I recently had a convo with Lauren in which she asked "Why do people dislike Lawyers and Journalists?" After a bit of thought I decided to post the question here to see the responses of various people.

The reason we were discussing this was because I hope to become a lawyer and Lauren aspires to go into journalism. So why is there a general dissaproval of both jobs?

It's been common practice to shoot the bringer of bad news ever since the dark ages. Plus, the press usually makes an excellent scapegoat in all kinds of situations.

There's a difference between press and paperazzi, between objective reports and spreading rumors. I can fully understand why some celebrities attack certain "reporters" on sight, if someone was constantly telling lies about me, i'd like to take a swing at him as well.

People hate lawyers because they're often the only ones who gain out of bad situations, such as divorces etc. It often seems like lawyers in certain areas make their living off of other people's misery - that's one reason why they're often disliked.

Everyone hates lawyers.... until they desperately need one themselves.

I think that people also dislike lawyers because they often manage to successfully defend murderers and rapists and put them back on the street, then people see the lawyer as the villian as well as the criminal.

Not to mention that lawyers are not exactly portrayed well in film.

However, law is still a respected profession which many people want to get into.

Vaskez, Shadowhound, and Johnny are all correct, I think. Normally, if you're going to see a lawyer, you're already at your wit's end and in a bad situation.

As for successfully defending murderers, rapists, etc., please remember that clients don't usually reveal their guilt and the law requires us all to assume -- their lawyer most of all -- that they are innocent until proven guilty. Additionally, I note a lawyer's job is not to exact justice -- that's a job for the judge and jury. A lawyer's job is to champion his client -- the system is built on the notion that any person in a lawsuit should have at least one person on their side. Yeah, chivalric roots and all that.

[ 07-08-2004, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

Maybe journalists would be more respected if, like lawyers, accountants, doctors, realtors, etc., they had to get a license and could have it revoked if they did things like lie. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

Lawyers are people who study the Constitution. Its the Constitution which is America. In these days of flag-waving, I see many people with flag bumper-stickers (how respectful :-\ ) bemoaning lawyers. I will never understand how some people, born in America, can think that the flag means everything when in truth, the flag means Nothing. The Constitution means everything.