I think it's largely reflected in my own experience, but I think I'd actually reframe the point as that the public hates its perception of lawyers - as amoral mercenaries, among other things - but is fascinated with the idea of performing their own version of lawyering; I think it's less about the law and more about their perception of the process at arriving at truth.

-- NicoleMorote - 31 Jan 2023

I think Nicole made a good point and I would like to elaborate on this irony a bit.

People love the law because it represents a safe harbor from disorder. I think to most people, the law signifies uniformity, justice, transparent standards and non-partisanship. But in truth, the law exists far different from its candor reputation, and the values that the law represents breaks down when you look at its working mechanisms. Legal decisions that seem to derive from logical, statutory, and precedential arguments are often policy making tools for Judges. Lawyers who are supposed to be the arbiter of law, argue only for their employers, regardless of moral merits.

In other words, people’s belief that the law represents order, breaks down when they realize that the legal system is necessarily individualistic, disorderly and partisan, which strays far from the order that law is “supposed” to represent. This could have led to a disconnect between faith and reality, causing the predestined irony. People love the law for what it represents, not what it actually is, and lawyers, as the most convenient scapegoat, are here to take the blame.

-- HuazhouYe - 31 Jan 2023

Hey everyone! When I was reviewing Lawyerland, I was curious what people thought about the idea that most people hate lawyers but love the law (pg. 15). How have your perspectives on lawyers and/or the law changed during law school? Interested to hear everyone's thoughts!

Also, I'm new to using wikis, but I did my best to set this up correctly. Happy to change the format or take it down if I used the incorrect method to post something like this.