defend the innocent or prosecute the guilty. However, people fail to realize that the law and evidence aren’t always black and white. Sometimes they defend the guilty or prosecute the innocent, because it is their job. They don’t always have the ability to choose a case or act in the way they would like based on their own moral standing. I think a lot of times this can make people believe that these lawyers are cold hearted or even evil. Though, just like any other group of people, there are going to be those that are examples of the stereotype. There are going to be lawyers that are cold hearted, or that abuse their connections. This may even be more the rule than the exception. I would rather judge a lawyer on a person to person basis, then on a whole, though I also understand that may be harder said than done with such a prevalent stereotype.
I agree with what you said, just like many other groups of professions, or other groups of people in the world, everyone is put into a category based off their profession. I don’t think generalization is fair but it’s pretty much the way the world works. I think that lawyers can be used for "good or evil" just like everyone else, they create their own path in life.
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