Legal Ethics
Law Prof Seeks Retort for ‘Legal Ethics—an Oxymoron’ Jokes
Posted May 22, 2009 9:22 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A legal ethics professor cornered all too often by jokesters who see his field as an oxymoron is asking for advice on how to handle their barbs.
Suffolk law professor Andrew Perlman comes up with one tongue-in-cheek response: "It takes an oxymoron to know one, Mr. 'Smart ... ass.' " Then he asks for better ideas in a post at Legal Ethics Forum.
Some who responded suggested using such occasions as teaching moments. Another suggests this question: “Who do you think lies more often in a typical day—a lawyer or a nonlawyer?”
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Comments
AndytheLawyer
May 22, 2009 12:39 PM CST
My usual response is: “Next time you’re sued for money you don’t owe or arrested for something you didn’t do, hire a plumber to defend you.”
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non-lawyer
May 22, 2009 3:59 PM CST
Comment removed by moderator.
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non-lawyer
May 22, 2009 6:48 PM CST
Lawyers are like backsides; eveyone has one, and they are all a little stinky.
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B. McLeod
May 23, 2009 7:42 AM CST
These jokes don’t bother me, and so I don’t feel a need to respond to them. They exist because there is an underlying truth upon which the jokes are merely fair comment. If and when the profession ever polices itself well enough to change that underlying truth, the jokes will disappear. (However, it has not happened, even over the course of many centuries).
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fed up
May 24, 2009 6:10 AM CST
McLeod, you have adroitly critiqued the profession, but as you pointed out, reform has not happened over the course of many centuries. Thus the world will continue to suffer and lawyers will be rightly reviled.
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fed up
May 24, 2009 11:15 AM CST
Some of the biggest ethical problems of the profession is when lawyers breach their fiduciary duty to a client, and conflict of interest. Another is when good lawyers stand by and do nothing when their colleagues act unprofessionally. Then they are just as bad (if not worse) than the skanks. Thankfully a lot a lawyers are getting their comeuppance during this economic downturn. It is ironic that lawyers bear responsibility for this catastrophe as pointed out in the ABA news. Lawyers made their bed, and now they must lie in it. This is a rare moment in history, because usually lawyers are insulated from their misdeeds, but not this time.
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