Truthfulness

-- By NoahRushin - 14 Apr 2021

Introduction

The role that truthfulness plays in one’s legal practice is great. Throughout the course truthfulness operates in two different spheres. These two modes of operation impact how successful and fulfilling someone can make their legal practice. The first way that truthfulness comes into play is how honest someone is with themselves. The second is how truthful someone is to others.

Being Truthful to Oneself:

It is necessary for lawyers to be truthful to themselves. Based on the swindling reading, many people are swindled by the job market into thinking that money is the sole purpose for running a legal practice. While this is an important component of it, I think that many people, as seen in Lawyer Land, convince and lie to themselves that money is the sole thing that makes them happy. Like the reading suggest, people are able to be swindled when they are tricked into thinking that they are receiving something of great value (job security, money etc.) for a low cost, that benefits themselves as compared to others. However, this internal dishonesty results in them not being truthful about the subjective value (moral compromises) that they trade in for the economic benefits of performing certain tasks.

In the Carrie reading both lawyers got extremely angry when the other would describe their job. However, while they did express anger towards the other lawyer, they were truly angry about the truth of both their jobs. A similar situation was described in Lawyer Land in regards to “splitting”. This led the lawyer to not see the truth about the impact that their job had on others. This splitting leads to people not seeing the truth about the impact of their actions.

Additionally, truthfulness to yourself is needed to understand and develop a practice that coincides with a person’s beliefs. A person who is not honest with themselves, does not truly know themselves, and a person who does not know themselves cannot develop a successful law practice. John Brown was extremely adamant about his beliefs and what he believed in. John Brown’s honesty about his position on slavery, and about how horrible it was, allowed him to gain wide spread support that led to the raid. In part this influence was because he was so set in what he believed in and the truth surrounding his social cause. Similarly, a lawyer is more influential when they are honest with themselves on what is important, wrong, and right in the legal system. This allows them to build a more influential, impactful, and satisfying legal practice that people actually want to join.

Being Truthful to Others:

Additionally, lying to others is also detrimental to one’s practice. It has been emphasized that lawyers need to be trustworthy people. Without a lawyer having the trust of others there is no way that they can build a successful legal practice. Other lawyers will not trust the person to help them, and clients will not trust the lawyer with their important legal business. This has been exemplified in our reading on swindling. The reading emphasizes how some layer of trust is necessary in order for any business transaction to occur. This is showcased in how most people do not trust someone who commits a deal solely for the benefit of the other party without receiving anything in exchange.

Thoreau mentions that the press was printing inaccuracies about the John Brown case, concealing the truth from the general public on what really happened during the raid. This emphasizes how the truth is not always profitable. Publishing the truth of Brown would have troubled readers and caused the publishers to lose money. However, as mentioned above, money is not the sole source of satisfaction for lawyers and their legal practice. Speaking the truth even when there are no immediate monetary benefits, is the most crucial time when the truth should be spoken. Speaking the truth to others during these situations may be difficult and without reward. However, there is benefits to one’s future reputation and the advancement of justice.

In our own legal practice, there will be numerous times where telling the truth to others will not be easy or profitable in that moment. John Brown has shown that those that stay true to their beliefs may be punished. Lawyers have the same duty as John Brown. A practice must be based in truth, even unpopular truths. Practices that claim to help people but in actuality do not are nothing more than the prisoner who swindles.

In order for a successful efficient system to operate there must be some level of unconscious thought. Trust in between lawyers working in a practice is necessary for unconscious efficient thought. If lawyers have to constantly vet whether what others are saying is the truth the whole practice suffers. As a result, trust amongst lawyers to others in the legal practice is necessary.

Conclusion:

In the legal practice it is important to be truthful to oneself as well as others. In order to do this a lawyer must center a legal practice around their own passions and beliefs. Both these aspects of truthfulness influence each other. Once one is more truthful to themselves, they are able to be more truthful to others. A person who distorts reality and lies to themselves, cannot then go and tell the truth to someone else. In this way being truthful to oneself is the first step in being truthful to another. Both of these aspects of truthfulness are necessary for a legal practice.

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