What’s a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start.
This WaPo article provides another reason – as if we needed one – to despise lawyers, or in this case, law students. Oh, I know that not all lawyers belong at the bottom of the sea in the old “good start” chestnut. I know several really nice people who do a lot of good in their law practice. But when lawyers are bad, they are very, very bad.
Anonymous postings on a law school message board may have cost some students job opportunity. While there is no excuse for a potential employer to be so credible about information they see in an anonymous post they found via Google, it is also repulsive to see that future lawyers have this attitude in response to criticism of their criticism:
In another comment, a user said a particular woman had no right to ask that the threads be removed. “If we want to objectify, criticize and [expletive] on [expletive] like her, we should be able to.”
In another posting, a participant rejected the idea that photos be removed on moral grounds: “We’re lawyers and lawyers-in-training, dude. Of course we follow the law, not morals.”
If I want to stand on a public street and scream racial epithets, I am perfectly within my rights. However, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. To whom much is given, much is expected. I hope those two students grow up and realize that they don’t live in a vacuum.
[Update: This is EXACTLY the kind of thing those students are likely to do when they pass the bar. Follow the law, not morals... manipulate and deceive... it's absolutely disgusting.]
Youre so right Laura…we do not live in a vacuum.
wish others would open their eyes to that!..thanks for
visitin and commenting on my site!
I agree: to whom much is given, much is required. Which is why we should show love, grace, and compassion to lawyers who have gotten trapped in sin.
I think that “hating lawyers” isn’t a particularly righteous thing to do. It’s actually kind of self-righteous. But he who has been forgiven much loves much, Jesus said. Self-righteous hate is simply a failure to recognise that I am full of sin too.
Don’t forget, everyone hated tax collectors, but Jesus loved them and offered grace. If we belong to Christ, that’s our calling too.
Al, point taken. But I would like to point out that despise does not equal hate and that I haven’t given up on them entirely. Surely you’re not saying that harmful behavior is exempt from criticism just because we’re Christians? Kind of like you’re criticizing me for being self-righteous… you believe I’m behaving badly and you called me on it. What’s wrong with that? And while I’ll admit to being overly harsh, it is not a fair characterization to say that I hate them. I didn’t use that word, and I don’t hate them.
Lawyers, like doctors, chose to be in a profession where they have the potential to do a lot of good, or cause a lot of hurt. That’s why lawyers are bound to ethical requirements, not just legal standards. When they abrogate that responsibility – or as these students did, reject it entirely – they deserve to be criticized for it.