Henry Lewis Mencken stated that a lawyer is “[o]ne who protects us from robbers by taking away the temptation.”
Regarding lawyers, John W. Davis stated, “True, we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures – unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties, we relieve stress, we correct mistakes, we take up other men's burdens, and by our efforts, we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
These are the dual roles of lawyers: to prevent harm by binding our society to the rule of law, and to craft, employ, and execute the law in a manner that promotes justice, equality, and tranquility.
As a law student at BYU many years ago, my ethics professor (in an attempt to inculcate us in how to achieve these ends) admonished me and other students that we were not hired guns that could be employed by anyone or any entity to do their bidding without question or pause, nor were we self-righteous moralists who, by our judgmental choices, would deprive others who we deemed as inferior the benefits and protections of the law. No, even when it meant a loss of income, or putting potential clients at a disadvantage, we were to be defenders of the defenseless and downtrodden, and we were also to decisively decline our services to those persons and entities who would employ us in an unethical fashion to justify the unjustifiable.
The lawyers who justified torture for the Bush administration failed to uphold these traditions, and they deserve our disdain and censure. In fear of losing their jobs, they first became self-righteous moralists, who deemed that other human beings had no rights and protections under the law and then allowed their intellects and souls to be hijacked by the Bush administration that welded them like mindless and heartless weapons against the defenseless.
Instead of “protect[ing] us from robbers by taking away the temptation,” and smoothing out difficulties, relieving stress, correcting mistakes, taking up other men's burdens, and making possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state, they have made us more vulnerable in future conflicts when our sons and daughters will be swept up and tortured in the name of some sovereign’s security. In the mordant words of Ambrose Bierce, their only skill was “in circumvention of the law.” Having so acted, they should be censored and striped of their license to torture and circumvent the law.
Loren M. Lambert © January 17, 2012
Regarding lawyers, John W. Davis stated, “True, we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures – unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties, we relieve stress, we correct mistakes, we take up other men's burdens, and by our efforts, we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
These are the dual roles of lawyers: to prevent harm by binding our society to the rule of law, and to craft, employ, and execute the law in a manner that promotes justice, equality, and tranquility.
As a law student at BYU many years ago, my ethics professor (in an attempt to inculcate us in how to achieve these ends) admonished me and other students that we were not hired guns that could be employed by anyone or any entity to do their bidding without question or pause, nor were we self-righteous moralists who, by our judgmental choices, would deprive others who we deemed as inferior the benefits and protections of the law. No, even when it meant a loss of income, or putting potential clients at a disadvantage, we were to be defenders of the defenseless and downtrodden, and we were also to decisively decline our services to those persons and entities who would employ us in an unethical fashion to justify the unjustifiable.
The lawyers who justified torture for the Bush administration failed to uphold these traditions, and they deserve our disdain and censure. In fear of losing their jobs, they first became self-righteous moralists, who deemed that other human beings had no rights and protections under the law and then allowed their intellects and souls to be hijacked by the Bush administration that welded them like mindless and heartless weapons against the defenseless.
Instead of “protect[ing] us from robbers by taking away the temptation,” and smoothing out difficulties, relieving stress, correcting mistakes, taking up other men's burdens, and making possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state, they have made us more vulnerable in future conflicts when our sons and daughters will be swept up and tortured in the name of some sovereign’s security. In the mordant words of Ambrose Bierce, their only skill was “in circumvention of the law.” Having so acted, they should be censored and striped of their license to torture and circumvent the law.
Loren M. Lambert © January 17, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment