Law in Contemporary Society

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GoodLeads 17 - 05 Mar 2009 - Main.KeithEdelman
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Got any leads on how to be a good lawyer? Put them here.
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 I do think that working without a fear of clients correlates with having (or being able to choose) worthy clients. Still, I believe being a "good lawyer" is slightly different. A proper atmosphere certainly facilitates a happier lifestyle. But this might be a different goal. (This thread discusses the distinction between a "meaningful" and "happy" life, analogous to my distinction of being a "good lawyer" and working in a "positive atmosphere.")

-- KeithEdelman - 25 Feb 2009

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 I would say that a culture of fear makes the work less good. Because what are the lawyers afraid of? Lack of promotion? Lack of job security? Being yelled at by the boss, or the client? If you have a lawyer who's primarily focused on avoiding that, I think s/he'd do a bad job. I would want a lawyer who isn't too scared to exercise independent judgment, if I needed a lawyer. I appreciate the distinction between "good lawyer" and "positive atmosphere," but I would guess there's a correlation.

Something else we might want to consider is the ability to choose your clients, which people are discussing in the "Is Being a Corporate Lawyer Immoral?" thread. Robinson prides himself on choosing his clients. How important is that? Is there any organization you can really trust to choose your clients for you, and be willing to surrender your autonomy to? Is a boutique law firm more trustworthy than a big one? (Maybe. I don't know.)

-- AnjaliBhat - 26 Feb 2009

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>		If by "good" you mean "effective", then I agree a culture of fear would cause him/her to do a "bad" (ineffective) job. The "good" I used above refers to the object of a lawyer's work, not his/her skill. In other words, I was referring to doing "good" in the world, not doing "well" at your job. With your definition, I agree that a poor atmosphere likely causes ineffective work. With mine, I'm not sure a harsh and overly-critical boss at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund would diminish the value of achieving racial equality.
 
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>		Perhaps the distinction I made does not produce many new ideas, but we should at least keep the difference in mind when posting career options.
 
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>		-- KeithEdelman - 05 Mar 2009
 

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Revision 17r17 - 05 Mar 2009 - 22:54:03 - KeithEdelman
Revision 16r16 - 05 Mar 2009 - 17:44:40 - GregJohnson
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