More evidence that practicing law makes you stupid:
Today a friend of mine in the office had to interview and get a statement from a complaining witness. The witness was dropping domestic abuse charges against our client. It sounded like a pretty textbook case of battered woman syndrome. There was physical evidence of all the claims, but they just got back together.
Before my friend even met the victim, her supervising attorney told her all about how the she was obviously full of shit because she was flaking on her testimony. I am into grey area and open-mindedness and the right to be innocent until proven guilty (a right that is in the constitution and therefore of equal importance to the right not to be enslaved, according to one black supervisor in our office). So I can go with the idea, for the sake of interviewing the witness, that she is possibly full of shit. But she is not definitely full of shit, because I have heard the phrase "battered woman syndrome." So has my friend's supervising attorney, since it's in the 1L crim curriculum. I know public defenders aren't known for their GPA's, but give me a break!
My friend and I planned out how we would tell the victim not to drop charges, plus give her hotlines and shelter info. We were kind of excited. Then we remembered that we believe in defendant's rights. Actually, we remembered we want to join the bar in a few years.
My friend took the statement, and the woman didn't even deny the attack happened. She was just reneging because she provoked him so it wasn't his fault.
I knew criminal defense would be a dirty job. What bothered me here-- and has bothered me continually all summer-- is how the lawyers blind themselves. I just didn't expect all this blaming the victim. It's plain stupid, shutting off part of your brain. At first I hated how you had to be disingenuous in court, translating your real, legitimate gripes with the system into phony, illegitimate legal claims. But it goes deeper than that. Spin isn't just for the courtroom-- it's for yourself.
I'm sure this isn't just a problem for sleazy criminal defense attorneys. All lawyers are advocates. That's the one thing that always appeals to me about the profession. Being somewhat of a bunny rabbit, I saw advocacy as an opportunity to find the good in people. But it's just as much about projecting bad onto people.
All lawyers are fighting for someone and against someone else. At least criminal defense attorneys have to face their victims. Or, their interns do.
5 comments:
Why are you doing this? Going into law? What joy do you get from it?
I'm not attacking, I honestly want to know what you think.
G, you are too much of a do-gooder for criminal law. If only you were in housing court, you could help poor people not be evicted unfairly.
I think a lot of lawyers think they are going in to the business of helping people, but then the $$$ turns their heads and they become indifferent to "helping."
Doctors too.
Gandhi: Law school seemed to match my skill set and interests. Logic, writing, mouthing off. Law students I knew were all literate, clued in people. The prestige sucked me in too.
I just didn't weigh all that against the things I hate-- pseudo-logic, bad faith, bad writing, arguing about things that don't matter, working hard for the sake of working hard (once school starts again expect many entries against the Protestant Work Ethic), loud people, flamboyantly white people, boringness, elitism, prestige, professors...
Why do I keep this up? Oof. I guess that's the question of this entire blog. If I posted more corny stuff about my genius classmates, or more cynical posts about the feeling of being near power, the answer might become clear.
Des: I wonder if fear motivates even more than greed. It's a lot easier psychologically to pursue $$$ because you know you can always justify it later with "I did it so I could buy a nice house for my family." Helping people is a big risk because people let you down.
You are lovely because you are entering this profession knowing that you'll have to "blind" yourself.
Wouldn't it be so much easier for you if you really could just shut off part of your brain, do your job and earn your wages--buy things.
But you can't, you're too smart and too good a person. You have to say things you don't mean and pick sides you don't want to be on, and all the while know (because you are *not* blinded) the consequences of your actions, large and small.
You have much more courage than I do. I can cry or be righteously indignant and stuff self-help literature into the hands of abused women and pat myself on the back for a job well done. I don't have to worry about defendant's rights, justice, the big picture.
Anyway, you're awesome, is the jist of what I'm saying. And I suspect you will continue to be awesome even (especially) if you are a lawyer.
Keep writing.
TS
"Helping people is a big risk because they let you down."
Man, truer words were not ever spoken.
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