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Bion Gregory: Thoughts on Our Legal System |
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On The Role Of Lawyers In Our Society: The legal profession traditionally has played an historic role in connecting society with the rule of law. The legal profession also has played a major role in ensuring that the rule of law remains strong in our nation, that it pursues justice and defends liberty. It is a tradition to be proud of. The legal profession must assume leadership in assuring that all our citizens experience the blessings of liberty, and that democratic institutions take root around the world. The Importance Of Judicial Independence: As lawyers, we have a special role in explaining and defending the rule of law. It is our challenge to engage the public, to help them understand and support our system of law so that the spirit of the law may be strengthened and revitalized. Nowhere is this challenge more critically important than in helping the American public understand and appreciate the importance of truly independent courts and the role they play in preserving the rule of law. . . . Throughout American history, there have been periodic surges in the number and harshness of attacks on our courts. Generally, these attacks have come about because judges have properly done their job: they have administered the law without fear or favor, perhaps incurring unpopularity while upholding the law. . . . The true role of the judge is not to be a caricature in a made-for-television sitcom, where the viewer tunes in for entertainment and then clicks to another channel. The true role of a judge is not to be reduced to a 25-second sound bite on the evening news. The true role of a judge is not to be shaped by pressure groups promoting a particular outcome. Rather, the true role of a trial or appellate judge is to uphold the rule of law and ensure that justice is done. This principle is at the core of our democracy. This critically serious business requires that a judge protect the rights of all participants in a trial as well as the public interest. The judicial process requires time to unfold. It is deliberative and thoughtful, designed to ensure that all issues are carefully weighed and considered. It is designed to produce the truth. Without this careful and deliberate process, under the rule of law, the strong fabric that binds Americans together would fray and democracy would be weakened. On Legal Ethics: The relationship with the client in our profession is more complex than that of any other learned profession. For example, physicians serve physical health and the clergy, spiritual health. These are accepted social goals. As a representative of a client, the lawyer takes on the goals of the client, becoming the alter ego of the client and speaking for the client in all of the forums in our society where decisions are made. In many cases, the morality of the client’s goals is vastly more controversial than the physical or spiritual health of a person. The profession has historically emphasized the skills necessary to represent the client in adversarial proceedings. We are trained to prevail over hostile adversaries using the coercive power of the courts and government or the economic, social, media or political power of the client. We are the only one of the learned professions that seeks best another person on behalf of the client. Clients bring to us a wide range of personal moral development and moral reasoning skills, and we must find a way to help them think through the issues from their perspective. Since we undertake, in behalf of our clients, goals vastly more morally controversial than the goals of the other learned professions, the moral engagement is more complex. In addition, moral discourse, even clothed in a language the client can hear and understand, like analysis of risk or reputation, is a sensitive subject for some clients, and moral courage is required to undertake it. We are the only one of the learned professions that deals on a day-to-day basis with the ethical dilemma of hostile adversaries who provide a frequent invitation to join them in improper motives and conduct. What should we do when the adversary uses unethical strategies and tactics, particularly when the client is urging us to join in them? The lawyer must ensure that the client understands why a lawyer should not and cannot joint in unethical conduct. Finding a path to a good and worthy life through these dilemmas is a challenge that stretches the soul. The most critical ethical system is the lawyer’s own personal ethics. A lawyer must attend to the development of his or her own moral compass to find an ethical path and stay on it. Most lawyers have made a good living and have lived true to their moral compass. That is the best protection for our profession from those who would seek to impose governmental regulation.
November / December 2004
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More than any other profession, . . . lawyers have a special obligation as guardians of democracy, of the “rule of law,” a rational scheme of justice rather than the capricious and arbitrary rule of dictators and monarchs. Consequently, we must be “role model citizens.” I would hope that even if the military failed, lawyers would man the barricades and fight to the last to defend the last best hope of humankind that has taken billions of years to create and the shed of much blood to keep.